The Colegio Roosevelt Guide to Referencing Your Work This guide is designed to help you learn MLA style, outlined in the Modern Language Association s MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7 th edition). It is made up of four parts: 1. Why reference? 2. How to paraphrase and quote properly 3. How to include in- text citations; and 4. How to create a Works Cited page.
Why Reference? In everyday life, we are generally aware of our sources. I read it in the New York Times. Brian told me it s your birthday. If you don t believe me, ask Mom. Saying how we know what we know and where we found our information is part of establishing our credibility and persuading others to take what we say seriously. The goal of a research paper is to study a topic, combining what we learn from sources with our own thinking and then composing a written text. Research papers always contain information compiled from others sources. When you write a research paper, you must cite the sources of your information. In other words, you must (1) give proper credit to the original authors of the information; and (2) let your readers know how to find the information for them. In the MLA citation format, there are three main parts: 1. The Information Itself (paraphrasing and quoting) 2. The In- Text Citation (giving the source of each bit of information) 3. The Works Cited Page (creating a list of sources you used) The Information Itself: Paraphrasing and Quoting Properly All research papers contain information from other sources. When you use information that has previously been published by someone else, it is important that you avoid plagiarism presenting someone else s ideas as your own. Plagiarism is not just cheating; it s also stealing. It is treated as a serious matter at Colegio Roosevelt and the IBO and will result in a severe penalty, from receiving zero on an your assignment to failing the entire course. There are two ways that you can include other people s ideas and words in your paper without plagiarizing: paraphrasing and quotation.
a. Paraphrasing It s okay to include someone else s ideas into your paper but you must put those ideas into your words. This is called paraphrasing. Here are a few things to remember when paraphrasing: For example: Always cite the source of the paraphrased information with an in- text citations (see page 4) and list the source in your Works Cited page (see page 6). Restate the information using your own words, personal reflections and comments in your own sentences. Never use the same sentence structure as the author. Combine information from different sources. Try not to paraphrase more than one or two sentences in a row from the same source. Original Encyclopedia Text: Paraphrase: The industrial revolution began in Great Britain for several reasons. The country had large deposits of coal and iron, the two natural resources on which early industrialization largely depended. Other industrial raw materials came from Great Britain s colonies. The abundance of natural resources in Great Britain and its colonies was one factor that allowed the Industrial Revolution to begin there (Lampard 10:248). b. Quotations You can use someone else s exact words in your paper you just have to clearly indicate that the words are a quotation and give proper credit to the original author. This is useful when the original author has phrased the idea in a clever, powerful or unique way. Short quotations (up to four lines) If the quoted text is four lines or less, you should put it in quotation marks and include it within the rest of your paper. For example: Picasso s attraction to art came at an early age; in fact, he was able to draw before he could speak, and he could speak long before he was able to walk (Bernard and Bouchet 19). Long Quotations If the quoted text is more than four lines, you should put it in a separate paragraph (without quotation marks) and indent it one tab. For example:
One critic adeptly summarized the mainstreaming of the punk genre: For punk rock, the 1990s were a watershed and a nightmare. The mainstream commercial success in that decade of bands such as Green Day, Rancid, and Blink 182 were unprecedented for a genre that survived the Reagan-Bush era on $3 concerts, indie labels, and the relatively limited broadcast range of college radio (Matuala and Berkowitz 189). This commercialization was simultaneously the rise and fall of punk. The In- Text Citation: Giving the Source of Each Bit of Information When you include information from other sources in your paper, you must include a citation that tells where the information came from (regardless of whether you quoted or paraphrased it). At one time, MLA style required that these citations be listed as footnotes at the bottom of the page. Now you can just insert a shortened citation immediately after the information that you have quoted or paraphrased. Since the citations appear in the text of your paper, they are called in- text citations. If you are using a term or introducing a concept that requires explanation (e.g., a Latin phrase, an unusual word, a figure of speech) and clarification would disrupt the flow of your writing if placed within the main text, then a footnote can be useful to the reader. The citation should direct the reader to the source s entry in the Works Cited page of your paper. For print sources, you normally only need to include the Author and Page Number in your citation. For multi- volume works like encyclopedias, include the Author, Volume and Page Number (with a colon separating the volume and page). For Internet sites and other sources without specific page numbers, just include the Author. If the author is not given, use the first few words of the title (in quotation marks). Book or Signed Author Encouraged by the government, tourism is one of the largest industries in Greece (Arnold 45). Book or Signed Author (Author Mentioned in Text) Arnold states that tourism, encouraged by the government, is one of Greece s largest industries (45-46).
Book or Signed Article (Two Authors) Picasso s attraction to art came at an early age; in fact, he was able to draw before he could speak, and he could speak long before he was able to walk (Bernard and Bouchet 19). Article in a Print Encyclopedia The abundance of natural resources in Great Britain and its colonies was one factor that allowed the Industrial Revolution to begin there (Lampard 10:248). Article in a Print Encyclopedia (No Author) Globally, no other infectious disease kills more people than tuberculosis ( Tuberculosis 3:875). Website Hinduism and its mythology are a mixture, resulting from centuries of cross-cultural integration (Naylor). Website (No Author) Available as a free download, OpenOffice is a popular open source alternative to the Microsoft Office suite ( OpenOffice 3.0 ). The Works Cited Page: Creating a List of Sources You ve Used The final part of MLA citation is a list of works cited. The list should include all of the sources cited in the text of your paper and only those cited in the paper (See Part 2: The In- Text Citation). Note that Works Cited and Bibliography are not the same. In Works Cited, you only list items you have actually cited. In a Bibliography, you list all of the material you have consulted in preparing your essay whether or not you have actually cited the work. Creating and Formatting a Works Cited page A basic rule of thumb for Works Cited entries is this: each source should include enough information to allow readers to look up the original source and to distinguish it from other sources with the same author and/or title. Use the examples on the next page to help format for specific sources the correct format is in bold, with examples below. If you have questions about how to format, please consult the MLA Handbook (7 th ed.) in the library or ask the librarian for help.
