MLA In-text And Works Cited Quiz

When using an author's exact words, 

• The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation.

• You don't have to use the author's name at all if you sight the title of the work.

• Quotation marks are used only if the author was speaking in the original source.

• As long as the page numbers are listed on the Works Cited, you don't have to list them in the body of the essay.

Check all those below that need to be credited or documented in an essay:  

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium.

• Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing.

• You copy the exact words or a unique phrase of another.

• You reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials.

• You reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including images, audio, video, or other media.

• You are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents)

• You are using generally-accepted facts, e.g., pollution is bad for the environment, including facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities, e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a generally-accepted fact.

• Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
• Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). 

These two samples show how to include the author's name with quoted/paraphrased source material. This is called:

Original paragraph: Knossos is one of the major archaeological sites in Greece in terms of its importance and interest to the visitor. This is because the mighty city of Minos and Ariadne, of Pasiphae, the Minotaur and Idomeneus, was one of the first cities on European soil, a centre which radiated the light of one of the most brilliant civilizations of Greek and European prehistory - Minoan civilization, named after the great god-kind Minos. The ruins of this city, partially restored by Sir Arthur Evans, stand as irrefutable witnesses of its ancient splendour. Given this paragraph as the original source, mark which of the following are plaigiarized:

• Knossos is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. "[It was] one of the first cities on European soil, a centre which radiated the light of one of the most brilliant civilizations of Greek and European prehistory – Minoan civilization." It was discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos who uncovered a portion of author western storerooms. When he donated a few large "pithoi" (large storage jars) to museums in Europe, he got the attention of A.J. Evans, a well-funded British archaeologist, who bought the site after Crete was liberated from the Turks in 1900. The excavations that would take place from 1900 to 1902 would reveal one of the most billion civilizations of ancient times - the Minoans.

• The city of Knossos is one of the major archaeological sites in Greece and attracts many visitors each year. This is because of the famous stories of King Minos, Theseus, the Minotaur and Ariadne. It was one of the first cities on European soil and was the center of one of the most brilliant Greek civilizations - the Minoans. From what remains of this city, the foundation, a few walls, fragments of frescoes, pithoi, fallen stones from columns we can learn much about the splendour of this great ancient civilization.

• Knossos, an ancient city on the Island of Crete, holds the secrets to one of the most fascinating civilization of the ancient world. Stories of King Minos, Theseus and Ariadne with her ball of string have long fascinated visitors. While archaeologists have never found a labyrinth, they have found rooms, halls, courts, frescoes, thrones, jewelry and storage jars which have revealed much about the ancient lifestyle of the Minoans.

Here is the ORIGINAL text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890s by Joyce Williams et al.: The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the three great developments of late nineteenth century American history. As new, larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American landscape in the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided jobs for a rising tide of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the Bordens lived) which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade. Paraphrased version: The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three large factors of nineteenth century America. As steam-driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave of immigrants. With industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well as production. The paraphrase is ACCEPTABLE. TRUE or FALSE?

• True

• False

Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text, must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry in the Works Cited List.

• True

• False

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire websites) and provide a page number. Example: We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has “more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . . ” (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).

• True

• False

For a source with three or fewer authors, list only the first author's last name in the text or in the parenthetical citation: Smith argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the United States (76). The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights" (Smith 76).  

• True

• False

If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks. Citing two articles by the same author: Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38), though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye Development" 17).

• True

• False

Select all that are TRUE when citing Internet sources in a document:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation.

• You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.

• Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com.

ALL of the following statements when incorporating short quotes into an essay are true EXCEPT:

• Short quotations are fewer than two typed lines of prose or three lines of verse.

• Enclose the quotation within double quotation marks.

• Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation.

• Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).

• True

• False

ALL of the following statements when incorporating long quotes into an essay are true EXCEPT:

• Long quotes extend to more than four lines of verse or prose

• Omit quotation marks.

• Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin.

• Change to single-spacing.

• Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example: In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

• True

• False

Mark all of the following which should appear in most Work Cited entries for books:

• Author's last name, first name middle initial (followed by a period)

• Title of Book (in italics and followed by a period)

• City of Publication (followed by a colon)

• Name of Publisher (followed by a comma)

• Year of Publication (followed by a period)

• Medium of Publication (followed by a period)

Check all of the following that are TRUE regarding the Works Cited page:

• Format the Works Cited page with one-inch margins (and same headings, margins and numbering used in previous pages.

• Center the words — Works Cited (no italics or quotation marks)

• Double spaced and use a hanging indent for all lines after the first for each entry.

• For each entry, use italics instead of underlining for larger works such as books and magazines, quotation marks for smaller works such as articles and poems, and at the end include Medium of Publication: DVD, Print, CD, Web.

• Include the web address at the end of each entry obtained off the Internet.

When using photographs, charts, or graphs in the body of an essay, you only need to include a entry on the Works Cited page for correct documentation.

• True

• False

Select all those who are real-life, legitimate examples of plagiarists and their consequences. 

• Jayson Blair: 36 of the 73 national news stories written by him for the New York Times included plagiarized quotes or were made up.Forced to resign from the New York Times. The executive editor and managing editor also resigned shortly after Blair.

• An Ohio University student was charged with plagiarizing a paper because she didn’t cite or paraphrase correctly. Expelled from the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program. She was forced to disembark early and go home.

• Kaavya Viswanathan: Her novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, had too many similarities to novels by Megan McCafferty, Salman Rushdie, Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Tanuja Desai Hidier. Her book was pulled from publication after the plagiarism was discovered. Her book and movie deals were dropped. Because the novel was not part of her academic work, Harvard took no action against the sophomore.

• Janet Cooke: Fabricated parts of her story for the Washington Post that was nominated for and won the Pulitzer prize. Resigned and returned her Pulitzer Prize.

When in doubt, CITE IT!

• True

• False