Mla Citation Worksheet
Mla Citation Worksheet
Mla Citation Worksheet
DOCUMENTING SOURCES
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
When you research a topic you may use information from published sources (articles, books,
reports) or the Web to support your ideas. Throughout the research process,
you have taken notes, copied articles, and searched the Web for information.
By the time you have thoroughly researched the topic, you will start to form
ideas of your own, see patterns, and be able to write about the topic in your
own words.
You must now credit the original authors of all these sources by citing them in
your list of references. To cite a source means that you state where you found the information so
that others can locate the exact same source again.
Why You Must Cite Your Sources
Do you know everything there is to know about protozoa? What about post-impressionist art? You
are in college to learn. No one expects you to be an expert. However, when you conduct college
research, you are expected to consult the experts.
The practice of citing allows us to build upon the ideas and knowledge of others. Demonstrating
that you have read what the experts have to say gives credibility to your work. It allows your
instructors to look at the sources you used to further their own understanding of the topic, as well as
evaluate your understanding of it. Properly citing your sources will also protect you from
accusations of plagiarism.
PLAGIARISM
You've heard of it, but what exactly does it mean to you?
Let's start with a definition
Plagiarize \'pla-je-riz (verb): to steal and pass off the ideas or words of
another as one's own; use a created production without crediting the
source; to commit literary theft; present as new and original an idea or
product derived from an existing source.
from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 9th ed, (1981)
In short, plagiarism is copying something without crediting the source. In effect, it is stealing.
Consequences of Plagiarism
Plagiarism constitutes academic dishonesty according to MiraCosta College Administrative Policy
VIII.E. (see MiraCosta College Catalog, p. 173). Incidences of Academic Dishonesty are reflected
on your transcript.
Students who are accused of plagiarism could:
Fail the assignment
Fail the class
Be expelled from school
Avoiding Plagiarism
As incidents of plagiarism increase, more professors are on the alert, and many have powerful
detection tools at their fingertips. Learning to avoid plagiarism is critical to your success in college.
Here are some useful strategies:
Use your own ideas. It should be your paper and your ideas that are the focus.
Use the ideas of others- but only to support or reinforce your own argument.
When taking notes, include complete citation information for each item you use.
Write a draft of your paper without any notes to help you use your own words and ideas.
What to Cite
One of the most common questions from students is Do I have to cite everything?. There is no
simple answer. You will need to make some judgment calls. There are some certainties.
You must cite (give credit):
the original words of another person
the paraphrased ideas of another person
What Not to Cite
You don't have to cite some sources of information because they are considered to be common
knowledge. Common knowledge is described as items such as facts that can be found in numerous
places and are likely to be known by a lot of people. Common knowledge is not considered to be
the work of any one particular person.
Examples of common knowledge
Common knowledge is information that the majority of people will either know or can find
in a number of sources.
Sure, you might not remember (or ever have known) what California's state motto is, but you can
easily look it up in an almanac, encyclopedia, the state's Web site, or other resources. When in
doubt, cite the source!
papers.
The American Psychological Association (APA) style is used in psychology, education,
social sciences, and sometimes scientific papers.
Some instructors prefer to use Turabian or Chicago Style (used most commonly in
history.)
MLA and APA are the most common citation styles used in college. We will focus on MLA style.
They are actually quite similar in that they require you to cite your sources within your paper using
parentheses (parenthetical citation) and provide a list of the sources you cited at the end of your
paper (Works Cited or References list.)
Parenthetical Documentation (also known as in-text citations)
When you quote or paraphrase an external source in your paper, you must provide in parentheses
brief information about the sources you have consulted. The parenthetical citations direct readers to
the full bibliographic citations listed in your Works Cited (MLA) list located at
the end of the document.
How you cite a source depends on whether the author is mentioned in the text of
your paper. MLA has specific rules on how to write a parenthetical citation.
MLA Example: When author is mentioned:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings" (263).
MLA Example: When author is not mentioned:
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"
(Wordsworth 263).
Sometimes one of your sources may not have an author. Again, there are specific rules for citing
these sources in MLA when there is no author. You will usually use the first few significant words
of an article or book title.
Notice in the APA example, the information has been paraphrased and NOT directly quoted.
Hence, no page number is required.
MLA example: No author
An anonymous Wordsworth critic once argued that his poems were too emotional
("Wordsworth Is A Loser" 100).
In the case of MLA, whether you use a direct quotation or paraphrase of the information, the page
number(s) is required.
Exercise 1: Citing in the Text
Refer to the text on the previous page on parenthetical documentation for guidance with this
exercise. Here is a quotation (with basic source information) that might be used in a paper.
"It is surely possible to become a 'Simpson'-style couch potato, imprisoned by the endless wash
of images, immobilized, imbecilic, impotent."
by John McConnell The Media as Babysitter McGraw Hill: New York 1989 p. 56.
1. What is the correct way to cite this quote using the MLA style for parenthetical
documentation? Place your citation in the parentheses (
).
Here is a quotation (with basic source information) that might be used in a paper.
Author: Gordon Wood. Article: "Jefferson in His Time." Publication: Wilson Quarterly, Spring
1993 p.36.
2. What is the correct way to cite this quote using the MLA style for parenthetical
documentation?
Gordon Wood notes, Jefferson, who was once one of the most revered American founders and
early presidents, is now looked upon as a racist and as someone who was ruthless, selfrighteous, and unconcerned for basic civil liberties (
).
There are also a number of online resources you may consult. For example, the website published
by author Diana Hacker is very helpful. http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/
If you do consult an online source, be sure the source is a credible one published by a university
such as Calvin Colleges KnightCite or the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University.
Exercise 2: Finding the Citation Information & Works Cited and References
When you retrieve an article from ProQuest or any other online database, the citation information is
usually available in several locations. The databases make it very convenient to locate the
necessary information for you to cite in your Works Cited list. The same is true of an e-Book. The
citation information is readily available. When you use a monograph (book in print form), you have
to search for the relevant citation information. For this exercise, you are given two sample pages,
which can be found in the initial pages of a book. Use the information to answer the accompanying
questions.
Also, if you have not already done so, ask the librarian for the MLA style sample handouts or print
them out from the library homepage under the Citation Guides tab. You will need to use these to
answer questions in this exercise.
Make sure you complete Questions 1-4 on page 5 before you start on the next set of
exercises.
3. What is the title of the work? _________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________