Online Publications General Website Last name of author, First name of author. Title of the Work. Full Title of Complete Work/Site. Publisher or sponsor of the site. Day Month Year of publication or revision. Medium of Publication. Day Month Year of visit. <URL http://address>. Guide to Quitting Smoking. American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society, Inc. 1 Oct. 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ped/content/ped_10_13x_guide_for_quitting_sm oking.asp?from=fast>. Web- based Periodical Last name of author, First name of author. Article Title. Publication Title. Publisher, Day Month Year of publication. Medium of publication. Day Month Year of access. <URL http://address>. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. Obama Issues Order for More Troops in Afghanistan. New York Times. New York Times, 30 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/world/asia/01orders.html?_r=0. ebooks Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Kindle file. Rowley, Hazel. Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage. New York: Farrar, 2010. Kindle file. YouTube Video Author s Name or Poster s Username. Title of Image or Video. Media Type Text. Name of Website. Name of Website s Publisher, date of posting. Medium. Date retrieved. <URL http://address>. Shimabukuro, Jake. "Ukulele Weeps by Jake Shimabukuro." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2006. Web. 9 Sept. 2010. <http://youtu.be/puskp3uym5k>. A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph Found on the Web Last name of artist, First name of artist. Title of work of art. Original date of art. Format. Name of the Institution that houses the work, Location of Institution that houses the work. Medium of reproduction (if applicable). Day Month Year of access (if applicable). <URL http://address> (if applicable). Perutz, Dolly Hellman. Bird Flying Machine. 1973. Bronze. Central Park, New York.
Evans, Walker. Penny Picture Display. 1936. Photograph. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. <http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=58181>. ** If citing an image from the web that s not considered a work of art, use the general website format and indicate (image) as the format at the end of your citation. From a Subscription Database Periodical Article in a Database Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Article. Title of Newspaper or Magazine. Day Month Year of publication, edition: page number. Title of database. Medium of publication. Day Month Year of access. Coker, Margaret. Fiery end drawing near for Russia s obstinate Mir. The Palm Beach Post. 15 Mar. 2001, 1A. elibrary. Web. 3 Sept. 2003. Gaidos, Susan. "Team spirit." Science News. 17 Jan. 2009: 20. Science Resource Center. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Reference Article in a Database Originally Printed in a Book Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Article. Title of Book. Ed. First and Last name of editor. Edition. Volume. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Title of Database. Medium of publication. Day Month Year of access. "Iraq." Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Karen Christensen and David Levinson, eds. 6 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. History Resource Center. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Young, Lise A. "Teenage Criminals Should Not Be Tried as Adults." Opposing Viewpoints: Teens at Risk. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Reference Article Written for an Online Database Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Article. Title of Database. Publisher of the database. Year of publication. Medium of publication. Day Month Year of access. "Tennessee." American History. ABC- CLIO, 2009. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. Books (Print)
Book One Author Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium of publication. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All- American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. Book- Two or More Authors Last name, First name, First and Last name, and First and Last name. Title of Book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium of publication. Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Print. Book with an Editor Last name, First name, ed. Title of Book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication. Medium of publication. Bloom, Harold, ed. The Victorian Novel. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Print. Work in an Anthology Last name of author of work, First name of author of work. Title of Work. Title of Book. Edition. Ed. First and Last name of editor. Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication. Page range of entry. Medium of publication. Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. Major American Short Stories. 3rded. Ed. A. Walton Litz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. 22-37. Print. Article in a Reference Book Last name of author, First name of author. Title of Article. Title of Book. Ed. First and Last name of editor. Edition. Volume. Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication. Medium of publication. Franson, Bruce. Henry VIII. Encyclopedia of World History. Ed. Marsha E. Ackermann, et al. Vol. 3. New York: Facts on File, 2008. Print.
Print Article in a Magazine or Newspaper Last name, First name and First and Last name. Title of Article. Title of Newspaper or Magazine. Day Month Year of publication, edition: page number. Medium of publication. Shanker, Thom and Eric Schmitt. Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look. New York Times. 20 Nov. 2009, late edition: A1+. Print. Weir, Kirsten. Carbon Captured. Popular Science. Dec. 2009: 22. Print. Other Formats Movie (DVD or other format) Title of Movie. Director. Performers. Producers. Date of original release. Production Company, Date of DVD release. Medium of publication. Shrek. Dir. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. Perf. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. Prod. David Lipman. 2001. Dreamworks, 2003. DVD. Television Program Title of the episode or segment. Narrator. Title of program or series. Name of the Network. Call letters, and/or city of the local station, Day Month Year of broadcast. Medium of reception. Penny Drop. Narr. Robert Lee. Mythbusters. Discovery Channel. Silver Spring, 17 Oct. 2003. Television. Personal Interview Last name of person interviewed, First name. Personal (or Telephone, Email, or Skype) Interview. Day month year of Interview. Smith, John. Personal Interview. 30 Nov. 2009.