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Science: Citations & Plagiarism

Resources, including specific assignment resources, for the Sciences.

At Central Catholic High School, we use MLA 9th Edition for citations.  Students are expected to properly cite sources any time they use  words, work, or ideas that are not originally their own any work they create.  Librarians are happy to assist all students with any citation questions. The Library heavily endorses the OSLIS Citation Maker for help formatting citations.

Citation Reminders

MLA 8 Elements

Reminders on Citations (in MLA Format)

Example of a possible citation.

Lastname, Firstname. “My Great Article.” Journal of Quality Things, photos by Arnie Toddlesworth, vol.1, no. 23, pp. 45-67. Super Useful Article Database, Subscribe Co., www.website.biz/junk/~netzel/ probablyabigmessofcharacters=+blerg+gross%7Csupergreat=/.  Accessed 1 Mon. YEAR.

 

Lastname, Firstname. “My Great Article.” Journal of Quality Things, photos by Arnie Toddlesworth, vol.1, no. 23, pp. 45-67. Super Useful Article Database, Subscribe Co., www.website.biz/ junk/~netzel/ probablymessofcharacters=+blerg+gross%7Csupergreat=/.   Accessed 1 Mon. YEAR.

If you use a citation maker, stick with the OSLIS citation maker.

 

Remember: You may have more than one "container"...
ex. an article [Source] is found in a journal [Container 1], which is found  in a library database [Container 2].

In the example citation above Journal of Quality Things is the title of Container 1, and Super Useful Article Database is the title of Container 2.  Note that each container can have it's own other information elements.

 

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 ","

More Quick Citation Tips

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)

"...blah blah blah"(Dickinson 14).

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

Dickinson, Emily. "Fancy Poem." Fancy Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Jaime Collecto, U of Hawaii P, 1997, pp.13-15.

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).

Simple Parenthetical Citation

Hanging Indent in Google Docs

Hanging Indent

MLA: A Tale of Two Citations

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:

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does Aid Help? Or does it Harm?" The Spectator (London), 17 Feb 2018. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2266007475?accountid=69624.

 

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

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does aid help? The evidence suggests it may do more harm than good." Spectator, vol. 336, no. 9886, 17 Feb. 2018, p. 12+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A538713184/OVIC?u=centcath&sid=OVIC&xid=a591ab45. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.

 

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:

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does Aid Help? Or does it Harm?" The Spectator (London), 17 Feb 2018. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2266007475?accountid=69624.

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

The GALE citation:

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does aid help? The evidence suggests it may do more harm than good." Spectator, vol. 336, no. 9886, 17 Feb. 2018, p. 12+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A538713184/OVIC?u=centcath&sid=OVIC&xid=a591ab45. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.

  • 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.

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does Aid Help? Or Does It Harm?" The Spectator (London), 17 Feb. 2018. SIRS Issues Researcher, explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2266007475?accountid=69624. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.

Sergeant, Harriet. "Does Aid help? The Evidence Suggests It May Do More Harm than Good." Spectator, vol. 336, no. 9886, 17 Feb. 2018, p. 12+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A538713184/OVIC?u=centcath&sid=OVIC&xid=a591ab45. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.

OSLIS Citation Maker

Other Citation / MLA Help

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Citing Generative AI

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?

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.

Citation Videos

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

Notes on Citations

When Citing a Book Review that doesn't have an actual title, aside from the title of the book reviewed...

Don't do this:     "Book Title".

Instead, do this:   Review of Book Title by Author Name.     (no quotation marks... this is a Description of Source, rather than a Title of Sources)