Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism (MLA Papers)

54Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism (MLA Papers)

In a research paper, you will draw on the work of other writers, and you must document their contributions by citing your sources. Sources are cited for two reasons:

  1. to tell readers where your information comes from—so that they can assess its reliability and, if interested, find and read the original source
  2. to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas

Borrowing another writer’s language, sentence structures, or ideas without proper acknowledgment is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism.

You must include a citation when you quote from a source, when you summarize or paraphrase, and when you borrow facts that are not common knowledge (see also 54b).