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SYRCE 2016/2017

This guide provides resources for the 2016/2017 SYRCE Program.

Why do I need to cite?

Why do I need to cite sources?

There are three main reasons to cite your sources when doing research.

  • To lend credibility to your research.
  • To give credit to other scholars for their work.
  • To avoid plagiarism.

Should I cite it?

Cite it! No citation needed.
-  others exact words -  common knowledge
-  others ideas & opinions -  your own words, ideas & opinions
-  images, photos, artwork & video -  easily observable phenomena
-  computer code, experiments, & data -  generally accepted facts
-  and more . . .  

 

Remember, when in doubt, cite it!

 

MLA Quick Links

MLA In-text Citations

MLA Examples:

The global debt crisis is having a strong impact on women and children in developing nations (Bronstein 74).

--OR--

Bronstein contends the global debt crisis is having a strong impact on women and children in developing nations (74).

For electronic sources that have no page number, give the paragraph number (par. 4).

Examples

Examples of how to format sources for your works cited list.

Book (one author) 

Harbord, Janet.  The Evolution of Film: Rethinking Film Studies.  Cambridge: Polity, 2007.  Print. 

Book (more than one author)

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago:

U of Chicago P, 2003. Print. 

Book (editor)

Shell, Marc, ed. American Babel: Literatures of the United States from Abnaki to Zuni.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2002. Print.

New York Public Library American History Desk Reference. New York: Macmillan, 1997. Print.

 
Article in a magazine

McEvoy, Dermot.  "Little Books, Big Success."  Publishers Weekly 30 Oct. 2006: 26-28.  Print.

Article in a scholarly journal

Piper, Andrew. "Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and the Book of Everything." PMLA 121.1 (2006): 124-38. Print.

Article in a scholarly journal that uses only issue numbers

Kafka, Ben. "The Demon of Writing: Paperwork: Paperwork, Public Safety, and the Reign of Terror." Representations 98

(2007): 1-24. Print.

Article or chapter in a collection of essays or an anthology

Bordo, Susan. "The Moral Content of Nabokov's Lolita." Aesthetic Subjects. Ed. Pamela R. Matthews and David

McWhirter. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2003. 125-52. Print.

 
Encyclopedia entry

"Japan." The Encyclopedia Americana. 2004 ed. Print.

An entire website with an author

Peterson, Susan. The Life of Martin Luther. Susan Peterson, 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2006.

*MLA style no longer requires a URL, unless the site cannot be found without the URL.

An entire website with an author where a URL is required*

*If your instructor requires a URL, include the URL at the end of the entry.

Peterson, Susan. The Life of Martin Luther. Susan Peterson, 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2006.

<http://www.susanpeterson.com/index_files/luther.htm>.

An entire website with a corporate author (organization or government department)

United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking Water Standards. EPA, 28 Nov. 2006. Web. 24 Jan. 2007.

An entire website with an unknown author

Margaret Sanger Papers Project. History Dept., New York U, 18 Oct. 2000. Web. 6 Jan. 2007.

Yoon, Mina. Home page. Oak Ridge Natl. Laboratory, 28 Dec. 2006. Web. 12 Jan. 2007.

A short work from (or part of) a website

 If the date of publication is not available, use n.d.

Shiva, Vandana. "Bioethics:  A Third World Issue." Native Web. Native Web, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2007.

An article from a library's subscription database

Jenson, Jill D. "It's the Information Age, so Where's the Information?" College Teaching 52.3 (2004): 107-12. Academic

Search Premier. Web. 2 Feb. 2005.

Article from an online scholarly journal (without page numbers)

If page numbers are not available, use n. pag.

Belau, Linda. “Trauma and the Material Signifier.” Postmodern Culture 11: 2 (2001): n. pag. Web. 20 Feb. 2006.

Article from an online magazine

Paulson, Steve. "Buddha on the Brain." Salon.com. Salon Media Group, 27 Nov. 2006. Web. 18 Jan. 2007.

Article from an online newspaper

Rubin Joel. "Report Faults Charter School." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2005. Web. 24 Jan. 2005.

E-book

Szeman, Imre. Zones of Instability: Literature, Postcolonialism, and the Nation. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 2004.  

            ebrary. Web. 29 Oct. 2008.

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