Citing a source in an essay is crucial to providing support for your arguments and to avoiding plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of using someone else's ideas or words as if they were your own, and it is considered a serious offense in academia. By properly citing a source, you show your reader that you have done your research and that you are giving credit to the original creator of the ideas or information that you are presenting. In this essay, we will discuss how to properly cite a source in an essay using the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style.
When citing a source in an essay, it is important to follow the guidelines of the citation style that you are using. The MLA style is commonly used in the humanities, such as literature, history, and the arts. It involves using parenthetical citations in the text of your essay and a list of works cited at the end of your essay.
To properly cite a source in the text of your essay, you will need to include the author's last name and the page number of the source in parentheses. For example:
According to Smith (123), the Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on the development of modern society.
If you are citing a source with multiple authors, you should include all of the authors' names in the citation. For example:
Johnson and Smith (123) argue that the Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on the development of modern society.
If you are citing a source with no author, you can use the title of the source in the citation. For example:
According to "The Industrial Revolution" (123), the Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on the development of modern society.
It is also important to include a list of works cited at the end of your essay. This list should include all of the sources that you have cited in your essay, in alphabetical order by the author's last name. The list should include the author's name, the title of the source, the publisher, and the publication date. For example:
Smith, John. "The Industrial Revolution." Oxford University Press, 2012.
By following these guidelines, you can properly cite a source in your essay and give credit to the original creators of the ideas or information that you are presenting. This is an important part of academic integrity and will help you to avoid plagiarism.
3 Ways to Cite a Textbook
For example: Several studies support this theory Einstein 1919; Faraday 1922 and Ford 1927. So here you would not want to quote the middle sentence, since it is repeated again in the more informative last sentence. Of course, creating this type of document mostly requires paraphrasing words and phrases from various sources, but sometimes you have to include direct citations. The cold truth about climate change. Don't include any punctuation at the end of the title. According to the APA format guide, if the journal article was found online, the following format should be followed: author with initial s , date of publication in parentheses, title, title of journal italicized , volume number italicized , issue number, page range, and DOI. Provide an in-text citation every time you paraphrase or quote from the article, and include a full citation in a bibliography at the end of your paper.
How to Cite Sources
It is important to understand the laws regarding plagiarism, so that you can avoid unintentionally violating them. Finally, a plagiarism lawsuit or even jail time are extremely serious consequences. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc. In a nutshell, the internet has made it easier than ever before to plagiarize documents. Type the title of the article in title case, capitalizing the first word along with all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and words with more than 4 letters.
The Serious Consequences Of Plagiarism
If, however, you are only citing the source to make a minor point, you may consider using parenthetical references, footnotes, or endnotes. Referencing and Citing a Research Paper: General Rules During writing this work, you must use various facts from other sources. Both footnotes and endnotes are used in the same way: to cite sources or add extra information. In this case, the institution has the authority to expel the student for failing to meet academic requirements. Did your source say something in a really interesting, concise or surprising way? When your reader comes across the footnote in the main text of your paper, he or she could look down at your comments right away, or else continue reading the paragraph and read your comments at the end. When a footnote must be placed at the end of a sentence, add the number after the period.
