Citing Internet Sources

Plagiarism is one of the top problems facing teachers today. A student who copies information directly from the Internet and says it is their own work, that student is committing a crime. Worse yet is the student who copies information from the Internet and has not been taught what plagiarism is and how to properly cite that information. That is where teachers and teacher librarians can work together. In the high school I work at, the students are required to use Modern Language Association (MLA) Style, so I have focused this paper on that style. After reviewing the sites, I have chosen to use the Lafayette College Libraries and Academic Information Resources and Write Source: MLA Style websites.

I chose the Lafayette College Libraries and Academic Information Resources because I liked the brief explanation of each component included in referencing a website or article. It carefully describes the author and how to find him/her in the site, the site title and where it may be found, the date of publication needed, the URL, and the date accessed and why that is important. It also gives a description of what the most common citation formats should look like. In addition, I like the descriptions of how to cite articles taken from databases. We use databases quite frequently.

My favorite guide to use with students is the Write Source web page accompanied with the textbook. The book Writer’s Inc. is required text in many schools. The web page works in that it gives more precise examples of the numerous types of online documents and web pages students may come across. It includes how to cite e-mail messages, personal articles, government documents, and many other types of needed citations. The properties of citing are not as clear, but many students can easily follow the examples given to do the job well.

Resources:

Write Source: MLA Style. 21 June 2004. Great Source Inc. 27 Sep. 2004 http://thewritesourec.com/mal.htm

Citing Web Resources. 6 Aug. 2003. Lafayette College Libraries and Academic Information Resources. 27 Sep. 2004 http://ww2.lafayett.edu/~library/guides/cite.html

Examples of Citations in MLA

Salwen, Peter. The Quotable Mark Twain. Peter Salwen’s Mark Twain Page. Salwen Business Communications. 4 Oct. 2004 <http://salwen.com/mtquotes.html>

United States. Central Intelligence Agency. CIA World Fact Book: Afghanistan. 21 Sep. 2004. 4 Oct. 2004 <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html>

2003 Winston Cup Series Drivers. NASCAR.com: Drivers. 2004. 4 Oct. 2004. <http://www.nascar.com/drivers/list/wc/dps/>

McKenzie, Jamie. Building Good Ideas. From Now On: Educational Technology Journal. June 2001.. 4 Oct. 2004. <http://fno.org/jun01/building.html>

Submitted by R. Justice

McDaniel College SLM521 (fall 04)

Elective #3