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MLA Style, 9th. edition: Plagiarism

This LibGuide includes information on how to format your paper and create the Reference page using the guidelines in the Publication Manual of the Modern Language Association, 9th Edition, 2021

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of taking another person's writing, conversation, song, or even idea and passing it off as your own.

This includes information from web pages, books, songs, television shows, email messages, interviews, articles, artworks or any other medium. Whenever you paraphrase, summarize, or take words, phrases, or sentences from another person's work, it is necessary to indicate the source of the information within your paper using an internal citation. It is not enough to just list the source in a bibliography at the end of your paper. Failing to properly quote, cite or acknowledge someone else's words or ideas with an internal citation is plagiarism.

Link to Plagiarism Video

What is a Works Cited Page?

A Works Cited page, also known as a  bibliography or reference list, comes at the end of your paper listing all the works (books, articles, Internet sites, etc.) you've quoted, paraphrased or otherwise used to create your paper.

  • The citations are usually listed alphabetically by the authors' last names and typically include the name of the publication, the publisher/date of publication, and the volume, issue and pages if applicable.
  • How works are cited and how the citations are arranged in the "Works Cited" page will be determined by the Style Guide.

Plagiarism Quote

"Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism." - George A. Moore quotes from BrainyQuote.com