MIS Academic Honesty Policy - updated Feb 2020

Academic Honesty Policy

Updated: February 2020

Table of contents

Rationale
Understanding Academic Misconduct

Clarifying Collaboration and Collusion
Responsibilities

Students
Teacher
School
Coordinators
Parent
Measures Taken to Provide Education and Support on Academic Honesty
PYP Citation Expectations
MYP and DP Formatting and Citation
Plagiarism
IB Diploma Program

Paraphrasing: The Right and Wrong Way to Do It
A paraphrase is...

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because…
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
Some Examples to Compare
Scenarios
PYP
Culminating Project
Group Work
Presentation
Creative Work
Independent Work
MYP
Culminating Project/Personal Project
Group Work: Community Project
Oral Presentation: Language and Literature
Creative Work: Design
Independent Work: Sciences
Diploma Program:
Culminating Project: English A - Extended Essay
Groupwork: Psychology - Internal Assessment
Oral Presentation: Theory of Knowledge Presentation
Creative Arts: Visual Arts-Studio Work
Independent Work: ITGS-Internal Assessment
Procedures—reporting, recording and monitoring
The Rights of the Student
Consequences of Academic Misconduct

Level One Offence
Level Two Offence
Level Three Offence
Further Incidents
Consequences of Misconduct in External Assessments
Process and Policy Review
Works Cited
Appendix I
Appendix II
MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Title of container
Other contributors
Version
Number
Publisher
Optional elements
Creating in-text citations using the eighth edition
Final thoughts about the eighth edition
How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA

Rationale

Academic honesty serves to promote personal integrity and engender respect for others and the
integrity of their work. Medan Independent School (MIS) is an IB world school. Accordingly, we
strive to develop the IB learner profile in all of our learners. Being “principled” is an attribute of
the learner profile. Being principled means to act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense
of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take
responsibility for our actions and their consequences. The MIS academic honesty policy aims to
create guidelines for teaching students how to produce authentic work, use other people’s work
in support of their own, create a fair and consistent learning environment, and educate all
stakeholders in how to promote academic honesty.

Our school adopts the IB Learner profile as our Expected Schoolwide Learning Results
(ESLRs). We believe that academic honesty supports the entirety of the learner profile, but in
particular the profiles;

Caring: Academic dishonesty can be a sign of disrespect to our peers, especially in the context
of copying or cheating, as it can have an impact on the wellbeing of others. Academic honesty
demonstrates that we are not willing to compromise others or put other people in a situation that
entails a moral dilemma.

Principled: Being principled is at the very heart of academic honesty; as strong sense of fairness
and justice and conducting oneself in an honest and principled manner, whatever the context.

Knowledgeable: A key aspect of exploring knowledge and engaging with issues is being able to
identify and cite the sources of our information.

Understanding Academic Misconduct

The IB defines academic misconduct as behaviour that results in, or may result in, the student
or any other student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components.

Academic misconduct includes (but is not limited to):

- plagiarism—​ the representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of the ideas, words or work
of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment

- collusion—​ supporting academic misconduct by another student, as in allowing one’s
work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another

- duplication of work​—the presentation of the same work for different assessment
components

- any other behaviour that gives an unfair advantage to a student or that affects the
results of another student (falsifying data, misconduct during an examination, creating
spurious reflections).

Clarifying Collaboration and Collusion

For most MYP and DP assessments, students are expected to work independently but with
appropriate support from teachers and other adults, although there are many occasions when
collaboration with other students is an important part of the learning process.

Collaboration may be loosely defined as working together on a common aim with shared
information, which is an open and cooperative behavior that does not result in allowing one’s
work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another. Collusion occurs when a student
uses fellow learners as an unattributed source. ("Academic Honesty in the IB Educational
Context")

Details of IB policies and procedures to support academic integrity as part of the external
assessment process are available in the annual relevant publication “Handbook of Procedures”
by programme.

Responsibilities

The following section details the expectations and responsibilities of the various stakeholder
parties at MIS.

Students

It is the expectation that MIS students will produce authentic work. An authentic piece of work is
one that is based on the student’s individual and original ideas, with the ideas and work of
others fully acknowledged and appropriately cited. Therefore, all assignments for assessment,
regardless of their format, must wholly and authentically use that student’s own language,
expression and ideas. Where the ideas or work of another person are represented within a
student’s work, whether in the form of direct quotation or paraphrase, the source(s) of those
ideas or the work must be fully and appropriately acknowledged.

