As noted in the Plagiarism section of this manual, students must indicate exactly what parts of their papers come from outside sources. Often students seek these sources when they are not necessary.
There are three types of papers assigned by Woodward English teachers:
THE EXPOSITORY ESSAY: At least twice per quarter, every Upper School English student will complete multi-paragraph essays on a general or literary topic. On these papers, teachers expect students to use their own ideas (“Superstitious Rules in My Family” or “The Best Vacation Spots for a Teen”) or support their own ideas about a literary piece covered by the class (“Scout Finch: A New Type of Heroine” or “Symbols of Isolation in The Scarlet Letter”) through using the primary source (the poem, short story, or novel covered). When you cite the literary work within the text, use the page number placed in parentheses. If your entire class is writing a paper on Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, you need not stipulate the author’s last name (Lee 155) after your first use. The citation (155) alone will be sufficient. Sources other than the primary text should not be used for this type of paper unless you consult with and receive the approval of your teacher.
THE DOCUMENTED ESSAY: This paper differs from the expository essay in that the teacher will ask you to add to your ideas the ideas of literary critics or of the actual author of the primary text (perhaps from an interview with that author). At times the English teacher will even provide you with critical articles to use in supporting your paper. These outside sources will be cited within the body of the paper through parenthetical references and at the end of the paper in an alphabetical listing on a Works Cited page. Bailey and Powell’s Chapters 23-25 will be helpful when writing these papers. Your teacher will give you specific information about exactly how much outside information you should use.
THE RESEARCH PAPER: The research paper has the same structure as the other essays in this list (an introduction, body, and conclusion); however, it differs in that the ideas in the paper are all from outside sources. This type of paper (completed by all students by the junior year) requires you to use the library and the Internet to find materials, to read a variety of sources, to take notes from the primary source and critical writings on that source, and then to organize a paper based on what others have said about the primary source (a specific poem, story, or novel). Every idea, whether quoted or paraphrased, will come from an outside source. Bailey and Powell’s Section Five, Chapters 19-25, gives detailed information about this type of paper.
Which Internet sources are acceptable?
The English department is excited about the wonderful access students and teachers have to the ideas of others. Unfortunately, not all of the information being published on web sites has the same authority as a book by a reputable author published by a reputable firm. Some search engines will identify sources as
commercial or personal; however, in order to make sure all of the information you use in your documented or research paper is unbiased and as accurate as possible, please follow these guidelines:
- Critical articles (full copies or abstracts) from a juried literary journal (such as English Journal, PMLA, Studies in the Literary Imagination, American Literature, Shakespeare Quarterly) are acceptable sources for a documented or research paper assigned by a Woodward English department faculty member. The George Carlos Library has wonderful links to juried journals, particularly PROQUEST and JSTOR.
- Newspaper articles from a credible publication (such as The Wall Street Journal and The Atlanta Journal and Constitution) are acceptable sources for a documented or research paper assigned by a Woodward English department faculty member.
- Dissertations (full copies or abstracts) from a graduate-level student are acceptable sources for a documented or research paper assigned by a Woodward English department faculty member.
- Essays written by high school or undergraduate college-level students (found on personal web pages or on class-linked pages) are not acceptable sources for a documented or research paper assigned by a Woodward English department faculty member.
- Additional materials will also be allowed from government agencies or historical foundations; however, if material you want to use is not covered in items #1, 2, or 3, please copy the entire source and ask your English teacher if that material will be acceptable.
How do you cite material found on the Internet?
The English Department uses MLA guidelines, http://www.mla.org/ (as found in Bailey and Powell’s The Practical Writer); students can also use the Landmark on-line citation site.
Of major concern is the documentation of MATERIAL FROM A COMPUTER OR INFORMATION SERVICE like the Literature Resource Center, Student Resource Center, ProQuest, or JSTOR data bases on the Carlos Library’s network. A major distinction is that page references in the citations are usually omitted since they do not appear on the computer screen format. JSTOR often uses PDF files or shows the original article as a facsimile. In that case, you would page numbers in the parenthetical citation and on your notecards. Note these 3 different types of citations:
(1) If you take information from the introduction and biographical material found BEFORE the critical excerpts appear, use the form noted on the top of page 305 (Bailey and Powell). Note that titles of data bases are in italics; the date you found the material is included.
Gale Research. "Albee, Edward (Franklin III): 1928--; American." Literature Resource Center. 21 Nov. 2012.
Parenthetical Citation: (Gale)
(2) If you take information from a critical article that was written by the editors of Gale Research, not excerpted from another critical source, use this format:
Gale Research. "Overview of Authors Works and Career: Edward Albee." Literature Resource Center. 21 Nov. 2012.
Parenthetical Citation: (Gale, "Overview")
*The second line should be indented; the internet html style will not allow us to format a hanging indent.
(3) The MLA style sheet says to "treat material obtained from a computer service . . . like other printed material but add a reference to the service at the end." Therefore, if you take information from one of the critical articles in the Literature Resource Center (or other MATERIAL FROM A COMPUTER/INFORMATION SERVICE), put the book or article into the correct original form based on its original publishing format and then add the title of the resource center you used (in this case Literature Resource Center) to the end of the entry. Here is an example where an excerpt from a book appears.
Cohn, Ruby. Edward Albee. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 1969. Literature Resource Center. 21 Nov. 2012.
Parenthetical Citation: (Cohn)
*The second line should be indented; the internet html style will not allow us to format a hanging indent.
Here is an example from a magazine article found at JSTOR.
Winter, Ivor. “Hawthorne’s Sense of Place.” American Literature 12.2 (2005): 2-16. JSTOR. 22 Nov. 2012.
Parenthetical Citation: (Winter 12)
*The second line should be indented; the internet html style will not allow us to format a hanging indent.
Note: JSTOR provides facsimile pages. The page number is on-line and should appear on your notecard and in your parentheses. Usually, a citation for an on-line source will not have a page number.