Chapter 7:
Documenting Your
Sources
AP English Language
Period 4
Compiling a Preliminary Bibliography
It’s important to record certain essential information to gather information about
the books and articles you’ve used.
1. Books: record the full title, name of author/s, city of publication, publisher,
and the date of publication (plus the pages used)
2. Articles: record author/s of the article, the title, title of the journal, volume
number, issue number (if available), the date the issue was published, and
the pages used
If the article ir story is from an anthropology that is edited by
someone
other than the author, make the distinction between the
author and title of the issue and the editor and title of the volume.
1. Electronic Sources: for web titles, record the internet address or URL,
and record the date which you accessed the site.
Organizing a Research Paper
When writing a research paper, making an outline can save a lot of time and
can help make your argument more affective.
I.
Major Idea
A. Supporting Idea
1.Minor Idea
a. Supporting Detail
b. Supporting Detail
2.Minor Idea
a. Supporting Detail
b. Supporting Detail
B. Supporting Idea
II. Major Idea
...
Organizing a Research Paper
Continued
Many writers prefer to uses less formal outlines like mapping and listing
Mapping: Writers can create circles or blocks on a pages beginning with a
main idea. Each different idea is then placed in a different circle or block with
lines connecting the ideas that are related.
Listing: When using this method, writers just make a list of the many points
they wish to make in the order they want to discuss them without worrying
about the structure of a formal outline
Integrating Source Material into Your
Paper
A challenge that many students face when writing an argument that includes research is
integrating the source material effectively in the work. When inputting source material into your
argument, make sure it supports your claim rather than the source becoming the main idea.
1. Make sure that when using quotes, they fit smoothly into your paper as a whole. Provide proper
transitions to link the quotes to what came before them. Include some type of commentary or
analysis of the quote so the meaning comes through
2. Try to avoid using long quotations. You can edit long quotes by omitting words or phrases by
using ellipsis (...). When editing these long quotations make sure that meaning doesn’t change
and that the quotes are still grammatically correct. You can also add words to the quotations by
using brackets [ ] if it helps the meaning come across more clearly.
3. Not all your sources have to be cited though. Summarizing and paraphrasing your sources can
help your paper stay organized and not just one long quotation.
Sources
Always provide documentation for any direct quotes, any ideas that came from someone else’s
work, any fact or statistic that is not widely known.
There are a lot of different ways writers can document their sources. Writers in the humanities usually
uses the Modern Language Association (MLA) format while writers in the social sciences use the
American Psychological Association (APA) format.
MLA Format
Citing your source in the body of your paragraph:
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (APA), children in this situation lose
“survivor benefits if a parent dies and legal rights if the parents break up” (Berman A1).
Bibliography:
Berman, Steven. “Homosexuals and Adoption.” Rocky Mountain News 23 Feb. 2002: A1
APA Format
Citing your source in the body of your paragraph:
According to the American Academy of Pediactric (APA), children in this situation lose
“survivor benefits if a parent dies and legal rights if the parents break up” (Berman, 2002, p.A1).
Bibliography:
Berman, S. (2002, February 23). Homosexuals and adoption. Rocky Mountain News, p. A1
Footnotes and Content Notes
Although both the APA and MLA recommend that writers document their sources by
parenthetical citations, content notes are sometimes still used.
MLA Format:
It seems reasonable to believe that having both a mother and a father benefits children.
Women and men have different parenting traits that give a strong balance for the development of a
child.₁
The note would either be at the bottom of the page or at the end of the essay and would look like this
₁Many researchers and scholars have examined differences between men and women.
For example see Pease and Pease.
APA Format:
The note would be written the same but the citation in the bibliography would look like:
Pease, B., & Pease, A. (2001). Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps: How
we’re different and what to do about it. New York: Broadway Books.
Parenthetical (in-text) Citations
MLA Format:
The author’s last name is followed by a page reference (sometimes a brief title should be
included after the author’s name) .
Work by a Single Author: You can either include the author’s last name in the citation or use it in the
sentence with the page number at the end. There is no punctuation between the author’s name and
the page number .
David Orr has argued persuasively that the idea of environmental sustainability should be
the centerpiece of a college curriculum (133).
Work with more than one Author: Use the complete names of all of them in the sentence or include
their last names in parentheses.
Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren have argued that “indirection is an essential part
of the method of poetry” (573).
If the work included more than three authors, include the first author’s name & add “and others”
Work with Corporate Author: If the author has a long name it’s better to include it in the sentence
rather than the parentheses.
The Council on Environmental Quality has reported that there is growing evidence of
ground water contamination throughout the United States (81).
MLA Format Continued
● Work with more than one volume: Include the volume number before the
page reference.
○ Example: As Jack Barnes argued, “The only… particular” (2: 340)
○ Example of citing the whole volume: (Barnes, vol.2)
● More than 1 work by the same author: Put a comma after the author’s
name and add a shortened form of the title.
○ Example: (Morrison, Bluest) or (Morrison, Song 6)
○ The author’s name does not need to be included if it is clear that their
work is being cited
● Quotation within a cited work: Use the abbreviation “qtd. in”.
○ Example: Kittredge admitted to making this very mistake: “For years
I… meant” (qtd. in Turner 81)
MLA Format Continued
● Work without an author listed: Use a brief version of the title in
parenthesis.
○ Example: (“Dry-Cleaning” 10) from “Dry-Cleaning Alternatives”
○ This is common in newspaper, magazine, and online articles.
● Electronic Sources: Cite electronic articles like print articles, with
a brief version of the title if you do not know the author’s name.
Include sufficient information so that the citation is easily found in
the bibliography.
○ (“Research”) from “ Research at the Sustainability Institute”
APA Format
● This format includes the author, the year published, and the page number,
which is written with “p.” or “pp.”.
● One work by one author:The date follows the author’s name and the
page number goes at the end of the sentence. If the author’s name is not
in the sentence, it goes in the parenthesis.
○ Example: Peshkin (1997) focuses on the “dual-world...lives” (p.5).
○ Example: (Peshkin,1997, p.5)
● Work with two authors: For two authors, mention both and only use the
ampersand in parenthesis.
○ Example: A recent study, (Cole & Walker, 1997) argued that…
○ Example: More recently, Cole and Walker (1997) have argued...
APA Format Continued
● Work with 3-5 authors: Mention all authors, but use the abbreviated form
for subsequent references to the same work.
○ Example: Adams, Jones,and Stern (1982) have shown…
○ Example: This was shown in an earlier study (Adams et al., 1982).
● Work with 6+ authors: Use the abbreviated form with the first reference.
Add as many coauthors as possible to distinguish between works.
● Work with a corporate author: List the full name of the
corporation/agency/institution involved.
○ Example: There are several ways to protect yourself when ordering
merchandise online (Consumer Reports, 2002, pp.11-12).
APA Format Continued
● More than one work: List works alphabetically by the
1st author’s surname and separated with semicolons.
○ Example: (Heath,1997; Street,1984)
● More than one work by the same author: List by the
order the works were published.
○ Example: (Smith, 1997, 2004)
○ For the same year, distinguish the works by
adding letters at the end.
○ Example: (Smith, 1986a, 1986b)
MLA Bibliographies
● Works listed in alphabetical order by the author’s last name
● Both the author’s first and last names are provided
● Capitalize every important word in titles
● Underline/italicize titles of books, journals, and newspapers
● Titles of articles, poems, and stories are in quotations
● Indent the second and any subsequent lines by 5 spaces (½ inch)
Example:
George, Diana. “From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the
Technology of Writing.” College Composition and Communication 54.1
(2002): 11-39
.