The rules about plagiarism are the same for literature papers as for other research writing. To be fair and ethical, you must acknowledge your debt to the writers of any sources you use. If you don’t, you commit plagiarism, a serious academic offense.
These acts are considered plagiarism:
Turning in a paper that someone else wrote
Failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas
Failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks and to cite the source of the quotation
Failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words and to cite the source of the ideas
Failing to cite sources of data, images, or artwork
Related topics:
Using MLA style for citing literary works
Using MLA style to document secondary sources
Using quotation marks for borrowed language
Paraphrasing in your own words
Avoiding plagiarism (MLA)