Works Cited v. Plagiarism
Joseph W. Rodgers Library
Cheltenham High School
The Importance of Citing Your Sources
DEFINITION OF PLAGIARISM
Derived from the Latin word plagiarius (“kidnapper”), to plagiarize means “to commit
literary theft” and to “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an
existing source (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th ed.; 2003; print]).
A Works Cited section must be included with a research paper/project. Academic standards
require all writers to acknowledge the authors whose work they use when preparing papers
and reports. As you research, you should build on the work of previous writers and
researchers. Whenever you draw on another's work, you must document your source by
indicating what you borrowed--whether facts, opinions, quotations or information and ideas.
You MUST indicate the source of the appropriated material so that readers do not mistake
them for your own (MLA Handbook 54).
When citation or documentation is NOT needed:
General information and ideas that are broadly known by readers and accepted by
scholars (ex. basic biography of an author or the dates of an historical event)
Proverbs, sayings, and clichés are seldom documented by scholars
If you have any doubt, cite your sources to avoid committing plagiarism
(MLA Handbook 59).
Be consistent and provide the most complete information possible in order for your
teacher to find the original source.
You have plagiarized if you:
used direct words that were not quoted and presented as if they were all your own
copied and pasted text into your paper without quotation marks or citations
repeated or paraphrased someone’s wording without citing or acknowledging
paraphrased someone’s argument without citing or acknowledging
bought or acquired a research paper and handed it in as your own
You can avoid plagiarism by:
making a list of writers and viewpoints in your research to check the presentation of
material in your paper
keeping the following three categories in your notes: your ideas, your summaries of
others’ materials, and exact wording you copy (use NoodleTools*)
identifying the sources of all material you borrow
checking with your teacher when you are uncertain about your sources
(MLA Handbook 60-61).
The following resource was used to develop the format for the examples below and is
available in the Cheltenham High School Library and from local libraries and bookstores:
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed.
New York: Modern Language Association, 2009.
For further information about types of entries not listed here, consult the above resource.
ADDITIONAL HELP for creating a WORKS CITED page
A Works Cited section should be a separate part of the project and should be
titled. Quotation marks or underlining should not be used with this title.
Entries in the list are arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the author’s
last name, or in the absence of a specified author, by the first word of the title, not
including "a," "an," and the."
The first line of each entry in both lists begins at the left margin. Any additional
lines needed for an entry are indented one-half inch. Double-space the entire list,
both between and within entries. If the Works Cited list is part of a research paper,
the list is given page numbers following the numbering used in the paper. For
example, if the last page of the paper is page 12, then the first page of the Works
Cited list would be page 13, the second page 14, and so on.
If the place of publication, the publisher or the date of publication is not given,
use the following abbreviation in its place:
 N.p. no place of publication
 n.p. no publisher
 n.d. no date of publication
 N. pag. No page(s)
When several publication places are listed, use the first United States city listed.
Publishers' names may be shortened and should be listed without including the
words such as the following: Company, Incorporated, and Sons, Publisher,
Publications, Books, Limited.
If several publication dates are given, use the most recent.
*NoodleTools is an online program that supports the research process with tools for notetaking, outlining, citation, document archiving/annotation, and collaborative research and
writing.
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chslibrary
rev 10/22/12