The Mention-Citation Sandwich

Creating a Bibliography

An LSCC Learning Center Self-Paced Tutorial

MLA Documentation

Basic Document Format

• Double space everything• Last name and page number on right

margin of header• Information at top of page one is

standardized (your name, instructor name, class, date)

• Title is centered• Works Cited page appears on separate

page after the text is finished

Sample First Page

What is MLA?• Modern Language Association

– Humanities– Most 4-year college classes will use

• Other documentation styles– Chicago Style– APA

• Used by Social Sciences• Most handbooks do cover (Bedford used in 1101)

– Many other specialized

• Once you learn one, others easy to adapt– All include citations within the text (or endnotes

or footnotes) and some type of bibliography

A Three-Pronged Attack

• Mention– In the paper, you will introduce sources– Get used to phrases like, “According to….”

• Citation– Parenthetical citations signal the end of source

material

• Works Cited Page– Your book/handbook provides models

Part 1: The Mention

• Come right out and say it!

• Use the author’s full name and article or book title the first time.

• Author’s last name thereafter.

• Sample:– According to Models

for Writers by Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz, “To describe is to create a verbal picture” (343).

– Rosa and Eschholz go on to give an example written by Thomas Mann of a deli (343).

Part 2: The Citation

• What goes inside the parentheses will vary by what source you have.

• Print sources: Author’s last name and page number (Smith 25).

• Electronic sources won’t have a page number: (Smith).

• Anonymous articles or books: abbreviation of the title— “Time for a Change” would become (“Time” 27) or (“Time”).

• Sample:– According to Models for

Writers by Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz, “To describe is to create a verbal picture” (343).

– Rosa and Eschholz go on to give an example written by Thomas Mann of a deli (343).

The Mention-Citation Sandwich

• It is NOT ok to just have a citation at the end of a paragraph– Implies that only the last sentence came from

the source

• By starting with a mention and ending with a citation, you make it clear everything from point A to point B came from that same source

• Examples….

The Mention-Citation Sandwich• Incorrect…..

The traditional Southern “lady” is the mistress of her husband’s plantation and a “symbol of lost virtue” in that the Southern men hadn’t been able to insure her safety during the Civil War. The men felt, then, obliged to protect her virtue from all harm. This led to a belief that “moral purity was the central tenet of womanhood”: “Ladies should be refined and passionless. A lady would never kiss a man who had not publicly announced his intention to marry her.... A wife’s vocation was to enhance the comfort, social status, and masculinity of her husband” (Blackwelder 98).

• Correct…..In “Ladies, Belles,

Working Women, and Civil Rights,” Julia Kirk Blackwelder offers a model of the traditional Southern “lady”: she is the mistress of her husband’s plantation and a “symbol of lost virtue” in that the Southern men hadn’t been able to insure her safety during the Civil War. The men felt, then, obliged to protect her virtue from all harm. This led to a belief that “moral purity was the central tenet of womanhood”: “Ladies should be refined and passionless. A lady would never kiss a man who had not publicly announced his intention to marry her.... A wife’s vocation was to enhance the comfort, social status, and masculinity of her husband” (98).

Works Cited Page

• Purpose: to give the reader the information necessary to find the source for him/herself.

• Contains all bibliographic information such as author, title, source, dates, etc.

• The information you will need includes:– Author, Title, Source, Date, Place/Publisher,

HTTP address, Volume/issue, Place of access

Works Cited Rules

• Alphabetized by author’s last name.

• If no author, the title is used.

• Double-spaced using “hanging indent.”

• Comes at the end of your paper but is part of the same document.

Other Tidbits

• Capitalization of Titles– Use traditional capitalization even if the source

you got it from does not! (Online sources are notorious for not following the old rules.)

• Quotation Marks for Titles– Magazine articles, songs, TV episodes, poems,

stories, etc.

• Italics (or underline) for Titles– Books, CD’s, TV shows, movies, etc.

Creating Entries

• All books & textbooks which cover how to cite sources do so by example– The LSCC Library has kindly provided a

handout that gives samples based on our databases and other resources

• In most cases, this is all you will need!

• Also examine the sections in our textbooks that give samples of Works Cited entries– Learn your way around these sections!

Computer Help with Works Cited

• When finished typing the paper itself, press Enter• Go to the INSERT menu and insert a PAGE BREAK• Center the word “Bibliography” or the phrase “Works

Cited”– Discuss the difference– #1 typo….Works Citied

• Press Enter, return to the Left Margin, and turn on “Hanging Indent”– Use the Format/Paragraph Menu– Can also use the Ruler

Adding Source Material to your Paper

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summary

Quoting

• Word-for-word inclusion of information from a source.

• Indicated as a quote with quotation marks.• When to use? When the original wording

is particularly striking or important.• Avoid over-using quotes, especially long

quotes that will have to be indented.

Paraphrase

• More than just re-wording.• Cannot have the same sentence structure.• A statement wholly in your own words that

captures information from a source.• Will not use quotation marks, but will still

indicate that a source is involved—mention/citation sandwich!

• Equal amount of space.

Summary

• Similar to paraphrase in that summary is in your own words and does not mimic the structure of the original in any way.

• The difference is that summary boils something large into something smaller.– A whole book could be summarized in one

paragraph.– A whole paragraph or essay might take up only

one sentence.

Clarity is Key

• How does your reader know what ideas are yours and what come from your sources?

• By using the Mention-Citation Sandwich, you will always make it clear where you end and where your sources begin.

• The following slide offers a sample from a research paper with the “source” areas highlighted.

Many people are asking themselves whether or not the music that kids listen to influences their behavior. Does listening to heavy metal make someone commit suicide? If a child listens to too much Tupac will he join a gang? If a teenager listens to Nelly’s Tip Drill,” will he grow up to treat women like sex objects? There really are no easy answers to this question, and you can certainly find people on both sides of the debate.

One artist who has recently come under fire is Reggae performer Beenie Man. As Peter Bailey’s article “Beenie Man Feels the Heat” points out, “Beenie Man is … taking heat from gay activists for his violently homophobic lyrics” (Bailey). Even if music like Beenie Man’s doesn’t make kids commit violent acts, you do have to wonder how appropriate it is for kids. OutRage President Peter Tatchell says, “’We’re talking about someone who is saying you should burn gay people alive’” (Bailey). Clearly, such acts are not acceptable. Bailey goes on to discuss a criminal case currently pending against Beenie Man in England. There, it is illegal “to use threatening words to incite violence” (Bailey). Whether or not Beenie Man’s words actually cause violence or not, many feel such language is simply inappropriate.

Now What?

• Your mission…..– To successfully document

sources in your Research Paper and any paper you ever write in which you get material from a source other than your brain

• The payoff….– Your instructors will love

you!– You will never inadvertently

plagiarize again!– See your instructor or

the Learning Center for extra help!

by

Jacklyn

R. PierceOriginal

Content for Slides