Teacher

It is expected of MIS teachers that they will teach students the basic meaning and significance
of concepts that relate to academic honesty. Teachers will ensure that students have the
opportunity to apply related skills to their work. Teachers will provide formative feedback to
students on application of these skills.

It is the expectation that each level of the school (PYP, MYP, DP) will develop strategies for
teaching students about: collaboration, acknowledging the work of others, paraphrasing,
academic misconduct, and its consequences.

Teachers that are new to the school are required to review the policy. When revisions are made
to the policy all teaching staff will be informed and will be required to review the revised policy.

School

It is the responsibility of the school to regularly review the academic honesty policy to ensure
that it reflects the current school environment. The policy will conform to the IB regulations
regarding academic honesty.

Each level of the school (PYP, MYP and DP) needs to ensure that it has a strategy for teaching
students about: collaboration, acknowledging the work of others, paraphrasing, academic
misconduct, and its consequences.

The school maintains fairness regarding academic honesty by giving students the opportunity to
appeal an allegation of academic dishonesty before it is recorded in ManageBac (see ‘the rights
of the student’). ManageBac will be used to track incidents of academic misconduct through the
course of a student’s academic career at MIS.

When students join the school, it is the responsibility of the school to inform the student and
their parents of the policy. The student and at least one parent must sign a waiver stating that
they have reviewed and understand the policy. When there is a revision to the policy, all
students and their parents must be informed and all students and at least one parent must sign
a new waiver stating that they have reviewed and understand the policy.

Coordinators

It is the responsibility of coordinators to keep up to date on the IBs expectations regarding
academic honesty and ensure that the school’s policy remains current with these expectations.
The coordinator is to ensure that new teachers are given access to the academic honesty policy
and have been asked to read it. When revisions are made to the policy, coordinators are to
inform the teachers of the changes and ask them to read the revised policy.

Parent

Parents are important partners in promoting the school’s endeavour to create a positive
environment for academic honesty. Parents are encouraged to be a resource in their student’s
learning, but to refrain from doing the learning for them. While we value high academic
achievement, we wish for it to be achieved honestly and in a way that allows the student’s voice
to be clearly heard. Parents can support students in the practices of academic honesty by:

● Helping students to plan and organize their work and study schedules,
● Becoming familiar with the guidelines for academic honesty as communicated in the

academic policy,
● Becoming familiar with the requirements of the MYP or DP programmes.
● Encouraging students to ask questions of their teachers if they need clarification on an

assignment.

Parents may assist their child in understanding the instructions of an assignment. When helping
a child, parents should be aware of the difference between asking, prompting and telling. Asking
the child guiding questions and prompting with comments such as ‘What do you need to do
next?’ are appropriate. Telling the student what to do (i.e. providing the answer) is often not the
best way to help a child succeed.

Measures Taken to Provide Education and Support on Academic Honesty

Students will receive grade-appropriate instruction at the beginning of the academic year
regarding correct citation, referencing, and ways to avoid plagiarism. This instruction will
continue throughout the course of the school year.

MIS has chosen the Modern Language Association (MLA) format as the standard formatting
guidelines for crediting the work of others. Here is a d​ ownloadable version of an essay in MLA
format, complete with annotations explaining how to write it.

PYP Citation Expectations

In Kindergarten and Grade 1 students should understand the concepts of copying and cheating.
For Grades 2 and 3, they should be aware of the origin of the work and be able to orally explain
where they found the information. In Grade 4 they should also understand the concepts of
plagiarism, copying, stealing ideas, and cheating. In Grades 5 and 6 students are additionally
expected to cite direct quotations, sources of photographs, and websites they have used.

MYP and DP Formatting and Citation

In the MYP and DP, teachers and students are provided with training and education on the
proper use of MLA formatting and citation via the use of multiple resources, including the ​OWL
Purdue Online Writing Lab,​ ​MLA tutorial videos, ​EasyBib,​ and other resources. Language and
Literature teach the MLA system across the MYP and DP, with subject teachers supporting this
by requiring that it is applied in all assignments that utilize the work of others.

