MLA How to format a research paper.

C ITING A S CHOOL S OURCE (F OUND IN D ESTINY ) 1. Find the book you are using in the library catalog.library catalog. 2. Click on “Add to this List” (Right side of screen) 3. Click on the “Resource List” tab on the left panel of the screen. 4. Click on “View” (next to “My List”) 5. Scroll down to “Create—Citation List” and click on “GO!” 6. The citation that appears here is the one you copy onto your source card.

C ITING A N ON -S CHOOL S OURCE (F OUND AT P UBLIC L IBRARY, O N A T EACHER ’ S B OOKSHELF, O N THE W EB, ETC.) 1. Open Microsoft Word Click on the “References” tab at the top of the screen 3. Click “Insert Citation” THEN “Add New Source” 4. Choose the “Type of Source” from the dropdown list (Book, newspaper, website, etc.) 5. Using your source, enter the required information. Capitalize when necessary (titles, names, etc.)—Examples will appear at the bottom of the screen to help you. **If you don’t know/can’t find the information for one of the text fields, leave it BLANK. 6. After entering all of the information, hit “OK” 7. Click on “Bibliography” THEN scroll down to select “Works Cited” 8. The citation that appears on the Word document is what you will copy onto your source card.

U SE THE C ITATIONS C REATED BY D ESTINY OR M ICROSOFT W ORD TO C REATE Y OUR S OURCE C ARDS (Number of the Source) ______-1-____________________________________ _____________________________________________ Hosseini, Khaled. Kite runner. New York:_____ Riverhead Books, Print.______________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

N OTE C ARDS (Number of Source from Source Cards) ____-1-_______________________________________ ______________________________________________ Paraphrased information. Use quotations when necessary. (Place page numbers in parentheses following the information)____________________ _______________________________________________ “That Hassan would grow up illiterate like Ali and most Hazaras had been decided the minute he had been born” (28).___________________________________ ____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Q UOTATIONS Must be accurate. Copy the text exactly as it appears. Use conservatively. Quote especially powerful or poignant passages or phrases. If you use even one word from the original source, place quotations around it. When in doubt, ask for help.

P ARAPHRASING IS … your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form. one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source. a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.

6 S TEPS TO E FFECTIVE P ARAPHRASING … 1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning. 2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card. 3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase. 4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form. 5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phrase you have borrowed exactly from the source. 6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

P ARAPHRASING E XAMPLE : The original passage: Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): A legitimate paraphrase: In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47). An acceptable summary: Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47). A plagiarized version: Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

P ARAPHRASING P RACTICE : While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15. How much higher skyscrapers of the future will rise than the present world marvel, the Sears Tower, is unknown. However, the design of one twice as tall is already on the boards, and an architect, Robert Sobel, thinks we currently have sufficient know-how to build a skyscraper with over 500 stories (Bachman 15).

P ARENTHETICAL C ITATIONS Insert a citation after EVERY quotation or paraphrase. Essentially, every time you use info from a note card, there should be a citation. There should be multiple citations in each paragraph of your paper.

T YPES OF P ARENTHETICAL C ITATIONS Author introduced in the sentence (quotes less then 4 lines): As Hunter notes in her biography, Fitzgerald and Zelda shared a relationship filled with “animosity” (17). Notes: Quotation marks go before the parentheses. The period always goes after the parentheses.

P ARENTHETICAL C ITATIONS ( CON ’ T ) Author not introduced in the sentence. Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, shared a marriage filled with “animosity” (Hunter 17). Notes Quotes go before parentheses. Last name precedes page number in parentheses. There is no comma between the last name of the author and the page number.

Q UOTES LONGER OF 4 OR MORE LINES Should be indented one full tab. Parentheses with the last name and page number(s) follow the quote: Of course, humans have experimented with various recreational drugs for this purpose since recorded history without much success. Cocaine, to name one, produces an instant and intense euphoria (…). (Axelrod 144)