Importance of Citations

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Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site). They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information

• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas

• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors

• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

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WHAT IS MLA?

MLA style was created by the Modern Language Association of America. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

There are two parts to MLA: In-text citations and the Works Cited list.

In MLA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

1. In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.

2. In the Works Cited list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

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CORE ELEMENTS OF AN MLA CITATION

MLA 8th edition provides 9 core elements to complete any works cited entry. It is your job to try to fill in these core elements with the information you have about a source. If any element is missing or not applicable, you can skip that element.

Source:

Author.

"Title of source." (title is in italics if the source is self-contained. For example, an entire book.)

Container:

Title of Container, (for example, the title of a book, journal, web site)

Other contributors, (such as editors, translators, or directors.)

Version,

Number,

Publisher,

Publication date,

Location.

Note: According to p. 42 of the MLA Handbook, publisher information may be omitted for:

• periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)

• works published by an author or editor

• web sites whose title is the same as the name of the publisher

• a web site not involved in producing the work it makes (e.g. user-generated content sites like YouTube)

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COMMONLY USED TERMS

Access Date: The date you first look at a source. The access date is added to the end of citations for all websites except library databases.

Citation: Details about one cited source.

Citing: The process of acknowledging the sources of your information and ideas.

In-Text Citation: A brief note at the point where information is used from a source to indicate where the information came from. An in-text citation should always match more detailed information that is available in the Works Cited List.

Paraphrasing: Taking information that you have read and putting it into your own words.

Plagiarism: Taking, using, and passing off as your own, the ideas or words of another.

Quoting: The copying of words of text originally published elsewhere. Direct quotations generally appear in quotation marks and end with a citation.

Works Cited List: Contains details on ALL the sources cited in a text or essay, and supports your research and/or premise.

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Citation Maker : https://secondary.oslis.org/cite-sources/mla-secondary-citation