Plagiarism

Teachers and students are educated on how to avoid plagiarism via a number of means,
including ​www.plagiarism.org,​ the ​OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab,​ and other resources.

IB Diploma Programme

As students enter the IB Diploma Programme, there is an increase in the expectations for
citation and paraphrasing. Resources for discussion include as follows;

Paraphrasing: The Right and Wrong Way to Do It

(taken from P​ urdue OWL: Paraphrase Exercises​ )​

Borrowing from a source without proper citation (even if you change the words) is plagiarism.

A paraphrase is...
● your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else,
presented in a new form.
● one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a
source.
● a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main
idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because…

● it is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
● it helps you control the temptation to quote too much.

● the mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full
meaning of the original.

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using

this material. At the top of the note card, write a keyword or phrase to indicate the
subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately
expresses all the essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed
exactly from the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily
if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

Some Examples to Compare

The original passage:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse
quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should
appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact
transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. ​Writing Research Papers​.
2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.

A legitimate paraphrase:

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a
desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to
minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).

An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the
amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).

A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of
them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should
consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material
copied while taking notes.

Scenarios

The following are scenarios in which a student has the potential to commit academic
misconduct and descriptions of how committing such acts can be avoided. The following
scenarios have been taken from the Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context document
("Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context").

PYP

Group Work

Kindergarten students are working together in small groups. The teacher notices that one
student is not participating. The teacher has a one-to-one conversation with the student
and encourages participation by asking questions and reminding the student of the importance
of presenting his/her own ideas.

A few moments later, the teacher gently reminds the class of the essential agreements for group
work and that every student should have a chance to offer new or different ideas that reflect the
creativity and collaboration of the team. The students are also reminded of the importance of
practising social, communication and thinking skills.

Presentation

A Grade 6 student is working on the exhibition. During the research process, a variety of
sources, including books, blogs, internet videos and print articles were accessed. The student
has used items from web searches as part of his visual presentation. Since the information is
easily available, he is confused about whether or not all sources need to be documented.

The student reviews the school guidelines for academic honesty. He also asks his classmates
for guidance. The classroom teacher, media specialist and parents also model and provide
regular reminders to all students about the importance and meaning of academic honesty.

Creative Work

While working on a project related to the transdisciplinary theme “How we express ourselves”, a
Grade 3 student creates a video that features different forms of art. He decides to use pictures,
music and images that were found on the internet. While reviewing the rubric for the project, the
student realizes that he has forgotten to cite the different musical and video sources that have
been used. He talks with the classroom teacher who provides examples of an agreed way to
reference the items.

Independent Work

To further develop skills related to academic honesty, the school’s library/media specialist has
chosen the key concept of responsibility and the PYP attitude of respect as a central theme.
The library/media specialist leads discussions across grade/year levels about how authors
create work, and the importance of respecting intellectual property. Students learn that they
have the responsibility to cite sources beginning in Grade 2. The library/ media specialist
explains that the sources are a “road map” for the students, and that it is important to
acknowledge the author out of respect. Therefore, students are taught how to create a
bibliography or a page of works cited.

MYP

Culminating Project/Personal Project

An MYP Grade 10 student is completing her personal project on sustainable transport.
However, she changed her idea for the project very late in the learning process. As advised on
the academic honesty form for MYP projects, she met with her supervisor three times, and the
teacher signed off her work to date. Now the student is concerned that the form does not
include any of her current research and decision-making, and her supervisor is unaware of her
new direction. The supervisor reminds the student about the importance of the process journal,
and its purpose: to document progress throughout the project, including developments near the
deadline for completion; to record selected, annotated and/ or edited research notes; and to

maintain a current bibliography. The teacher explains the relevance of the academic honesty
form as a form of communication. As long as the supervisor is aware of the student’s
progression of ideas throughout the project, meaningfully recorded in the process journal, there
is no need for concern.

Oral Presentation: Language and Literature

An MYP student is organizing a presentation for language and literature, which will not be in
her best language. The work will be filmed and uploaded to the school’s private video channel.
Her presentation is on Astérix et Cléopâtre and she would like to use extracts of the film and
book in her presentation. She wonders whether she needs to ask for copyright permission.
Copyright law is complex and is often nationally-based. In most cases, copyright infringement
occurs when intellectual property is used to make a profit by someone who is not its creator.
The school’s video platform is not available to the public, and the project will not be used for
commercial gain. If the student documents the film and book appropriately, it is unlikely that
any permissions are needed. The teacher uses this example as a way to discuss piracy,
responsible use and alternative royalty free print and multimedia resources (including
creative commons licensing).

