Cite all sources used in your work!

 

• You don't need to cite statements of things that are common knowledge.
• You don't need to cite your own thoughts or opinions.
• BUT -- You DO need to cite everything else that you write about or use in your project if you don't want to be accused of plagiarism.

 

 

You need to tell your audience about the books, websites, or other materials that you used:

 

• to give the author, creator, or artist credit for his or her work

• to give your own work authority

 

And you need to give your audience enough information to be able to know which specific material you used. There are different forms of citation used in different fields. Most high schools and middle schools use MLA citation format for papers and projects. MLA stands for Modern Language Association of America.

Click here for an example of an MLA paper from the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

 

 

Your citation will usually include if applicable and available:

 

AUTHOR (Last name, then first), TITLE (In italics for a book, in "quotation marks" for an article), JOURNAL, WEBSITE, or BOOK which published the article, like an encyclopedia (In italics), OTHER AUTHORS and CONTRIBUTORS, like editors, EDITION or version, VOLUME or other number, PUBLISHER, PUBLICATION DATE (day month year), URL (website address). 

 

How to find the correct form for your citations and papers:  

 

1.  Use an official book put out by the MLA -- either the MLA Style Manual, or the shorter handbook. [The MLA handbook was updated in 2021 to the 9th edition]. The guidelines can also be found in the internet. The Purdue Univeristy OWL (Online Writing Lab) is a great citation and writing resource used by students at many schools. 

 

Note the differences between the full citations in a Works Cited list and the short in-text citations.

 

2. Use a Citation Generator. Enter the information about your source and a citation generator will create the cite for you. Then you can copy and paste it into your project or your works cited page.

 

 

• Google Docs --> Go to -->  Tools --> '' Citations --> MLA (8th ed.) --> + Add citation source --> choose Source type [for example, "Website" or "Journal article"] --> Accessed by [for example, "Website" or "Online database"] --> if a Website, copy and paste the URL (web address) --> Search --> if site found then --> Continue --> Add citation source --> Insert Works Cited. 
• Easy Bib -- [ https://www.easybib.com/mla/source]  
• Citation machine.net -- [https://www.citationmachine.net/mla].
• Bibme -- [https://www.bibme.org/mla]
• The Oregon School Library Citation Maker - [ https://secondary.oslis.org/cite-sources ] 

 

If you can't find the name of the author, leave it blank. The title of the information source will become the first entry. 

 

3. Look for citations provided within the document you're using. Most subscription databases include this in their articles. Look for ". 

 

You can copy and paste the citation into your document.

• Use the in-text short form in the body of your work.
• The full citation goes in a "Works Cited" page.
• In a Works Cited page, citations are listed alphabetically by the author's last name. 

 

Cite this page in MLA format (9th ed.)

 

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