Sourcing
WHAT IS A REPUTABLE SOURCE?
A credible source in academic writing is
• Work written by an expert in the subject area.
• Edited and fact-checked by multiple other experts to ensure that the information is accurate.
• It is comprehensively researched, and as free as possible from bias.
• A credible source is reviewed by peers with some expertise in the field and cites the sources it
uses itself to make and support its argument.
This structure of credibility and authority prevents material being published which contains false data or
guesswork that could mislead its audience.
Wikipedia is not a credible source because its contributors are not experts. Wikipedia often does not cite
all of its sources for its claims, and the references it does cite can be suspicious or unreliable themselves.
WHAT SOURCES CAN BE CONSIDERED AS CREDIBLE?
• materials published within last 10 years;
• Research articles written by respected and well-known authors;
• Websites registered by government and educational institutions (.gov, .edu, .ac);
• Academic databases (i.e. Academic Search Premier or JSTOR or Google Scholar).
WHAT SOURCES CAN YOU AVOID?
• Out-of-date materials (published over 10 years ago);
• Posts from social networks (i.e. facebook);
• Blogs;
• Research articles without citations;
• Websites ending in .com, .org, .net etc.
MLA Style: In-Text Citations
WHAT IS AN IN-TEXT CITATION?
• In-text citations are little tags that show your reader where you found the information you are
quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing.
• Every in-text citation corresponds to the source’s full citation, which is listed at the end of the
paper in the Works Cited page.
WHY DO WE NEED IN-TEXT CITATIONS?
• In-text citations give credit to the authors that have helped you shape your ideas.
• They also help your reader find the full source citation in your Works Cited page.
• With your in-text citations and your Works Cited page, your reader can see how well you
integrated research into your paper.
WHAT GOES INTO AN IN-TEXT CITATION?
• An in-text citation includes the following two things
o The author’s last name.
o The page number(s). (Note: web sources do not have page #’s; you may use paragraph
#’s instead)
WHAT DOES AN IN-TEXT CITATION LOOK LIKE?
1. Signal Phrase Citation: In a signal phrase citation, the author name shows up at the beginning of
the sentence, and the page number (in parentheses) shows up at the end of the sentence
o A signal phrase helps you introduce the ideas of the author you quote, summarize, or
paraphrase. You can make a basic signal phrase with nothing more than the author’s last
name and a verb (argues, notes, believes, suggests, etc.)
Example: John Andrews argues that in-text citations are easy to create (4).
2. Parenthetical Citation: A parenthetical citation is one where the author’s name and page number
show up in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
o This is a good option when you are summarizing or paraphrasing. It is also a good option
when you have already mentioned/cited an author or source in your paper.
Examples: “In-text citations are easy to create” (Andrews 4).
MLA Style: Bibliographies/Work Cited
WHY WE USE IT
• We use bibliographies to acknowledge authors, whose words or ideas you have used, at the end
of your essay in the ‘Works Cited’
HOW WE USE IT
• To introduce the bibliography, the phrase ‘Works Cited’ should be centered (not in bold or
underlined).
CITATIONS REQUIRE THESE ELEMENTS
• Author and/or editor names (ed).
• “Title of source” or Title of Source. (Note: second is used when there is no container)
• Title of container, (the larger whole, e.g., collection of poetry, periodical, sourcebook,
encyclopedias etc.)
o Other contributors,
o Version,
o Number,
• Publisher,
• Publication year,
• Location (e.g., page number, URL).
• Date Accessed (Note: For online sources only)
CITATIONS REQUIRE THIS FORMAT
• Alphabetical order.
• Double-space entries.
• Indent the second line of each work (hanging indent).
• Italicize titles.
• For English titles and subtitles, capitalize all title words except for prepositions and conjunctions
when they fall in the middle of a title)
o Examples of prepositions include; on, to, from, and for.
o Examples of conjunctions include; and, but, and or.
EXAMPLES:
Books- Author, last name first. Title in capitalized and italicized.
Snicket, Lemony., and Brett Helquist. The Bad Beginning. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
Seth. It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken. Drawn and Quarterly, 1996.
Edited Book
Bloom, Harold, editor. Margaret Atwood. New ed., Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2009.
Collections
Atwood, Margaret. “The Immigrants.” Selected Poems: 1966-1984. Toronto: Oxford University
Press, 1990. pp. 73-75
Scholes, Robert, et al. Elements of Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama. Oxford University Press,
2015. Page 596
Journal Articles / E-Journals
Pigott, Brooke S., and Madeline A. Kalbach. “Language Effects on Ethnic Identity in Canada.”
Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. 37, no. 2, 2005, pp. 3-18.
Heller, Monica. “Langues, communauté et identité: le discours expert et la question du français
au Canada.” Anthropologie et sociétés, vol. 31, no. 1, 2007, pp. 39-54. Érudit,
[Link]/revue/as/2007/v31/n1/[Link].
Magazine
Hewitt, Ben. “Quick Fixed for Everyday Disasters” Popular Mechanics. New York, 2004. pp. 82-88
Website
“Exploring the Historical Consciousness of Canadians.” Canadians and Their Pasts/Les Canadiens et
leurs passés, [Link]/
In-text: (“Exploring”, pars. 1-2)
Annotated Bibliography
WHAT IS AN ANNOTATION?
• An annotation is a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram.
WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?
• An “annotated bibliography” is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents, etc.
• Each citation is followed by a brief description and evaluation paragraph, the annotation.
(approximatly100-150 words)
• The purpose of the “annotation” is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of
the sources cited.
Examples
1. Bytwerk, Randall L. Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German
Democratic Republic. Esst Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2004. Print.
This book was written in 2004 by Randall Bytwerk. Bending Spines examines the range of
propaganda techniques used by Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic and explains why
both systems failed in part because they expected more of their propaganda than it was able to deliver. It
would be a useful as a source of information for an essay because it is filled with relevant information
the subject on method of propaganda, this work is a secondary scholarly source.
2. Herf, Jeffrey. The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust.
Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006. Print.
This book was written in 2006 by Jeffery Herf. The Jewish Enemy contains an original and haunting
display of the ways in which Hitler legitimized war and genocide to his own people, seen as necessary to
destroy the Jewish people. This piece is a mix of primary sourced propaganda images and posters, as
well as secondary source research done by the author. It is an interesting piece of material because it
provided insight into the methods of propaganda used as well as examples.
MLA Practice Worksheet
In Parenthesis Task
1.) "He spoke to us in German and then left us behind" ( ).
--from Donaldson's Bantering on Watergate, page 45
2.) "I never thought of myself as proud", says Jennings in his book Pushing the Limits of Political
Journalism ( ).
--This source was located on page 107.
3.) "Politics is such an interesting field" ( ).
--From Charles Smith's book, page 451.
4.) "Enraged is how he felt after the episode" ( ).
--From Jason Xavier's book Somewhere in the Political Realm, page 233.
5.) In Political Guide to the United States, Xavier and Yater explore the idea that the U.S. is changing
politically ( ).
--From page 544 of this book.
In the spaces provided below, create a bibliography around a specific topic (animals, friendship, school,
etc) that contains: 2 novels, 2 articles, 2 web pages, and 1 magazine or news article.
Plagiarism Awareness
Plagiarism as defined is: any use of someone else’s words or ideas without explicit and complete
documentation and acknowledgement.
Deliberate Plagiarism:
1) Buying another person’s work or asking another to do work for you.
2) Misrepresenting sources: concocting information or finding information in one source and attributing
it to another. Also, citing sources which have not been consulted is considered deliberate plagiarism.
3) Passing off the work of other writers as your own—entire articles, paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and
even ideas.
An act of deliberate plagiarism for any work in this course will result in a assignment grade of F
and a zero will be recorded.
Incorrect Attribution of Sources (Non-deliberate plagiarism):
1) Distinctions between quoting and paraphrasing
2) Use appropriate citation marks (quotation marks surrounding directly quoted materials, correct
author’s name and page numbers for parenthetical citation).
Other Forms of Plagiarism:
1) Submitting a paper written for another class or for another assignment.
2) Allowing a friend or tutor to add text to your paper (Feedback from colleagues
is encouraged, but all words in the paper should ultimately be your own).
Non-deliberate acts of plagiarism may also result in receiving a grade of “zero” for the particular
assignment.
Distinctions between Quotation, Paraphrase, and Summary:
Quotation: an exact duplication of the author’s words as they appear in original source.
Paraphrase: a restatement of the author’s words in your own words.
Summary: a brief condensation of the main point of the original source.
Quick Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism
• Place all quoted material in quotation marks.
• Identify sources from which you paraphrase or summarize.
• Give credit for the creative ideas you borrow from a source, including particular uses of
anecdotes or examples.
• When paraphrasing and summarizing, replace the structure of the passage and the language with
your own.
• Acknowledge borrowed organization—use of same subtopics or same point-by- point analysis.
