The sooner you actually learn this, the better (and easier)your educational

career will be!

Referencing and Works Cited

English departments most often use the MLA style of in-text citations (parenthetical references) and Works Cited

Pages. There are many places on-line to find this information. There is also a manual you can buy in your local bookstore. However, to make your life easier, there is Noodletools.com and I’ve posted stuff on my homework app.

Parenthetical References These are little names and numbers that go

inside parenthesis (thus the parenthetical part of the actual title ). They are also referred to sometimes as in-text citations. In most cases, they come after the quote or paraphrased material, but before the end period.

EX: “The Colbert Report is the best show on television” (Stewart 14).

This implies that the info. appeared on page 14 of a book/source written by someone with the last name of Stewart. For more information on the source, the reader turns to the Works Cited Page and finds the entry that begins with Stewart.

EX: “The Colbert Report is the best show on television” (Stewart 14). Please note the end quotation marks come

before the beginning parenthesis, and also note that there is NO punctuation after the author’s name. There is just a space between the author’s last name and the page number on which the information appears. There is also no pg., page, p…. Just a space!!!!

Where does the citation go? It usually appears at the end of the sentence;

however, if you are writing a long sentence and only the first part needs cited, you may put a citation mid-text.

Contemporaries of Stephen Colbert have said, “The Colbert Report is the best show on television” (Stewart 14), however, many so-called journalists on Fox News disagree wholeheartedly.

Contemporaries of Stephen Colbert have said, “The Colbert Report is the best show on television” (Stewart 14), however, many so-called journalists on Fox News disagree wholeheartedly.

Please note the comma which introduces the quote after the word said. Direct quotes can also be introduced with a colon, usually when the word said is missing.

VERY IMPORTANT….

If the only source you have in your whole paper is the novel Ethan Frome, then you do NOT have to put (Wharton 16) and (Wharton 104) after quotes and paraphrases. You can just put (16) and (104) because if there is only one source for the paper, then it is a “given” that each page number refers back to the ONE source. In fact, it would be incorrect to put Wharton each time.

If the information you are citing is found on multiple consecutive pages, then the citation can look like this (Wharton 14-17) or possibly just (14 – 17)

If it’s on multiple pages that are not consecutive, then it would be (Wharton 14, 23)

PUNCTUATION IN CITATIONS All I have to say is pay attention to the

examples you have and get it right. The period after the citation will always come

outside of the parentheses. You should never have two periods (one in

the quotation marks and one after the parentheses!) The one in the quotation marks is dropped and moved outside of the parentheses.

“The Colbert Report is the best show on television” (Stewart 14).

The period which would have been after the word television is moved to after the citation.

Exclamation points and Questions marks are exceptions to the rule. They can stay with the quote AND you still put a period after the parentheses.

What needs to be cited?

Please cite everything that is not common knowledge. Thus you do not have to cite something like

EX: It is hard to tell which party is stupider, Republicans or Democrats, because neither seems to be able to fix the failures of our country.

YOU DO HAVE TO CITE…… Direct Quotes Paraphrased Material that is not common

knowledge. Summarized material that is not common

knowledge. REMEMBER – if you are a Biology geek, you

still should cite information that is not common knowledge to lay people like Mrs. Adaway and is only common knowledge to science geeks (I mean buffs). Think outside your box of “common” knowledge.

Qtd. in

Don’t overlook the INDIRECT SOURCE parenthetical reference. In these cases, the reference will appear as (qtd. in Adaway)

You will use this if you are using a quote from a quote website as your hook!!!! It is for when you are not using the direct source, but rather a compilation of information, like you would find on quotes.com

Qtd. in

For instance, if you are using a MLK Jr. quote from quotationary. com. If you put in parenthesis (King), and then in your works cited page have

King, Martin Luther, Jr. Freedom Quotes. Quotationary.com. www.quotationary.com. November 4, 2011.

You have given MLK, Jr. (a dead man) credit for the entire website!!!!!

If you actually looked up, read, and then quoted the ORIGINAL material, like the speech MLK actually gave, then you cite him directly. Since you likely didn’t do that, it is a secondary source, and you will do a qtd. in.

“I have a dream that my four children will some day live in a world where they are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (qtd. in “Freedom Quotes).

REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT Whatever is the key word in your parenthetical

reference… ideally an author’s last name, but possible an editor’s name, the first word in a title (other than the, a, etc.) if the source does not have an author, etc. MUST match the first word for this entry on your works cited page. SO, if (Dumb 47) appears in your paper. I expect, on your works cited, to see something like

“Dumb things Politicians have said.” Pundits Unite International Website. 12 Dec. 2005. 26 Jan. 2006. http://www.iloveliberals.com

Note: Noodletools.com will actually tell you what should go in the ( ) for a parenthetical reference!

For your Frome Essay….

It’s pretty simple. You cite the novel… whatever copy of the novel YOU are using. Do not use a generic works cited entry you get from EASYBIB. It needs to be the one you actually used with the page numbers where the info appears according to the source you are using!

You may have an additional citation, depending on what your hook is. If you use a quote or a fact or something you researched/looked up. It must be cited. Noodletools will help you formulate an entry for song title, etc., should you need this help.

WORKS CITED

Put Works Cited at the top of a new page, centered, no bold, no underline, no all caps

Alphabetize the entries according to the first letter of the key word (usually the author’s last name, or editor’s name, or first non-article word in title.)

DO NOT NUMBER, or bullet or anything each entry.

Works Cited Cont.

Indent the second and any add’l lines of the entry. The first line is left justified.

Put a period at the end of each entry Do not include the Bible. (Whoever made up this

rule is just stupid.) Single space, do not put add’l spaces between

entries Page number, the logical number that comes after

the last page of your paper. For the I-Search, this really shouldn’t be page 27

It is YOUR responsibility to look at the resources I’ve posted on line and to get this right. Use Noodletools for your Works Cited page… it’s smarter than you are! Really, it is!