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English 265: Multicultural Literature of the United States: Citing

Why Cite?

Documenting your sources is a necessity, which:

  1. Allows readers to find your sources;
  2. Provides evidence for your arguments;
  3. Adds credibility to your work;
  4. Avoids plagiarism, the consequence of which could be an allegation of academic misconduct. This could result disciplinary sanctions such as an oral reprimand, redoing your assignment, losing points off your grade, failing the class, being expelled, etc., all of which depend in part on the severity of the offense. For details, see the Avoiding Academic Misconduct Procedures web document and related documents such as Disciplinary Procedures: Student Academic Misconduct: UWS Chapter 14.

MLA Style

Whether you choose to quote, summarize, or paraphrase sources you use in your research paper, you must cite each one. For rules and examples in MLA 8th ed. style, look here:

Sometimes students will use online citation formatters provided free on the Web or within a library database. If you use one of these online formatters, remember that they are not foolproof. You will need to review your citations to make sure they are correct. This Citation Helper Tools guide may have some tools you can use. The library supports both Zotero and EndNote, which are very useful when using many sources.

Citing Criticism from Literature Criticism Online/Gale Literary Sources in MLA Style

Holladay, Hillary. “Narrative Space in Ann Petry’s Country Place.”
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Linda Pavlovski and Scott
Darga, vol. 112, Gale, 2002, pp. 356-62. Literature Criticism Online,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=JVPFJB936361473&v=2.1&u=h2o&it=
r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=ddb4aa8a6683d6872d5e69b99859ca71. Originally
published in Xavier Review, vol. 16, no. 1, 1996, pp. 21-35.

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