As you become a more sophisticated writer, you will begin to use outside sources of information to support your ideas.  You must document these sources, and you will need to do this in several ways.  First of all, you will need to cite any information within the body of your text that is taken from another source.  You do this by adding a note next to the pertinent information.  You will also need to include a Works Cited page at the end of your paper. 

So what information am I required to cite?

As mentioned above, you must cite any information taken from an outside source.  You must also cite any information not generally regarded as common knowledge, such as: 

• Facts and statistics

• Quotations

• Someone else’s ideas and opinions, even if you restate or paraphrase them in your work

• Each sentence in a long paraphrase if the various pieces of information come from separate sources

The MLA Handbook uses parenthetical notation to cite resources.  These citations contain two main elements: the author’s last name and the page number where the information is located.

Example:

By 1745 there were approximately 45, 000 German speakers in the colonies, and by 1790 there were some 200,000 (Anderson 80).

Notice how there is no comma between the author’s last name and the page number.

Here are some other tips to follow:

• Do not use an abbreviation for the word page, such as pp. or p.

• The period of the sentence is placed after the notation.

• Leave a space between the last word and the notation, as well as a space between the author’s last name and the page number.

Citing Quotations

Quotations are useful when you need to support your ideas with other people’s opinions or information provided directly from another written source.  All quotations must be cited in a parenthetical note after the quotation marks, unless they are longer than four lines.

Examples:

In her essay “Black Women and Motherhood,” the author remarks, “Motherhood can serve as a site where Black women express and learn the power of self-definition” (Collins 132). 

In her essay “Black Women and Motherhood,” Patricia Hill Collins remarks, “Motherhood can serve as a site where Black women express and learn the power of self-definition” (132). 

Blocking Quotes

When a quote runs more than four lines, you will need to place it in a blocked format. Follow this process for determining when to block a quote, as well as how to do it.

Step 1:  Type the quote normally.

William Burroughs, in his autobiography Junky, attempts to describe the aimless existence of a heroine addict.  Burroughs writes, “So I drifted along, scoring through Pat.  I stopped drinking, stopped going out at night, and fell into a routine schedule: a cap of junk three times a day, and the time in between to be filled somehow.  Mostly I spent my time painting and working around the house.  Manual work makes the time pass fast.  Of course, it often took me a long time to score” (Burroughs 75).  Burroughs’s writing explores the effects of substance abuse--how it can obliterate the meaning in one's life.

Step 2:  If the quoted material runs more than four lines, begin the quote on a separate line and indent the quote by pushing the tab button twice. Remove the quotation marks 

William Burroughs, in his autobiography Junky, attempts to describe the aimless existence of a heroine addict.  Burroughs writes,

So I drifted along, scoring through Pat.  I stopped drinking, stopped going out at night, and fell into a routine schedule: a cap of junk three times a day, and the time in between to be filled somehow.  Mostly I spent my time painting and working around the house.  Manual work makes the time pass fast.  Of course, it often took me a long time to score.  (Burroughs 75) 

Burroughs’s writing explores the effects of substance abuse--how it can obliterate the meaning in one's life.