The maintenance of academic honesty and integrity is a vital concern of the University community. Any student found responsible for violating the policy on Academic Integrity shall be subject to both academic and disciplinary sanctions.
Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. (from http://plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism)
Works cited entries are created by consulting MLA's list of nine core components. Theses components are combined in a specific order with specific punctuation, detailed in the table below.
Core Citation Component |
Component Explanation |
| Author. | Begin with the author's last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name. End this entry with a period. |
| Title of Source. | Titles of books and websites should be italicized, while journal articles, newspaper articles, and magazine articles should be in quotation marks. End this entry with a period. |
| Title of Container, | Title of journal if using an article, title of book if using a book chapter. End this entry with a comma. |
| Other contributors, | These could include translators, annotation, foreward or introduction authors, and people other than the author(s). End this entry with a comma. |
| Version, | If the source is an edition or version of a work, include it in the citation. End this entry with a comma. |
| Number, | If the source is part of a numbered sequence (multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers), list those numbers. End this entry with a comma. |
| Publisher, | The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. End this entry with a comma. |
| Publication Date, | List the date when the source was published. End this entry with a comma. |
| Location. | Be specific when identifying a source's location. End this entry with a period. |
MLA also lists optional components that should be part of a citation only if they help the reader to more easily locate the source.
Optional Citation Component |
Component Explanation |
| Date of original publication. | If a source has been published on more than one date, include both dates if it is helpful information for the reader. End this entry with a period. |
| City of publication, | Only necessary in works published before 1900, as these works are typically associated with the city in which they were published. End this entry with a comma. |
| Date of access. | Include for online resources, as these resources could change at any time. End this entry with a period. |
| DOI or URL. | Include the DOI or URL of online journal articles and websites. End this entry with a period. |
Citation Component |
Component Explanation |
| Author, A. A. |
Begin with the author's last name, followed by a comma and author's initial(s) for sources with up to 20 authors. End this entry with a period. |
|
(Year of publication). |
Include the year of publication in both the reference citation and the in-text citation. For the reference citation, the year is in parenthesis. End this entry with a period. |
| Title. |
Titles of books should be in italics while titles of articles should not. Capitalize only the first world of the title, the first word after a colon, and proper names. End this entry with a period. |
| Title of Larger Work, |
The container title should be italicized and all important words should be capitalized (unless it is a book title). If the source is a chapter from book or entry in a larger work then the title of the container is preceded by "In". End this entry with a comma. |
| Version/Volume |
If the source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in the citation. For multi-volume books, include the volume number in parentheses. End this entry with a period. If noting a journal volume, it should be italicized and followed directly (no space) by issue number in parentheses. This entry is not followed by punctuation. |
| (Number), pages. | If the source is part of a numbered sequence (multivolume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers), list those numbers. Do not italicize. Follow directly by page numbers of article or chapter. End this entry with a period. |
| Publisher. | For books and other print resources include the publishing company's name. End this entry with a period. |
| DOI | If using an electronic source, complete the citation with the DOI or URL if there is no DOI. For articles from library databases, use the DOI. |
Author, A. A., & Author B. B. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue), page range. http://doi.org/0000000
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. http://URLGoesHere.com
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume(issue). http://doi.org/0000000
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
Author, A. A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. J.K. Editor (Ed.). Publisher.
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of entry. In Title of Encyclopedia. Retrieved Month day, year, from http://www.URLGoesHere.com
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle [Webinar]. Publisher. http://www.URLGoesHere.com
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of work [Video]. YouTube. https://www.URLGoesHere.com
In October 2019, the APA introduced The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 7th Edition.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Help is just a click away
Send a question to library staff...
Or schedule a one-on-one research consultation with a librarian...
Refworks is a citation management system that allows students and faculty to gather, organize, and store citation information on information sources. Its WriteNCite application allows users to create in-text citations and reference lists.
