Directions: Read the following passage. Then decide whether the student sample at the right (or below) cites the passage acceptably in MLA style or whether the citation could be considered plagiarism. If the citation is acceptable, choose “OK.” If the citation is plagiarized, choose “Unacceptable.” ORIGINAL SOURCE . . . There is no such thing as a literary work or tradition which is valuable in itself, regardless of what anyone might have said or come to say about it. “Value” is a transitive term: it means whatever is valued by certain people in specific situations, according to particular criteria and in the light of given purposes. It is thus quite possible that, given a deep enough transformation of our history, we may in the future produce a society which is unable to get anything at all out of Shakespeare. His works might simply seem desperately alien, full of styles of thought and feeling which such a society found limited or irrelevant. In such a situation, Shakespeare would be no more valuable than much present-day graffiti.

From page 11 of Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton (U of Minnesota P, 1996).

Student sample

Eagleton foolishly considers Shakespeare “no more valuable than much present-day graffiti” (11).

a)OK

b)Unacceptable

which one is correct option

Explanation:

This post will provide the answers for the other questions posted (please see the included links for information).

According to the formatting guidelines under the Modern Language Association (MLA) style of writing, in-text citations must include the author's last name and page number of any paraphrased or directly-quoted text.  It is essential to give credit to the source of material or literary work in our writing, as it establishes our credibility as a writer.    

Student sample:  

Eagleton foolishly considers Shakespeare “no more valuable than much present-day graffiti” (11).

This is an acceptable citation since the student included the author's last name and the page number in his direct quotation. However, the student should have used an ellipsis (...) at the beginning of his direct quotation. The purpose of adding an ellipsis is to let the reader know that the quoted text is a phrase, or a sub-part of a complete text.  The correct formatting is as follows:

Eagleton foolishly considers Shakespeare “... no more valuable than much present-day graffiti” (11).

Student sample:

As Eagleton observes, “value” is a transitory word that describes something appreciated by particular people in particular times and places, judged by certain standards for certain reasons (11).

This is not an acceptable citation. The paraphrased text closely resembles the source, despite using different words. Regardless of citing his source, the student essentially plagiarized Eagleton's text. The purpose of paraphrasing text is to convey the author's ideas using your own words. A great way to prevent plagiarism is to ask oneself, "How can I explain my understanding of Eagleton's text to others?"  

Student sample:

As Eagleton points out, the value of a work of literature changes depending on its audience—literary value is a subjective idea, not a fixed one (11).

This is an acceptable citation. The student succinctly used his own words in expressing how he understood the author's text, without closely resembling the original source. He also provided the page number of the paraphrased text.  

in the short story the slip-over sweater by jesse stuart, the main character and narrator shan is friends with grace, an intelligent girl he has known since childhood and with whom he used to be in love.

at the beginning of the story, shan believes he’s no longer in love with grace, but loves jo-anne instead. in order to buy a slip-over sweater and have jo-anne wear it so that the other students would know she loved him too, shan takes a loan at the bank.

while jo-anne is wearing shan’s sweater, his friend grace starts to wear another popular boy’s one, roy’s sweater. because of that, the other students begin to pay attention to grace and compliment her perseverance and effort. they admire her for walking 5 miles to school every day, despite the weather, and still getting the best grades. shan, who knows all of that for a fact, says, as the narrator, ‘and i knew she had the durability and the toughness of a storm-battered mountain oak.’ he compares his friend’s strength – not only physical, but also of character – to an oak tree, whose wood is known for being sturdy.

as the story goes on, shan changes his behavior out of concern for the debt he has to pay at the bank. his new girlfriend jo-anne never asks him what is wrong nor offers any sort of . instead, she breaks up with shan for not being as fun as she thought he was supposed to be. grace, however, not only asks about shan’s problem, but him make the money he needs. shan can’t but notice how different the girls are and what a wonderful person grace is.   even though he used to find jo-anne prettier at the beginning of the story, he now says, ‘grace was as beautiful as our mountain was in april, prettier than a blossom of wild phlox or a mountain daisy.’ his comparing grace to a mountain or something that exists on a mountain (such as a mountain oak or daisy) certainly has important meaning since shan loves the mountain and everything about it and he knows the mountain thoroughly. shan also loves and knows grace as completely as he does the mountain.