EN12: Introduction to Literature

Instructions on Citing Sources in Essays

 

When you write your essays, it is essential that you cite your sources. You must cite the source on every occasion that you use the words or ideas of another author. This is true both for primary sources (the texts that you are analyzing) as well as secondary sources (critical works, like books or journal articles, about the texts or authors you are studying.)

 

There are many styles of citation, but I recommend that you use the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. The rules for this style are laid out in the MLA Guide for Writers of Research Papers, which is available in the reference section of the library and in the Writing Center. But the basics of the style are also given in Diana Hacker's Pocket Style Manual, pages 113-150. Pay special attention to pages 128-135 on in-text citations, and pages 135-148 on the list of works cited.

 

Note that after each quotation, you should provide the author's name and the page number of the quotation's source. This information should go in parentheses, after the quotation marks but before the final punctuation. (See Hacker, pp. 128-129.)

 

For your first three essays, I am not requiring that you use secondary sources, so for most of you the sources cited will be from the textbook, or from Carter's The Company of Wolves. Stories from The Classic Fairy Tales should be listed as works in an anthology. (See Hacker, p. 139.) Of course, if you do use the words or ideas of another source-- one that was assigned for class, like one of Tatar's introductions or the selection from Bruno Betteleheim, or one that you discover on your own-- you must cite the source.

 

Hacker provides sample essays with lists of works cited on pp. 152 and 154. Your list of works cited might look like this:

 

Works Cited

Carter, Angela. "The Company of Wolves." The Bloody Chamber. London: Penguin, 1979. 110-118.

The Company of Wolves. Dir. Neil Jordan. Screenplay by Angela Carter. Palace, 1984.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. "Little Red Cap." The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton, 1999. 13-16.

Straparola, Giovanni Francesco. "The Pig King." The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Maria Tatar. New York: Norton, 1999. 42-47.

Tatar, Maria, ed. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton, 1999.