THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Doing research for a paper or project requires that you use other persons’ words, facts and ideas. This is acceptable as long as you properly document your research. You should never present someone else’s words or ideas as your own. You need to document:
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 words directly quoted ideas and information paraphrased ideas and information summarized graphics, illustrations, numbers and statistical data
An important part of documentation is the properly formatted citation of all sources used in your final product. All resources you use in your project(s) should be properly cited (giving credit to the original source and author) according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) format. Any omission of proper credit by citation – intentional or unintentional - is considered plagiarism. It is understood that no work that is plagiarized will be accepted from any student.
Proper documentation means you complete three important tasks:
1.
collect information on your sources in the correct format
2.
parenthetically cite sources within the text.
3.
attach a Works Cited and/or a Works Consulted page
This packet will help guide you through the steps of gathering the information you will need to complete these tasks, along with the various formatting necessary to do it correctly. Further information that can be of help is available from the STRHS Library Media Center Staff and the Library web site.

GATHERING SOURCES
Once your topic is chosen, your first step will be to locate sources of many different types (books, magazines, encyclopedias, websites, CD databases, etc). As you find these sources, you will prepare source information cards with specific details about the source. You may not end up using all sources you find, but you must document all of them as part of your research process.
Because each source type requires you to include different information, the information that follows will show you general and specific formatting for the different source types. Sample source cards also appear for each general source type. Consult these as you prepare your source information cards . A packet with formatting for additional types of sources is available in the Library Media Center (these materials are also available through the
Library web site). More in-depth information is available in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers .
NOTE: In any situation where information is asked for but not provided by your source (such as author name, volume number, etc), write N/A on your source information card and skip to the next detail asked for.
Leave these N/A notations out of your Works Cited/Consulted Pages.
FORMATTING SOURCE INFORMATION CARDS
BOOKS
When citing a book, most will require the following (be sure to refer to the correct format based on the number of authors):
Author's last name, author's first name. Title of the book . Place of publication: Publisher, date. Print.
By a single author:
Day, Nancy. Advertising: Information or Manipulation . Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publisher, 2009.
Print.
Two authors:
Thomasma, David C. and Glenn C. Graber. Euthanasia: Toward An Ethical Social Policy . New York: Continuum
Publishing Co., 2003. Print.
Three Authors :
Miller, Judith, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad. Germs: Biological Weapons And America's Secret War .
New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004.
More than three authors:
Smith, David, et al. The Age of Man . Boston: Drew Press, 2002. Print.
Book by an editor:
Haugen, David M. ed. Biological and Chemical Weapons . San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Print.
One essay or article from an edited book:
………...
Ravitch, Diane. "Politicization and The Schools: The Case of Bilingual Education." Taking Sides: Clashing Views on
Controversial Educational Issues . Ed. James Wm. Noll. New York: Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 2003. 22-26.
Print.
Pamphlet (treat like a book):
Presidential Fact Finder . Los Angeles, CA: Perrygraf, 2004. Print.

REFERENCE SOURCES
A simplified citation for general encyclopedias includes:
Author (if given). "Title of article." Title of Encyclopedia . Edition (if given). Date. Print.
Include publication information for subject specific encyclopedias. Include volume or page number(s) only if the articles are not in alphabetical order.
Article in a general encyclopedia:
Odom, Selma Landen. "Folk Art." World Book Encyclopedia. 2004. Print.
PERIODICAL ARTICLES
A periodical entry should include:
Author’s name (when given). "Title of article." Periodical name Date: page number(s). Print.
Journal citations should also include the volume and issue number, and the publication year. For articles from electronic sources, see Full-Text Articles From Electronic Databases further down.
Magazine Article:
Marshall, J.M. "Search and Destroy." The New Republic 26 Nov. 2006: 14-16. Print.
Newspaper Articles:
Colson, Emily. "The High Cost of Health Care." The Boston Globe 11 Oct. 2007: A1. Print.
Journal Article:
Baldwin, Mark. "Small Pox Scare." Journal of Medicine 33.2 (20099): 45-49. Print.

FULL-TEXT ARTICLES FROM ELECTRONIC DATABASES
These citations are similar to periodicals with additional information.
For databases on the internet to which a library subscribes, include:
Author (if given). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Date: page. Name of the
…..
Service/Database . Web. Date of access.
If you are using a CD-ROM, cite the format of the database (i.e., CD-ROM) and the publisher and publication date of the database.
Periodical Database accessed on the WWW:
Schneider, Jodi. "Hospitals Get Alternative." U.S. News and World Report 22 July 2002: 68. General One File. Web.
04 Oct. 2006.
CD-ROM Databases:
"Elephant." Microsoft Encarta 2006 Encyclopedia . Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 2006. CD-ROM.
"Hip-Hop Culture." American Decades . Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1998. CD-ROM.

AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS
As with books, citations for AV materials must include author (if available), title, producing company and date. Other elements may be required depending on the type of material. See the MLA Handbook for more specific information. For music, if you are using a format other than compact disc (CD), indicate as shown in the examples below.
Video:
Tragedy in the Holy Land: The Second Uprising . Prod. Dennis Mueller. MPI Media, 2001. Film.
Television or Radio Program:
"War on Drugs." Narr. Bill Moyers. Frontline.
Documentary Consortium. PBS. WGBY, Springfield. 24 Feb.2004.
Television.
Music Recording :
Sousa, John Philip. Stars and Stripes Forever . Perf. Killer Cadet Band. Cond. Commander Cacavas.
Volcano Entertainment, 2005. CD.
LIVE INTERVIEW
Indicate the name of the person interviewed (last name, first name) and the date of the interview.
Mahoney, Kathleen. Personal interview. 18 June 2009.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTWORK)
Indicate artist name followed by title of work museum where work is located (if given). If from a book, continue with entry just as would be completed for a book. If from the world wide web, continue with entry for a website.

WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES
Citations for a World Wide Web site should include author (if known), title of the piece (if applicable), underlined title of the complete work, date of electronic publication or the latest update, organization sponsoring the site (if applicable), date you accessed the document, and the complete URL. When information is not provided for an item you should leave it blank.
Web Site:
"

WORKS CITED/WORKS CONSULTED PAGE
The Works Cited page lists all the works that you cite or refer to in your paper.
The Works Consulted page lists all the works you looked at but did not necessarily cite.
Both of these pages would appear at the end of your paper on separate pages.
The MLA format for these pages requires the following elements:
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The title should be centered on the page.
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Alphabetize your entries (skipping “the” or “a”) and double space between and within each entry.
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The first line of each entry should start at your left margin and go all the way to the right margin.
If the entry continues on to another line(s) those lines should be indented five spaces.
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Each resource you use requires the identification of certain elements. Most resources require the identification of the author, title and publication. o Italicize the title. o Use proper punctuation after each element and then allow for t wo spaces before listing the next element required. o Start your first line at the left margin and indent the second line by five spaces. o List each resource separately and put them in alphabetical order by author's last name. If no author is given use the title in place of the author.
See the sample Works Cited below.
Works Cited
Day, Nancy. Advertising: Information or Manipulation . Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publisher, 2009.
Print.
“The Epidemic of Video Game Violence.”
American Psychology Insititute . Web. 4 Apr 2006.
"Getting the Right Job." Careers for the Twenty-first Century . Web. 4 Mar 2004.
Holmes, David. Biological and Chemical Weapons . San Diego, CA: Greany Press, 2006. Print.
Marshall, J.M. "Search and Destroy." The New Republic 26 Nov. 2001: 14-16. Print.
Schneider, Jodi. "Hospitals Get Alternative". U.S. News and World Report 22 July 2002: 68. General One File .
Web. 04 Oct. 2008.
Note: punctuation differs depending on the type of source used - be sure to complete this information correctly the first time around when you prepare your source information cards!
Remember: any works cited in your paper will also be included on your Works Consulted page.

Throughout your paper you must identify where you obtained the information you are presenting. Parenthetical citations are for quoted words, paraphrased words, summarized words and ideas you have borrowed and graphics, numbers and statistics.
The usual method to do this is to
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Insert the author’s name (or editor etc) and a page number in parentheses.
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If there is no author, use the title, shortened or in full. The title should be formatted the same as on the works cited page (italicized or quoted).
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If you include the author’s name in the sentence you only need to give the page number in parentheses.
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Put the period to the sentence after your citation.
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If a quotation runs more than four lines indent your quote ten spaces on a new line, double space the quote and set the parenthetical citation one space after the punctuation of the quotation.
See the examples below:
HOW TO PARENTHETICALLY CITE SOURCES
Example for summarizing a work when you do not use the author's name in your summary:
According to recent studies the average American is exposed to sixteen thousand advertisements daily (Day 155).
Example for consecutive multiple citings from the same source:
Advertising can be traced back to ancient Greece (10).
Example for summarizing a work when you do use the author's name in your summary:
Nancy Day takes the position that advertising has lost its effectiveness (155).
Example for summarizing a work for which there is no author:
The death of one prisoner and the infection of forty-five others have prompted Bangladesh officials to create a special medical team to treat this problem ("Small Pox Fear" 46).
Example for short direct quotation of a work when you do not use the author's name in your text:
"The use of biological agents to spread disease among people is called germ warfare" (Holmes 24).
Example for short direct quotation of a work when you do use the author's name in your text:
Holmes states several times that "the use of biological agents to spread disease among people is called germ warfare" (24).
Example for a long quotation (over 4 lines):
Jodi Schneider finds reason to be optimistic:
A consortium of some of the nation’s top medical schools- including Harvard, Duke, and Stanford- are teaching complementary medicine to first-and second- year medical students, stressing therapies like acupuncture and herbal medicine. Georgetown University, which received a $1.7 million
National Institute of Health grant, is teaching all first-year students basic concepts of alternative medicine, including mind-body techniques such as yoga. (70)
Some other rules for citing include
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Give an author’s first initial if there is more than one author with the same name.
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If there is more than one work by the same author, give the name and a shortened title.
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If two or more anonymous works have the same title, add a publication fact to set it apart.