|
Jim Roth’s Website
Working with Words from a Source—MLA Style
(click here
for APA
Style)
To begin, always keep in mind that other writers’
words are their property, so it is critical to learn how to
use these borrowed words accurately and legally in your
writing.
When
should you use another writer’s words?
·
When something
is aptly said. (The
writer really “nailed it.”)
OR
·
When your ideas need
authoritative support. You sense that
your reader might need corroboration.
Otherwise, use your own words and ideas in your
essays.
NOTE: Typically only 20% of an essay is someone else’s
words or ideas. The rest of
the words and ideas come from you.
Please note: Always try to keep quotations as short as
possible. We’ll work on ways
to shorten long quotations later.
The
Basics (MLA style)
Let’s assume we want to work with the following
article:
The
article’s title is “Diplomacy in the 21st Century,”
written by Susan Barrett.
Let’s also
assume that we found this essay in the January 27, 2012 issue of the
magazine Modern Diplomacy and that Barrett’s article appeared
on pages 40 through 46 of the magazine.
The first
thing to do is to create a proper MLA works cited entry so we can
include this source on the Works Cited page at the end of our
essay.
According
to MLA guidelines, the proper MLA works cited page entry would be
Barrett,
Susan. “Diplomacy in the 21st Century.” Modern
Diplomacy. 27 Jan. 2012: 40-46.
Please note: Works Cited page entries
are double-spaced and, if longer than one line of type, the second
and subsequent lines are indented five spaces.
----------------------------------------------------
Now let’s
assume that we want to include the following sentence written by
Barrett in our essay. Let’s
also assume this sentence appeared on page 43 of the magazine.
Here’s the
sentence:
“In order for
diplomacy to be successful, it will have to follow very different
rules from the past.”
The best way to
blend these words with our own is to write a lead-in
or signal phrase. The reason we
need one is if we place the other writer’s words directly into our
essay with no introduction or lead-in, our reader may wonder why words
in quotation marks have suddenly appeared. Please note that I
have written a three or four word lead-in for each example:
Example#1:
I will use the words “According to one expert” as a signal phrase:
According
to one expert, “in order for diplomacy to be successful, it will have
to follow very different rules from the past” (Barrett 43).
Please
note that in Example #1 above, I must include
both the author’s last name and page number in the parentheses so
that my reader will know which source to look for on my Works Cited
page.
Also please
note that MLA format does NOT use ‘p’ or ‘pp’ to denote
page numbers, just the number by itself. Also, if you need to give the
author’s last name along with the page number (example #1), only a
space separates the author’s name and the page number.
Example#2
Now my signal
phrase will be “Barrett claims that.”
Barrett claims that “in order for diplomacy to be
successful, it will have to follow very different rules from the
past” (43).
Example#3
Next I will add the signal phrase at the end. My words are “writes Susan Barrett, a noted expert in the field.”
“In order for diplomacy to be successful, it will have
to follow very different rules from the past,” writes Susan Barrett,
a noted expert in the field (43).
Please
note in examples 2 and 3, I
needed to include only the page number because it was clear to my
readers who the owner of those words was.
Example#4
I can also put the signal phrase within the quotation: In the example below, my words are
“according to Barrett.”
“In order for
diplomacy to be successful,” according to Barrett, “it will have to
follow very different rules from the past” (43).
Example #5
I can
write a half-and-half sentence using a quotation. In the sentence below, the words “Successful diplomacy must” are mine:
Successful diplomacy must “follow very different rules from the past”
(Barrett 43).
Review:
If it is clear to your reader who the author of the information is,
you need include only the new page number in parentheses.
Important: After
giving your reader the author’s full name, subsequent references to
the author should be last name only. This may seem rude, but it
is the convention we use.
Important:
MLA format does NOT use ‘p’ or ‘pp’
when giving page numbers.
Further, only a single space separates the author’s last name
and page number.
Correct: (Barrett 42) INCORRECT in MLA: (Barrett,
p. 42) or (Barrett, 42).
Punctuation
Note: The period and comma are always placed before the
closing quotation mark.
Correct: “I really thought the soap was food.” Bob said, “please find my zebra,”
and then he left.
Using an ellipsis
Knowing
how to use an ellipsis is very useful (and very cool). First, an ellipsis, also called an
“ellipsis mark,” is a series of three spaced periods: . . . To create one, hit the period
key, then the spacebar, then the period key again, then the spacebar
again, and then the period key one last time. If you use an ellipsis at the end
of a sentence, all you need to do is add another space and period to
end the sentence . . . .
Before we see how an ellipsis
is used, let’s refer again to the first “Please note.”
Please
note: Always try to keep quotations as short as possible.
That’s right: an ellipsis is
most often used to shorten quotations, and I can shorten any
quotation as long as the words I leave out do not change the
quotation’s meaning.
As an
example, let’s assume we want to work a bit more with Barrett’s
words. On page 43 of the
magazine, we read . . .
“In order for diplomacy
to be successful, it will have to follow very different rules from
the past. We can no longer
rely on our traditional friends and historical enemies to lend us
diplomatic structure. The
world today is fluid, not fixed as it was from the end of World War I
to the fall of communism, so our diplomatic strategies must be far
more responsive than before.
Because of this new paradigm, we will need to create
diplomatic structures that are elastic so they can be adjusted
quickly when needed.”
This quotation
is way too long to plop into my essay, so here’s how to shorten
it. Notice I have spliced
together words from the first sentence and the last sentence:
“In order for
diplomacy to be successful . . . we will need to create diplomatic
structures that are elastic so they can be adjusted quickly when
needed” (Barrett 43).
In this next
example, I omit the center of one of Barrett’s sentences to make it
leaner:
Barrett advises
that “the world today is fluid . . . so our diplomatic strategies
must be far more responsive than before” (43).
I can also end a
sentence with an ellipsis:
“The world today
is fluid, not fixed as it was from the end of World War I to the fall
of communism . . . ” (Barrett 43).
And, yes, I can
begin a sentence with an ellipsis:
Barrett claims
that “. . . we will need to create diplomatic structures that are
elastic so they can be adjusted quickly when needed” (43).
|