Creative Work: Design

An MYP student is designing a greenhouse as part of an assignment for MYP design. He is
confused about how and whether to acknowledge sources for this project. Isn’t every
technique a form of imitation? Is there such a thing as an original idea? The teacher reviews the
MYP design cycle, explaining that inquiring and analysing involves research into
a range of existing products that can inspire solutions to the design problem. The student
realizes that by documenting his investigation with references, and developing an accurate
bibliography, he is acting with academic honesty. Creativity often builds on the work of others,
and new ideas often come from existing products and solutions.

Independent Work: Sciences

As part of a science project, an MYP student has been asked to conduct a series of lab tests but
found his results to be inconsistent. He has decided to copy data from his friend, who conducted
the same experiment, under the same conditions, and whose observations more clearly
confirmed his hypothesis. Before the students submit their projects, the teacher discusses the
importance of reporting data accurately. Achievement in the task depends on thoughtful
analysis, not consistent results across trials or experiments. Copying, creating or manipulating

data won’t help students attain a higher achievement level. Scientific thinking relies on the
honesty of researchers who design and carry out experiments, and the data they generate.

Diploma Program:

Culminating Project: English A - Extended Essay

A DP student is writing his English A extended essay. He has a scheduled meeting with his
supervisor on Monday, where he is meant to submit a draft. Having missed his last
meeting because he was off school ill, he is behind schedule and submits a draft consisting
mainly of quotes hastily chosen from internet sites. The supervisor reminds the DP student of
the importance of formulating his own ideas on the topic and a plan for the essay before
consulting other sources. Without this preparation, the extended essay risks being simply a
collection of other people’s ideas on the topic, which increases the temptation for the student to
pass off others’ ideas as his own.

Groupwork: Psychology - Internal Assessment

A DP student has been working in a group on her psychology internal assessment. A
domineering member of the group is putting pressure on the student to write the reports of the
experimental study for everyone in the group. The student being pressurized understands this
is inappropriate but wants to be popular with the group. The teacher notices the group is being
dominated by one member and has a quiet talk with the student, reminding her that, although
the data collection was done as a group, each member must write up an individual report. The
teacher offers support in communicating this message back to the group.

Oral Presentation: Theory of Knowledge Presentation

A DP student is planning his TOK presentation. In researching the presentation he uses a
variety of sources, including books, websites and newspaper articles. He is not sure
how to reference these sources in an oral presentation, or even if he needs to do so since it is
not a written task. He asks his teacher for advice. The teacher advises the student that it is just
as crucial to acknowledge sources in an oral presentation as it is in any other piece of work. The
teacher suggests several ways in which the student may wish to do this, including verbal or
written acknowledgments throughout the presentation, or with a bibliography on the last slide of
the PowerPoint®.

Procedures—reporting, recording and monitoring

In the PYP, teachers keep anecdotal notes in a file for each class. The classroom teacher
makes notes of any incidents of plagiarism or academic dishonesty and schedules
discussions/meetings with parents as necessary.

Class Dojo is the first point of contact for every incident and to arrange and record any
outcomes from the meetings with parents. Classes are archived each year to ensure that the
long term records of the student are stored in a central area.

In the MYP and DP, teachers record any incidences of academic dishonesty or plagiarism using
the ManageBac system. The behavior function has been activated on ManageBac and every
specialist teacher has access to the database to update any incidents. The teacher who is
adding a new incident checks the record of the student involved and ascertain whether this is a
level one, two, or three offence. The consequence should match the appropriate level from the
section Consequences of Academic Misconduct

The Rights of the Student

It is important in this policy to remember that the purpose of the rules and consequences should
not be punitive. The purpose is to develop best practice and positive conduct that will serve the
student well into their future in tertiary education and in the real world.

