Citing sources in an MLA formatted research paper
REMEMER: OWL is your first resource for reference!
To properly cite sources—to refer to the sources from which you borrowed ideas or quotes—you must begin with a correctly formatted “Bibliography”, which you have already completed. Any sources you use for your paper will then be moved to a “Works Cited” page. You will notice that the sources are alphabetized by the author’s last name or an abbreviation of the title of the article or website:
Citations in the paper: there are two ways to cite sources: explicitly or parenthetically
1)Cite the expert or article explicitly, especially when the source appears to be an expert in their field, to build authority in your paper:
Researcher and university professor, Linda Caporael suggested this idea when she compared symptoms of LSD and the symptoms of the town’s people.
According to Caporael, “this fungus contains chemical precursors used to synthesize the powerful psychedelic drug LSD”.
2)Later references to the same source can be cited explicitly or with a parenthetical citation in which you cite the author’s last name:
Convulsive ergotism causes nervous dysfunction which are similar to many of the physical symptoms of those alleged to be afflicted by witchcraft (Caporael).
3)When you quote a source without an author you may refer to it explicitly or use a parenthetical citation that cites an abbreviationof the title of the article or website.
According to the article “Salem Witch Trials: The World Behind the Hysteria” repression from Puritan authority figures may have fueled the hysteria.
Other theories suggest that repression from Puritan authority figures may have fueled the hysteria (“Salem Witch Trials”).
4) If you have two sources with very similar titles, you will need to include enough of the second title to distinguish them:
(Miller, “Why I Wrote”)
(Miller, The Crucible)
(“Salem Witch Trials”)
(“Salem Witch Hysteria”)
Note: Referring to them explicitly, the way a journalist or magazine writer naturally would, can help you distinguish them, too:
“In Miller’s narrative notes to Act I of The Crucible he states…”
“The PBS website article ‘Salem Witch Hysteria’ informs us that…”
5)In many cases, the source you are referencing is quoting someone else they have interviewed or researched. If you decide that you would like to use the same quote, you are responsible for giving credit to two different sources—the person who said the quote and the person writing the article. Let us look at this citation from an imaginary article by Douglas Lindner, quoting playwright Arthur Miller:
Arthur Miller contended that, “Sex, sin, and the Devil were early linked, and so they continued to be in Salem..” (qtd in Lindner 17). Obviously, Miller understood one possible cause for witchcraft hysteria…
If you are quoting indirectly, in your own words, the “qtd” is not needed:
Arthur Miller contended that we always assume our enemy is guilty of sexual immorality (Lindner 17).
SOME REMINDERS
1. After the information that comes from another source, CITE the source using the author’s last name and page number. Ex: (Whorton 17). No author? Cite by an abbreviation of the title. Ex: “The Communist Plot” would be (“Communist Plot” 21).
2. Cite ALL unoriginal information, not only direct quotations.
3. Ask yourself, “Is this my idea?” If not, CITE IT!
4. Ask yourself, “Are these my words?” If not, use QUOTATION MARKS and cite it.
5. MAKE SURE your internal citations match the first items (author or title) for the source citations on your works cited page.