ENGBG1
Anna Linzie
Spring 2010
Guide to quoting, paraphrasing and referencing (MLA style)
Summary, paraphrase and quotation
Summary
Use summary to convey only the essence of a source. Restate in your own words only the most relevant ideas in the source passage. A summary is always much shorter than its source.
Why summarize?
To present the main argument of a source in fewer words Paraphrase
Use paraphrase to "translate" a passage from a source into your own words and sentence patterns. Use introductory phrases and parenthetical reference to indicate to the reader that the ideas presented are not your own and restate most or all of the ideas in the source passage, but in new and clearer language. A paraphrase is often about the same length as the source passage, or even longer.
How different must your paraphrase be from the original? Not only is it unacceptable to plagiarize word-by-word, but you must also avoid mixing the original author's language and your own words, with none of the borrowed pieces in quotation marks. Even if you acknowledge the source of the material, the original wording will be implicitly presented as your own. At the same time, in every discipline some phrases are so specialized or conventional that paraphrasing them would be ridiculous and make them less familiar/readable to the audience.
Original, Longman page 154: In this case, autobiography is used to create controversy.
Paraphrase: Longman indicates the contentious function of this particular instance of writing about oneself in first person singular (154).
When repeating conventional phrases (in this case "autobiography"), you are not guilty of plagiarism, but rather using a common vocabulary shared by a community of scholars.
Why paraphrase? To use an idea from a source rather than the specific language used to express it
Quotation
Use quotation when the original is very concise or very striking and only if you have a good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words, although it is accepted to quote more extensively from sources when writing humanities papers. Keep in mind though that your job as a writer is to guide your reader through your text. Do not leave it to the reader to make connections between your argument and the quotations you include in your text.
Quotes must be true to their context and copied verbatim from the original text, including mistakes (which can be indicated by inserting [sic] directly after the apparent mistake to indicate that the mistake is not yours).
There are two modifications allowed in quotations: Three spaced full stops … indicating the omission of superfluous material (ellipsis)
A square bracket [ ] indicating the addition of information from you to the reader
If the quote is short (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse), you incorporate it into your sentence, setting it off by double quotation marks.
If the quote is long, it is set off by indentation and spacing, in which case no quotation marks are used. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin. Only indent the first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. The parenthetical citation comes after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks.
Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page.
Why quote?
To show that an authority supports your argument
To present a position or argument to critique or comment on
To present a passage which does not lend itself to paraphrase or summary
Punctuation
With short quotations, place parenthetical citations outside of closing quotation marks, followed by sentence punctuation (period, question mark, comma, semi-colon, colon).
It has been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy" (Longman 154).
Commas and periods are placed inside closing quotation marks when no parenthetical citation follows.
Longman argues that autobiography was used "to create controversy," but also mentions other reasons (154).
Semicolons and colons are placed outside of closing quotation marks (or after a parenthetical citation).
It has been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy" (Longman 154); at the same time, it is possible to imagine the opposite.
Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.
It has been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy: Here I am, flaws and all!" (Longman 154).
It has even been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy" (Longman 154)! Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.
It has been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy in the 'ivory tower'" (Longman 154).
MLA style
One basic research convention is the accurate documenting of the use of primary and secondary sources. Citation conventions serve practical purposes, ensuring that other people can find your sources. There is also an ethical dimension, because citation conventions help you distinguish your own ideas from the ideas of others in your writing. If you fail to acknowledge your sources, you will be accused of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material by other writers.
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is prevalent within the liberal arts and humanities. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers specifies writing and formatting guidelines and provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages. This referencing system enables writers to manifest accountability to their source material and protect them from accusations of plagiarism.
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/)
Always use the latest (at present: 7th) edition of the MLA Handbook, because the style guidelines change over time. Examples of 2009 news:
No More URLs. While website entries will still include authors, article names, and website names, when available, MLA no longer requires URLs. Writers are, however, encouraged to provide a URL if the citation information does not lead readers to easily find the source.
Publication Medium. Every entry receives a medium of publication marker. Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers will appear at the end of entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of access.
New Abbreviations. Many web source entries now require a publisher name, a date of publication, and/or page numbers. When no publisher name appears on the website, write N.p. for no publisher given. When sites omit a date of publication, write n.d. for no date. For online journals that appear only online (no print version) or on databases that do not provide pagination, write n. pag. for no pagination.
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/)
Using sources
Use sources to show that others have interpreted the literature correctly or incorrectly, to argue that something needs to be added to previous criticism, or to indicate that no one has written about your subject before. The idea is to summarize, synthesize and evaluate. You summarize to understand and remember the main argument of a source. You synthesize information to recognize and formulate the major relationship between a source and other sources as well as between a source and your own ideas. You evaluate your sources to assess the quality of their relationship to your own work: Are they convincing? Are they up-to-date? Are they reliable?
References
All research papers have a section that gathers all the documentation under one heading. This section, called References or Works Cited, is placed at the end of the paper and contains all the material that you have cited in your paper. The references are listed in alphabetical order by surnames of authors or editors. Sometimes (mainly in books) the reference section can be supplemented by a section called Bibliography, which also mentions other works relevant to the topic apart from those directly cited in the text.
A complete reference for a book: Name of author, title (+subtitle), place of publication, publisher, date of publication, medium of publication. Do not indent the first line of an entry, indent succeeding lines.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.
A complete reference for an article: Name of author, title of article, name of journal, volume number, issue number, date of publication, page numbers of article, medium of publication. Do not indent the first line of an entry, only indent succeeding lines.
Foucault, Michel. "What Is an Author?" The Foucault Reader. Ed. Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. 101-120. Print.
Citing sources from the internet
For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:
Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser's print preview function.
Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com as opposed to writing out
http://www.cnn.com or
http://www.forbes.com.
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/)
Parenthetical references
The list of Works Cited names your sources, but exactly what you used from each one of them must be indicated in the paper itself. Facts that are available in any encyclopaedia or dictionary are common knowledge and need not be documented. For everything else, document each idea, paraphrase and quotation by indicating the author and the page reference in parentheses. Only the page reference is needed if the author is mentioned in the text.
This particular controversial use of autobiography has been described before (Longman 154).
It has been argued that autobiography was used "to create controversy" (Longman 154).
Longman argues that autobiography was used "to create controversy" (154).
If two authors in your sources have the same last name, give first names in your references (Bill Longman 154). If two or more works by the same author are listed in Works Cited, indicate which one you are referring to by giving a short title: (Longman, Autobiography 154). (The full title listed in Words Cited might be Autobiography and Subjectivity: Writing the Self.)
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