Where there has been an allegation of academic misconduct, the student should have a right to
contest or respond to the allegation before it is recorded in ManageBac and before receiving
any consequence. If the student wishes to contest the allegation, he or she may request a
meeting with the teacher involved and may ask to be accompanied by an advocate; either a
parent, teacher, or even another student. In the case that the student still feels that the
allegation is unfair or incorrect, they also have the option to request a meeting with the same
participants but this time also involving the school principal.

A student has the right to report an incident of academic dishonesty in confidence to any
teacher or the principal. It is then the responsibility of the teacher or principal to investigate the
allegation to determine its merit. In doing the investigation pertinent individuals can be
questioned but the identity of original accuser will be kept confidential.

Consequences of Academic Misconduct

Consequences will take into account age and level of awareness (length of time in an IB school
and exposure to training on academic honesty), severity of the incident, intent or non-intent, or

other factors. If a teacher is concerned that a form of academic dishonesty has occurred the
teacher follows the guidelines below.

1. An interview is held between the teacher and student/s concerned.
2. If appropriate, teachers use digital means to check the originality of student work.

Level One Offence

A level one offence includes copying homework, looking at another student’s paper, working on
an assignment that was supposed to be individual with others.

1. Opportunities are given to students to edit or redo the work, with teacher support, if

appropriate.

2. Reflection and goal setting is a part of the above process.

Level Two Offence

A level two offence includes any second level one offence, and/or misbehavior during an exam.

1. Student is required to edit the work with teacher support, if appropriate.
2. Parents are notified and a conference with the parent and the child is conducted.
3. Reflection and goal setting is a part of the above process.

Level Three Offence

A level three offence includes any third level one offence or any second level two offence and
and/or cheating on an examination, submitting a paper that is not one’s own, or being involved
in the theft of school materials or the dissemination of stolen materials.

1. Student receives a zero score for the related piece of work.
2. Parents are notified and a conference with the parent, child and principal is conducted.
3. Reflection and goal setting is a part of the above process.

DP Assessment

Plagiarism or cheating on IBDP assessments, whether in an internal assessment or an external
assessment, may result in the student being withdrawn from the IBDP at MIS and may lead to
expulsion.

Further Incidents

If there are any further incidents of plagiarism, the student may be put on a disciplinary track,
based on a discussion with the teacher and the principal, which may lead to consequences up
to and including suspension or exclusion from the program depending on the severity of the
incident and the level of the student.

Consequences of Misconduct in External Assessments

Consequences of misconduct in external assessments (which may include NWEA MAP testing,
IB DP examinations, SAT, PSAT, Indonesian Government examinations, or any other
examinations that are held by an external examination board), will follow the recommended
consequences from each of those examination boards, plus any additional consequence in line
with school policy. At the bare minimum, for most of these external examination boards, the
student is likely to be disqualified from the examination.

Process and Policy Review

This policy was devised over a series of collaborative meetings between August and September
2016 between the PYP, MYP, and DP Coordinators, the Language and Literature teacher, the
Maths and Physics teacher and the Principal. The first stage of devising this policy was the
review of the existing policy and an open discussion of the perspectives of the various members
of the team and their outlook on academic honesty. There was a discussion on the existing
policies and procedures as well as the ongoing norms, both written and unwritten. The draft
document was then shared with the full faculty for discussion and finalization.

For the academic honesty audit, we reviewed the academic honesty environment at MIS
through the lens of the creation of the new policy. Questions that were addressed in the ongoing
discussion and development of the policy included status and availability of the current policy,
previous review process, current practice in comparison to the existing policy, referencing and
citation, when are the skills taught to students, what reinforcement is given, what are the
existing consequences for violation, how are sources and citations evaluated?

This policy will be made available to all students and parents yearly and they will be asked to
sign a document to show that they have read, understood, and are willing to support the policy
(see Appendix I). The policy will be made available to all faculty on Google Drive.

This policy will be reviewed by the leadership team each academic year.

Works Cited

"Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context." Ibo.org. The International Baccalaureate
Organization, 01 Aug. 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.

"Academic Honesty Policy." UWC Maastricht. N.p., Feb.-Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.

“Academic Honesty Policy and Procedure.” Tzu Chi School Jakarta. July 2016. Web. 19 Sept.
2016.

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2016.

"MYP: From Principles into Practice." Ibo.org. The International Baccalaureate Organization, 01
May 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.

