What are the characteristics of a scholarly publication in the digital age?
Web publishing has complicated the identification of scholarly communications. Traditional cues such as publisher, press, and durability are no longer constant in the world of digital, scholarly communications. Findings from Leah Halliday’s work with scholars, librarians, and researchers has identified three characteristics to look for in a publication:
Trustworthiness
Publicity
Accessibility
Works Cited
Halliday, L. (2001). Scholarly communication, scholarly publication and the status of emerging formats.Information Research, 6(4). Retrieved from: Available at: http://InformationR.net/ir/paper111.html
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Avoiding Plagiarism? 
How to Avoid Plagiarism is a 4 minute video created by Excelsior OWL that describes the act of plagiarism and differentiates between paraphrasing and quoting.
Examples of Acceptable and Unacceptable Paraphrasing
The examples below will show you how paraphrase correctly. They're adapted from Paraphrasing by University Libraries, University of Arizona with its gracious permission.
Here's the original text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and Crime in the 1890s by Joyce Williams et al.:
The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the three great developments of late nineteenth century American history. As new, larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American landscape in the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided jobs for a rising tide of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the Bordens lived) which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade.
Here's an unacceptable paraphrase:
The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the population were three large factors of nineteenth century America. As steam-driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave of immigrants. With industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where the Bordens lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well as production.
What makes this passage plagiarism?
This is unacceptable paraphrasing because the writer has:
Here's an acceptable paraphrase:
Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of northeastern industrial cities of the nineteenth century. Steam-powered production had shifted labor from agriculture to manufacturing, and as immigrants arrived in the U.S., they found work in these new factories. As a result, populations grew and large urban areas arose. Fall River was one of these manufacturing and commercial centers (Williams 1).
Why is this passage acceptable?
Here's an another acceptable paraphrase, using a quotation and paraphrase together:
Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of northeastern industrial cities of the nineteenth century. As steam-powered production shifted labor from agriculture to manufacturing, the demand for workers "transformed farm hands into factory workers" and created jobs for immigrants. In turn, growing populations increased the size of urban areas. Fall River was one of these manufacturing hubs that were also "centers of commerce and trade" (Williams 1).
Why is this passage acceptable?
Strategies for avoiding plagiarism
1. Put quotation marks around everything that comes directly from the text, especially when taking notes.
2. When you paraphrase, be sure you're not just rearranging or replacing a few words. Instead, read over what you want to paraphrase carefully; cover up the text with your hand, or close the text so you can't see any of it (and so aren't tempted to use the text as a "guide"). Write out the idea in your own words without peeking.
3. Check your paraphrase against the original text to be sure you haven't accidentally used the same phrases or words, and that the information is accurate.
This MLA 8th edition template is a Microsoft Word (.docx) file. After downloading, click "Enable Editing" at the top of the screen to begin using the template.
First Page
Body of Paper
Body of Paper with Image
Body of Paper with Graph
Works Cited Page
MLA Eighth Edition
The latest edition of the MLA Handbook focuses on the elements common to most publications through the use of one standard citation format. There are no special instructions for a particular media type (e.g., book, magazine, journal, or tweet) and there may be more than one way to document a publication depending on how you used the source. The ultimate goal is to provide enough information for the reader to locate your source.
MLA’s Universal Citation Format
Author. "Title of Source." Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher,
Publication Date, Location. [Title of Container 2, Other Contributors, Version, Number,
Publisher, Publication Date, Location.]
What is a “container?”
MLA uses the word “container” to refer to the larger body of work from which the documented source originates.
For example, Melissa uses information from a chapter in a psychology textbook for her research paper. The title of the chapter is the source and the title of the book is the container:
A source may have more than one container depending on how it is accessed.
For example, Tom uses an episode of a TV series that is available on Netflix for his research paper. The series title is the first container and Netflix is the second container.
As another example, Kim uses an article he finds in an online database for his research paper. The journal title is the first container and EBSCO is the second container.
What are “other contributors?”
Other contributors are individuals other than the author that are important to include in a citation. In the above example, Tom may be discussing particular performances in the Gossip Girl episode and would include the actors in his citation:
Common descriptions for contributions include: adapted by, directed by, edited by, illustrated by, introduction by, narrated by, performance by, and translated by.
What is a “version?”
A version can be an edition, revision, abridged/unabridged or other special format of the source. Some examples:
What does "location" mean?
The location may be page numbers, a web address or a DOI. It is not the publisher's city.
What about the date of access?
It is important to include the date an item was accessed if there is potential for change to or removal of the item, such as websites or social media posts. This is also important to include if there is no date of publication. Including the date of access will help the reader further understand which version of the item you are using.
For example, Tom may want to include the date of access for his TV show since Netflix frequently adds and removes content:
A few more examples
For a website with no author and no publication date, start the citation with the title of the source:
For an organization as an author, place the name of the organization as the author:
For two authors, list the authors as they appear on the work. The first author is listed last name, first name and the second author is listed first name last name:
For three or more authors, list the first author last name, first name followed by et al.:
It may be helpful to use a template to gather necessary information. A downloadable template is available on the last tab in the MLA section of this website.
Citation Formatting Tips:
Works Cited Page Formatting:
MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.
Sevastopoulos, Julie. “Citing Sources.” Grammar-Quizzes, 2016, www.grammar-quizzes.com/writing_citations.html.
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