ENG 380.10 Multicultural American Literature—Other Voices & Stories. (C. Enriquez): Home

Information about the 8th edition of the MLA Style Handbook can be found in the MLA Style Center, including A Quick Guide to Works Cited, What's New and Ask the MLA

MLA instructions from Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) can be helpful

'Facts are different from ideas: facts may not need to be cited, whereas ideas must always be cited.' - Academic Integrity at Princeton University

When to Cite

• Direct quotes
  

Quotation- Any verbatim use of a source, even one word, must be placed in quotation marks and cited.

• Ideas (that are not your own)
  

Paraphrase-Paraphrase is a restatement of another person’s thoughts or ideas in your own words. Don't use quotation marks but do cite the source you are paraphrasing.

Summary- is a concise statement of another person’s thoughts or ideas in your own words. A summary is normally shorter than the original.

Facts, Information, and Data- Often you’ll want to use facts or information to support your own argument. If the information is found exclusively in a particular source, you must clearly acknowledge that source.

When NOT to Cite 

Common Knowledge-When facts or information is generally well known and accepted you do not need to cite a source.

Example:

1. John Quincy Adams was the first President of the United States who was the son of  U.S President (John Adams).
2. Water freezes at 0° C or 32° F.
3. The Capital of Spain is Madrid.
4. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815.

Common knowledge does not require citation, but finding the same fact or piece of information in multiple sources doesn’t necessarily mean that it counts as common knowledge.

When in doubt- Cite.

Information taken from "When to Cite Sources." - Academic Integrity at Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.