Freeman's feedback

Very brief handout on in-text citations (MLA Formatting) The first part of this document explains what in-text citations are (their purpose) and the two forms of in-text citations; the second part explains why one of those two forms is better than the other. The final paper you’re working towards in this class involves you incorporating multiple sources into your writing as you develop your argumentative claim on your topic. This means you’ll necessarily be using the ideas of others while writing your paper, and that means it’s time for in-text citations… When you borrow ideas from other authors in your writing, MLA style dictates you must include in-text citations. Most students already know a “Works Cited” page should appear at the end of any paper they write in the MLA style. The works cited page lets any reader interested in finding out more about the topic of your paper track down any sources you used while producing the work. The purpose of in-text citations is different. In-text citations are used in the body of your paper to give credit to the authors whose information you use while writing your paper. They are a way of distinguishing which ideas in your paper come from you and which ideas come from the sources you list in your works cited page. You should use in-text citations any time you quote from or paraphrase a source. The following has been taken from owl.perdue.edu: “In-text citations: Author-page style MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. Oxford UP, 1967.” But what if your text has multiple authors!? Then what?! Don’t worry. The people at Owl Perdue thought of this, too.

“Citing a work by multiple authors For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation: Best and Marcus argue that one should read a text for what it says on its surface, rather than looking for some hidden

meaning (9). The authors claim that surface reading looks at what is “evident, perceptible, apprehensible in texts” (Best and Marcus 9). Corresponding Works Cited entry: Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations, vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21.

JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1 For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

According to Franck et al., “Current agricultural policies in the U.S. are contributing to the poor health of Americans” (327). The authors claim that one cause of obesity in the United States is government-funded farm subsidies (Franck et al. 327). Corresponding Works Cited entry: Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine,

vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.”