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Lecture 7: MLA, Research, Documentation and Attributions to Sources

The purpose of this lecture is as follows:
  • Explain the degree to which we will use MLA Style Guidelines for formatiing your writings and for documenting sources.
  • The research requirements for this course.
  • What is meant by attributions, and how to handle them.
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    MLA Style Guidelines and Formatting:

    We will use MLA Style Guidelines for formatting of your assignments and for documentation and research.

    One of the required texts for this course is the MLA Handbook, and that you will acquire and demonstrate significant skills in research and documentation is critically important to the grades you can earn in this course.

    It is also very important that you work with "Lecture 2: Formatting and Academic Prose: Read This Before Turning in Any Work," for the duration of the semester. Papers that negotiate MLA skills poorly will receive lower grades.
    Research—Outside Sources are Required—Attributions:

    As stated above, in English Composition II, the research and documentation skills that you will acquire and demonstrate are critically important to the grades you can earn in this course. You will locate outside sources through the Temple College Library; in your writings, you will quote and paraphrase from those sources.
    Paying Attributions to Sources:

    YOU MUST document your sources, either with an in-text citation or an in-text citation and an attribution to the author or source. An attribution would read something like so: "The website www.cnn.com states that . . ."

    An attribution is also known as a signal phrase, so see "The Signal Phrase," for more information.

    Also review "Lecture 4: TurnItIn.com: Plagiarism Detection Software," which will make clear exactly what constitutes plagiarism. Be extremely careful about this.

    Moreover, if the words are not your own, they must be inside quotation marks, for to do otherwise is plagiarism. This is perhaps the most important aspect of the course, and no one should treat it lightly.

    I strongly suggest that you review the consequences of an Academic Integrity Violation in the current Student Handbook.