ESL 151

MLA In-Text Citations

 Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
Read the citations below. Which is a quotation, which is a paraphrase, and
which is a summary?

• According to Katie Martin’s article “How sounding White Helps Get You
Ahead” on Slate, linguistic discrimination has many harmful effects on people
who speak with nonstandard grammar, especially Black people and other
people of color.
• Linguist Katie Martin argues that linguistic prejudice harms people from
childhood, observing that “teachers put [children who speak nonstandard
dialects] in less challenging classes and expect poorer performance from
them, which is often a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
• Martin describes research she has conducted in which participants give their
reactions to hearing nonstandard speech and use extremely negative
language, such as “illiterate,” “lazy,” and even “caveman speech” to describe
speakers of these dialects.
 Using Signal Phrases
● Used to introduce a source the first time
● Includes the author’s name and a reporting verb (or “according to”)
○ May give author’s credentials or background
○ May also include title of source
e.g. “According to former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, ‘Promoting
English as our national language is not an act of hostility but a welcoming act of
inclusion.’”
● Useful verbs:
● Claims, asserts, states, declares
● Argues, reasons
● Explains, demonstrates
● Observes, points out, mentions
● Suggests, implies
● Asks, questions, inquires
● Adds, agrees, disagrees, responds
 Parenthetical Citations
• In MLA papers, give the author’s last name and page number(s) in parentheses
after the summary, paraphrase, or quote
• Only last name, no comma or other punctuation, and no abbreviation for “page”
• May omit author’s name if it was mentioned earlier in the sentence
• If there is no page number, follow the professor’s preference
Examples:
o According to Jake Jamieson, laws making English the official language do not
actually help immigrants, even if supporters of those laws claim that they do
(253)
o Although the United States has no national official language, more than half of
the states have made English their official language (Jamieson 253).
o One study found that AAVE speakers who call landlords in mostly white areas
are significantly less likely than white-sounding speakers to get appointments
(Martin).
 Avoiding Plagiarism
● Direct quotes - be sure that you use quotation marks and give a citation

● Summaries and paraphrases - be sure that your wording is completely

different from original (changing a few words to synonyms is NOT enough)

● Always give credit to the author, whether you are quoting, paraphrasing, or
summarizing.
 Quoting
● Use author’s exact words
○ For especially clear/memorable statements/explanations
○ To show that you are not misrepresenting an author’s position (esp. for your opponents)
● Avoid plagiarism by using quotation marks AND citing the source
● Be careful to use the author’s exact words, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization
○ To change or remove part of a quotation, use [brackets] and ellipses (. . . )
○ Example: Jamieson explains, “according to [the mindset of English-only proponents],
not only is speaking any language other than English abusive, but it is also irrational
and bewildering” (253).
○ Jamieson mentions that “There are more than twenty-seven states . . That have made
English their official language” (253).

Practice:
Choose a sentence to quote from “The English-Only Movement: Can America
Proscribe Language with a Clear Conscience?” Use a signal phrase at the
beginning and a parenthetical citation at the end. Don’t forget quotation marks!
 Quoting Jamieson

Example:
Jamieson suggests that official-English proponents are prejudiced against
other languages, asking, “If there is no malice intended toward other
languages, why is the use of any language other than English tantamount
to lunacy according to an almost constant barrage of literature and
editorial opinion?” (252).
 Quoting a Research Paper Source

Choose a sentence from one of your sources that you would like to quote in
your paper. Why would this be a good sentence to quote? What point would it
help you to make?

• Add a signal phrase which includes the author’s name and a reporting verb
(such as state, explain, argue, claim, point out, etc.) You may also include
the title of the source and/or information about the author.
• Add a parenthetical citation at the end with the page number, if there is one.
 Paraphrasing
● Restate information in your own words
● Same level of detail (unlike summary)
● Important: to avoid plagiarism, use different words AND different sentence structure
● Try using synonyms, changing the order of information, using a different part of the
sentence as the subject, and using different parts of speech
Example:
Original: If there is no malice intended toward other languages, why is the use of any
language other than English tantamount to lunacy according to an almost
constant barrage of literature and editorial opinion?
Paraphrase: Jamieson points out that English-only supporters tend to equate speaking
languages other than English with mental illness, betraying their true feelings
about other languages. (252)

Practice: Write a paraphrase of the following sentences from Martin:

Linguistic prejudice also harms children in the educational system, where nonstandard
English may be judged unintelligent or lazy. This has lasting impacts, as teachers put
these children in less challenging classes and expect poorer performance from them,
which is often a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 Paraphrasing Martin
Original:
Linguistic prejudice also harms children in the educational system, where
nonstandard English may be judged unintelligent or lazy. This has lasting
impacts, as teachers put these children in less challenging classes and expect
poorer performance from them, which is often a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Example paraphrase:
According to Martin, elementary school teachers often assume that children who
speak with nonstandard grammar are less intelligent or hardworking than their
peers. This assumption means that children who speak nonstandard dialects are
not challenged as much, and their performance suffers as a result.
 Paraphrasing a Research Paper Source
Choose a sentence from one of your sources that you would like to paraphrase
in your paper. Why would this be a good sentence to paraphrase? What point
would it help you to make?

• Rewrite the sentence in your own words. Be sure that the sentence structure
and the word choice are both different from the original.
• Add a signal phrase to the beginning of the sentence which includes the
author’s name and a reporting verb (such as state, explain, argue, claim,
point out, etc.) You may also include the title of the source and/or
information about the author.
• Add a parenthetical citation at the end with the page number, if there is one.
 Summarizing
● Main idea only
● Use when details are not necessary
● Much shorter than original
● Use your own words
Example:
In his essay “The English-Only Movement: Can America Proscribe Language
with a Clear Conscience?,” Jake Jamieson describes the controversy over
the movement to make English the official language of the United States. He
points out that pushing immigrants to speak only English can be seen as a
form of discrimination (249-254).”
Practice:
Write a 2-3-sentence summary of “How Sounding White Helps Get You
Ahead” by Katie Martin. Remember to begin with a signal phrase.
 Summarizing Martin

Example:
In “How Sounding White Helps Get You Ahead, on Film and in Real Life,”
linguist Katie Martin describes the harmful effects of linguistic prejudice
against speakers of nonstandard dialects such as AAVE. She cites several
studies which demonstrate that speakers of AAVE and Chicano English
experience discrimination in education, housing, and criminal justice cases.
 Synthesizing sources
● Using multiple sources in the same paragraph in connection with each
other
● Show the relationship between sources; for example, are they in
agreement or disagreement? Does one provide an example to support the
other?

Example: paragraph 4 of “The English-Only Movement”

Practice: If you were going to write a paragraph answering the question “Who
is harmed by linguistic prejudice in the United States?,” what ideas from
Jamieson might you mention, and what ideas from Martin? How could you
connect these ideas together in one paragraph?
 Homework
Choose two sentences each from the essays by Martin and Jamieson that
you find to be particularly interesting or powerful, and bring them with you to
the next class.
Think of at least one idea for an argumentative essay prompt based on the
readings by Jamieson and Martin, and bring it to the next class.
Continue reading the sources for your research paper and taking notes.