Science: Citations & Plagiarism

SUPER SIMPLE GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION IN MLA 8th edition.

Ask yourself:

1. Is it the AUTHOR Element  (1)?
2. Is it the TITLE OF SOURCE Element (2) (including when the Source acts like the Container because they are the same (like a novel))?
3. Is it the end of the citation, or would you be starting a new container? 

If you answered "Yes"  then you put a PERIOD  "."

In all other cases, use a COMMA ","

Complete Citations: Relationship between a Parenthetical Citation and a Works Cited Entry.

A Complete Citation has two parts: 

1. A Reference in your work that identifies words and ideas that are not yours that directs your reader to...
2. A specifically formatted item in a list of "Works Cited"  (a Works Cited Entry)

If you have one with out the other, your citation is Incomplete (and thus not a Citation).

Paper (with Parenthetical Reference)

Means:  The quotation or ideas in this sentence come from a source that is listed on my Works Cited page.  You will find that work listed under "Dickinson" on my works cited page. I found the ideas or quotation on page 14 of that work.

Works Cited Entry

Means:  I either directly quoted from, or used ideas from, this specific source by this author. You will find identification of where I used those ideas by looking for  the first words in this entry within parentheses in my paper. ex:  (Dickinson).

Hanging Indent in Google Docs

Using Citations from Library Databases

One bonus of Library databases is that they offer preformatted citations in MLA 8th edition format (and other formats).

These Pre-formatted citations are meant to be used as a guide, as they are rarely perfect, and are not meant to replace the need to understand how to read and create citations.  

Here is an example of a preformatted "MLA 8th Edition"  citation for an article from SIRS Issues Researcher:

Here's a Citation for the same article from GALE Opposing Viewpoints:

Both citations are "Pretty Good" citations, but neither one is totally correct. 

 Let's take a look.  RED will mean things that are wrong, YELLOW will be things that we may consider changing, and GREEN are things that one database's citation has that the other one is missing.

The SIRS citation:

Note that this resource on SIRS changes the title of the Article, because the database is treating it as a reprint.

The GALE citation:

• The First Letters  of almost all words in titles are capitalized (with the exception of articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions and "to" with infinitives).
  • NOTE: many pre-formatted citations don't automatically get the correct capitalization of titles. It's will be your job to check.
• The abbreviations  of months like "Feb" should have a period.
• The "https://" in a URL (web address) is no longer included.
• The source title for a Newspaper only needs to include the name of the city if it is relevant.
• The name of the SIRS database  (the second "container") would be better if written out as SIRS Issues Researcher.
• the URL is generally not supposed to be an active hyperlink, not supposed to be blue, and not supposed to be underlined.
  •  Also, the URL  is generally supposed to be a more direct URL to the article, not just the site. 
• The GALE citation has more information that make the Citation more useful
  • it has the Volume and Number information for the original newspaper issue, as well as the Page Number of the original Article.
  • it has a Date of Access that tells your reader/teacher when you looked a digital source. This is only required for digital sources.

Here's  Improved Versions of the Citation.

ASK THE MLA

(Rss feed of Frequently Asked Questions)

Reminder that our Academic Integrity Policy encompasses Generative AI usage.  Any thing that would be an integrity violation if you asked a Human to do it for you, would also be one if you asked AI to do it.  Use of any words or ideas that are not originally your own (which includes AI Generated material) without proper citation is considered plagiarism, which is an academic integrity violation.

WHY do we Cite?

in increasing order of importance.

#4: It protects you from bad things

like plagiarizing, or passing along bad information.

#3: It makes you look good

by showing you are well-read, providing expert support for your ideas, and proving your understanding of a topic.

#2: It is good to others

by giving credit to hard working creators, and making their value known.

#1: It is good for others

it is a valuable service for your Reader to  help them learn more, go deeper, make their own conclusions, and understand your process.

Here are a series of YouTube Videos Mr. Netzel put together to help explain some of the information on this page.

Citation Videos

Another Quick Video on Citation in MLA Style