Documentation Reminders for Paper 2
1. Remember: All sources you use (including hard copy and electronic)—whether you quote them, paraphrase them, summarize them, or just take a line of thinking from them—must be cited in your paper. This means you must have
a. attribution to show where the use of the source starts (using a
signal word or phrase—see PH §55b
b. punctuation to show where direct quotes start and stop (see PH
§31a, and note particularly where the end punctuation mark goes relative to
the close-quotation mark!)
c. in-text citation in parentheses to help readers locate the full
reference (see PH §60a)
d. Works Cited list on a separate sheet of paper at the end of your
paper (see PH §60c)
If you have any questions about how you are citing a source, review "The Correct Use of Borrowed Information" which you read for the second day of class, check your handbook, and then come see me.
Fine Points
Sources that do not count as Internet sources include those retrieved through databases such as FirstSearch, InfoTrack, Lexis/Nexis, and ArticleFirst; articles from online newspapers (such as the New York Times or the Washington Post), or journals that only appear in electronic form (such as Wired). If you have a question about whether one of your sources fits into this category, ask me.
Sources that do count as Internet sources are those you retrieve through Google or Yahoo! search engines. They may include personal and professional sites (the home pages of people, companies, museums, organizations), scholarly projects like the Perseus Project or WebMD, advocacy sites like the Sierra Club or the Heritage Foundation, blogs, web journals, and similar sites. Again, if you have a question about whether one of your sources fits into this category, ask me. If you can’t find an MLA form that suits such a source, follow the guidelines on pp. 331-332 of PH.
Turnitin.com and Hard Copy
For this paper, besides submitting an electronic copy to turnitin.com, I want you to include in your envelope the following: hard copy of the final paper, hard copy of each draft stage, your peer reviews, and printouts or photocopies of all the sources you use. This will help me check to make sure you don’t have any problems with documentation that could come back to bite you later.