Citing Web Resources


When and how to cite:


- parenthetically in text (author #) according to the Modern Language Association's style


- when you include 4 or more words from another author


- when you cite uncommon knowledge


- when you are influenced by another author's argument and/or ideas

Example

Wendy Nielsen reminds students to "cite uncommon knowledge" (Nielsen 2007).

Works Cited:


Nielsen, Wendy C. "Citing Web Resources." Wendy C. Nielsen Home Page. Oct. 2013.  <http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/web.html>. Date accessed. 

Parenthetically, you put whatever is first. So in absence of an author you cite ("The Title").

See also here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/



What is plagiarism? Cheating takes

many forms . . . 

Academic Dishonesty according to the Dean of Students

"Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to submit as his/her own work that which has not be completed by him/her or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment, i.e., plagiarism. No student may intentionally or knowingly give or receive aid on any test or examination, or on any academic exercise that requires independent work, or use improperly use technology (i.e., instant messaging, text messaging, or using a camera phone) prohibited materials of any sort to give or receive aid on a test or examination. The following are examples of academic dishonesty:

1. Copying from another student's paper.

2. Using materials on a test or examination not authorized by the instructor.

3. Collaborating with any other person during a test or examination without authorization by the instructor.

4. Knowingly obtaining, using, buying, selling, transporting or soliciting, in whole or in part, the contents of a non-administered test or examination.

5. Coercing any other person to obtain a non-administered test or examination, or to obtain information about such an examination or test.

6. Substituting for another student, or permitting any other person to substitute for oneself to take a test or examination.

7. Altering test answers and then claiming the instructor improperly graded the test or examination.

8. Collusion or purchased term papers:

Collusion, the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing work offered for credit, is academically dishonest. Montclair State University prohibits the preparation for sale and/or subsequent sale of any term paper, thesis, dissertation, essay or other assignment with the knowledge that the assignment will be submitted in whole or in part for academic credit.

9. Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is defined as using another person's words as if they were your own, and the unacknowledged incorporation of those words in one's own work for academic credit. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, submitting as one's own a project, paper, report, test, program, design, or speech copied from, partially copied, or partially paraphrased work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright in manuscript form or electronic media) without proper citation. Source citations must be given for works quoted or paraphrased. The above rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. The following guidelines for written work will assist students in avoiding plagiarism:

            (a) General indebtedness for background information and data must be acknowledged by inclusion of a bibliography of all works consulted;

            (b) Specific indebtedness for a particular idea, or for a quotation of four or more consecutive words from another text, must be acknowledged by footnote or endnote reference to the actual source. Quotations of four words or more from a text must also be indicated by the use of quotation marks;

            (c) A project work shall be considered plagiarism if it duplicates in whole or in part, without citation, the work of another person to an extent than is greater that is commonly accepted. The degree to which imitation without citation is permissible varies from discipline to discipline. Students must consult their instructors before copying another person's work" ("University Code of Conduct")

"University Code of Conduct." Dean of Students page. Unknown orig. date. <http://www.montclair.edu/pages/deanstudents/regulations1.html>. Accessed May 2007.


Additional notes on using web resources:


When in doubt, use a library resource rather than something found on the internet.

Articles found via library databases (or other peer-reviewed sources with ISBN #s, in the library catalogue, but available electronically) are NOT internet resources, and you do not need to cite them as such (unless lack of pagination is an issue). If an article you access via the web is available in .pdf form (Adobe Acrobat), you should use that form in order to be able to cite pages according to the MLA (parenthetical citation) format.

Another example of citation:

On her internet site Using Web Resources, Wendy Nielsen suggests using a "library resource" instead of web resources when there is a choice between the two (Nielsen 2006).



Some instances when it is appropriate to use a web resource:


Example of popular phenomenon:

As early twenty-first century readers of this text, how are we supposed to interpret Penthesilea’s contradictory gestures? On the one hand, it has been commonplace, from Cixous to Internet commerce, to view in Penthesilea the archetype of the strong woman who seizes what she wants. For instance, a new web-hosting service, Penthesilea.de, advertises itself as a portal to women’s businesses and public issues (5 January 2001, available: <http://www.penthesilea.de>).

Accessible public records (.gov, .edu):


Potter records 5,107 death sentences and 427 executions between 1817 and 1820. Disregarding Great Britain’s pro capita difference (appx. 16 million in 1801 and 27 million in 1851), these statistics are comparable to those of the United States in a recent three-year period. Of the approximately 3,500 men and women on death row 1997-2000, 325 were executed. See Tracy L. Snell, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, Dec. 1997-2000, <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#cp>, 30 July 2002.


This page is maintained by Wendy Nielsen. Last updated Oct. 2013