MLA Citation Notecards

What is a citation? Remember, citation refers to the way(s) we give credit to authors whose opinions, thoughts, or information are not our own. Citations allow us to avoid plagiarism which are punishable at the high school level with a “0” and/or a referral.

Because access to resources is ever-evolving, the process for citing these resources must be flexible. Guidelines for citing sources have changed many times; however, MLA has adopted a more flexible method/process.

Core Elements Author. Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Title of source. The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks Underline/Italicize Quotation Marks Books Periodicals (newspaper articles, journals, magazines) Websites Songs Poems Include URLs when you cite online sources; URLs go at the very end of a citation. **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Title of container, the larger wholes in which the source is located The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma television series a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on Google Books, or watched a television series on Netflix. You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Other contributors, other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988. Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room. Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008. **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Version, Number, If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work Number, If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book, or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Publisher, The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher and they are all relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/) **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Publication date, When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your use of it. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

Core Elements Location. You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location An essay in a book, or an article in journal-page numbers An online work-URL A physical object that you experienced firsthand-the place of location **Include the punctuation marks as shown above

When in Doubt… Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Conducting Research As you conduct research to find relevant information to support your thesis statement or explore alternative viewpoints, you will need to take notes on the information you found. This information will be written on notecards which you will to help keep you organized

Notetaking Methods Quotations -must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word Paraphrasing -involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly. Summarizing -involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material. ALL 3 methods of notetaking must be attributed to the original author

Source Cards A source card is the first card you will create each time you consult a new resource Source cards should be labeled with a number in the upper right hand corner(progress in chronological order)—this number will appear on each note card created using that source, so the notecard numbers should correspond with matching source card number The number is only for your reference to help you stay organized

Source Cards On the next line, write out the bibliography information for the source you are consulting (this references the core elements we discussed in the notes yesterday) This makes the process of creating a Bibliography/Works Cited page for your research paper much easier as you will have all of your information already written out Source cards follow what is known as a hanging ident-do NOT indent the first line, but do indent subsequent lines **Optional: add specific keywords in the bottom right-hand corner which can help you should you need to find the source again

1 Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Foreword by Edwidge Danticat, HarperPerrenial ModernClassics, 18 September 1937.

Notecards Begin your notecard by placing the source number in the upper right hand corner of the notecard Label the upper left-hand corner of the notecard with a topic (recycle these topics on notecards for other sources as appropriate) Write the notes you take from each source on the body of your notecard If you use a quotation, be sure to copy the quotations accurately, and put quotation marks around those words In the bottom right hand corner of the notecard, write the page numbers from which you have taken your notes

Vernacular Example 1 “’Aw, Aw! Ah’m colored!” pg. 5

Research Requirements You must consult a minimum of 5 sources At least one source must be found on scdiscus.org You must have at least 15 notecards Be sure sources are credible

Using Discus Utilize the Literary Reference Center Search for literary criticisms, journals, articles that say “html full text” or “pdf full text” The “abstract” is only a summary of the original text/article you are trying to access

Creating an Outline

Why do you need an outline? Organization is important! You do not want to begin a paper with no direction about where you’re headed—this guarantees disorganization and confusion. The easiest way to avoid any of these occurrences is to create an outline. It’s much easier to fix an outline than to fix a draft.

The Rules Format your paper according to traditional MLA guidelines Give your paper a creative title (not Research Paper) which reflects the topic of your essay Type your thesis statement first (labeled as Thesis Statement)

The Rules Each paragraph of your essay will be represented by a Roman numeral (I, II, III, IV, V…) These paragraphs should be identified and referenced with specific topics

The Rules Under each Roman numeral, you should explain what will be included in each paragraph Components in each paragraph are labeled first with uppercase letters (A,B,C, D…), then letters numbers (1,2,3,4…), then lower case letters (a,b,c,d)

The Rules With all components of the outline, if you have a “I” then you must have a “II.” If you have an “A,” then you must have a “B.” If there is a “1” then there must be a “2,” and if there is an “a,” there must be a “b.”

The Rules After your Roman numerals, which start at the margin of your paper, you must indent each additional level of your outline

Title: H2O for the Mind, Body, & Soul Thesis: Water is the healthiest beverage to drink. I. Common info. about water A. Chemical makeup of water B. Amount of water consumed in a year C. Water is the healthiest beverage to drink II. The benefits of water A. Keeps the body hydrated 1. Body composed of 70% water 2. Dehydration causes organ issues B. Natural remedy for physical ailments 1. Digestion issues a. Drink in the am on empty stomach b. Wait 45 min before eating