NOTICE:  The information on this page supersedes any directives in your textbook. You must use the style listed here in order to receive full credit for correct in-text documentation use.

Whenever you use information from an outside source, such as an essay, book, article, or web page, you must give credit to that source in order to avoid plagiarism. One component of giving credit is the MLA (Modern Language Association) method of in-text documentation.

In-text documentation has four major components. The first part is establishing the credibility of your source the first time you use it. Explain to the readers why this source is important or why you are using it.  Here are some examples:

Psychologist and best-selling author Susan Jeffers asserts....

According to an article in Parenting,....

David Blakesley and Jeffery L. Hoogeveen, textbook authors and professors of English, discuss....

 The second part is signaling that you are about to use borrowed information. You can accomplish this in two different ways:

1. "According to...(name of author, type of source, or name of publication)"
2. Name of author (with credentials in the first citation) + verb of attribution

Here is a link to a PDF file from the University of Texas Writing Center for a handout on verbs of attribution.  You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free download, to access the file.

Next, you should use the borrowed information in your sentence. You may use it either as a quote (exact wording enclosed in quotation marks) or as a paraphrase (in your own words using your own sentence structure). This link to the University of Wisconsin--Madison's Writing Center provides a thorough discussion of when to quote, when to paraphrase, and how to avoid plagiarism.

Finally, you should list the page number on which you found the borrowed information in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Use the author's name in the parentheses ONLY if you did not incorporate it in the signal portion of your sentence.

Here are some sample sentences that correctly incorporate in-text documentation:

According to The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers, "writing is a social activity, a way of interacting with others" (Hairston, Ruszkiewicz, and Friend 8).

Composition textbook authors Gwendolyn Gong and Sam Dragga state that many times, expressive writing will use storytelling as a major component (252).

For instance, when student author Karen mentions that she "wanted to dig a hole in the lunchroom tile and crawl in" (qtd. in Gong and Dragga 274), she is using descriptive detail to enhance her expressive essay.

According to a 1990 study on business teams, twelve characteristics are essential to having an effective team (Parker 33).

Borrowed Information "No-Nos"

1. Never "drop" a quotation or paraphrase into your writing.  This means do not just stick in your borrowed information and then insert parenthetical documentation with just a last name and page number. Here are examples:

"Invention is a richly rewarding aspect of writing" (Blakesley and Hoogeveen 32).

Talking before writing is a good way to start thinking about incorporating dialogue into a paper (Elbow and Belanoff 69).

Notice how in each of these, the writer provides no credibility for the source, no signal to let the reader know that the words are not the writer's, and no context for the information.

2. Avoid quoting extensive blocks of text to meet a word count.  Using quotes to support your own points is fine, and in some instances, even large block quotes are appropriate.  Generally speaking, no more than 25% of your paper's content should come from borrowed information if the assignment is a short essay. This percentage may vary depending on the nature of the class your taking and the type of writing assignment you are doing; however, no professor wants to see a series of sources copied and pasted together as a student's "work."

3. Avoid summarizing a work if your purpose is to analyze that work. Summaries are useful mainly in the following circumstances:
   

• condensing research from several studies or a long study
• condensing opinions from several experts
• condensing a very long example
  

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