Avoid Plagiarizing: You must cite any direct quotation, summary, or paraphrase of any idea or fact from your research. Citing sources is giving credit to the original author and publication where you found the information. Not citing sources is plagiarism and you may be subject to academic discipline.
Lend Authority to Your Paper: By referencing the work of scholars, professionals, and individuals with lived experiences around a topic, you demonstrate that your own research is based on solid, reliable information and that you are capable of critical thinking by being able to synthesize that research into your own.
Provide a Path: By citing sources, you provide the information that readers of your essay or presentation need in order to locate the same sources that you did.
Acknowledge Other's Work: Part of your research is built upon the research of other people. In the scholarship tradition in the United States, it is considered respectful and fair to give them credit for their hard work (just as you might hope someone would give you credit if they were quoting your own work!)
MLA (Modern Language Association) Style is used in Literature, Arts, and Humanities disciplines. Always consult your assignment or ask your instructor for the correct citation style to use
Article in a Library Database:
Cooper, Mary H. "America's Pampered Pets." CQ Researcher, vol. 6, no. 48, 27 Dec. 1996, pp. 1129-52. CQ Researcher Online, library.cqpress.com.ezproxy.greenriver.edu/cqresearcher/docu
ment.php?id=cqres. Accessed 6 Nov. 2000.
Complete MLA Citation Guide:
The Core Elements of a citation MLA 8 style are as follows:
Author. | Last Name, rest of name as presented in the source. |
Title of source. |
Put name of source in italics.**However, If citing an article or part of the source, put that title in quotation marks with no italics: “Article Name." |
Title of container, | |
Other contributors, | |
Version, | |
Number, | |
Publisher, | |
Publication Date, | |
Location. | |
Date Accessed. |
The "container" gives readers more information about a source. Web sites, journals, databases, and books are just some examples of containers. In many ways, this simplifies things for the digital age by offering consistency across various formats and mediums.