Modern Language Association (MLA) Citations 



Citing sources and avoiding plagiarism

In researched writing, you will be drawing on the work of other writers, and you must document their contributiuons by citing your sources.  Sources are cited for two reasons: to tell readers where your information comes from and to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed your words and ideas. To borrow another writer's language without acknowledgement is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism.

Citing sources

Citations are required when you quote from a source, when you summarize or paraphrase a source, and when you borrow facts and ideas from a source (except for common knowledge).  Here, very briefly, is how the MLA citation system usually works.

    1.  The source is introduced by a signal phrase that names its author.

    2.  The material being cited is followed by a page number in parentheses.

    3.  At the end of the paper appears a list of works cited (arranged alphabetically according to the author's last
         name) that gives complete publication information about the source.

IN-TEXT CITATION

            As lion authority John Seidensticker remarks, "The boldness displayed by mountain lions just doesn't
            square with the shy, retiring behavior familiar to those of us who have studied these animals" (117).

ENTRY IN THE LIST OF WORKS CITED

            Seidensticker, John.  "Mountain Lions Don't Stalk People:  True or False?"  Audubon  Feb. 1992:
                    113-22.
 
 
 

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The material found in "Reading and Writing Central" came from:

Hacker, Diana.  A Pocket Style Manual.  New York:  Bedford/St. Martin's.  2000.