"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Paraphrase Exercises. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept.
2016.

Appendix I

Academic Honesty Form

Student Pledge for Academic Honesty

I will follow the MIS expectations for Academic Honesty. I will follow the policies outlined in
school’s guidelines at all times. I understand and agree to the stipulations set forth in the
document above.

Student Name (Please Print): ________________________________________________

Student Signature: _________________________________________ Date: __________

Parent Pledge

I have read and understood the MIS Academic Honesty Policy. I will discuss the content and
concepts with my child and will support the school to ensure that my child follows the policies.

Parent Name (Please Print): _________________________________________________

Parent Signature: __________________________________________ Date: __________

Appendix II

MLA Formatting and Style Guide
Summary:
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite
sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA
Handbook (8th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text
citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Russell Keck, Joshua M. Paiz,
Michelle Campbell, Rodrigo Rodríguez-Fuentes, Daniel P. Kenzie, Susan Wegener, Maryam
Ghafoor, Purdue OWL Staff
The following overview should help you better understand how to cite sources using MLA eighth
edition, including the list of works cited and in-text citations.
Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our
MLA vidcast series​ on the ​Purdue OWL YouTube Channel​.

Creating a Works Cited list using the eighth edition
MLA has turned to a style of documentation that is based on a general method that may be
applied to every possible source, to many different types of writing. But since texts have
become increasingly mobile, and the same document may be found in several different sources,
following a set of fixed rules is no longer sufficient.

The current system is based on a few principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules.
While the handbook still gives examples of how to cite sources, it is organized according to the
process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This process teaches writers
a flexible method that is universally applicable. Once you are familiar with the method, you can
use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.

Here is an overview of the process:

When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are
the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each Works Cited entry. In
your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

1. Author.
2. Title of source.
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.
Each element should be followed by the punctuation mark shown here. Earlier editions of the
handbook included the place of publication, and required punctuation such as journal editions in
parentheses, and colons after issue numbers. In the current version, punctuation is simpler (just
commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the source is kept to the
basics.

Author
Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as
presented in the work. End this element with a period.

Said, Edward W.​ ​Culture and Imperialism.​ Knopf, 1994.

Title of source
The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it
should be listed in italics or quotation marks.
A book should be in italics:

Henley, Patricia. ​The Hummingbird House​. MacMurray, 1999.

A website should be in italics: Chili."e​ How,

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian

www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*

A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper article) should be in quotation marks:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. ​"Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in
Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." ​Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature,​ vol. 15,
no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks:

Beyoncé. "​ Pray You Catch Me." ​Lemonade, ​Parkwood Entertainment, 2016,
www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

*The eighth edition handbook recommends including URLs when citing online sources. For
more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.

Title of container
Unlike earlier versions, the eighth edition refers to containers, which are the larger wholes in
which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection
of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title
of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows
next describes the container.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." T​ he Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories,
edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.

“94 Meetings.” P​ arks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur,
performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and
Universal Media Studios, 2010.

The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. ​Skewed & Reviewed, 27 Apr.
2009,
www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-rev
iewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 Mar. 2009.

In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of
short stories on Google Books, or watched a television series on Netflix. You might have found
the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within
containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.

“94 Meetings.” ​Parks and Recreation​, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010.
Netflix,
www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44
de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.”
Historical Journal​, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96.​ProQuest,
doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other contributors
In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited,
such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research,
or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.
Note: In the eighth edition, terms like editor, illustrator, translator, etc., are no longer
abbreviated.

Foucault, Michel. ​Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of
Reason. T​ ranslated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Woolf, Virginia. J​ acob’s Room.​ A​ nnotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow,
Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

Version
If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.

The Bible​. A​ uthorized King James Version,​ Oxford UP, 1998.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. ​Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. ​3rd
ed.,​ Pearson, 2004.

Number
If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book, or journal with both
volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future
Directions.” ​Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal,
vol. 6, no.2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May
2009

“94 Meetings.” ​Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur,
performance by Amy Poehler, s​ eason 2, episode 21,​Deedle-Dee Productions and
Universal Media Studios, 2010.

Quintilian. I​ nstitutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, v​ ol. 2,L​ oeb-Harvard
UP, 1980.

Publisher
The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one
publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by
a forward slash (/).

Klee, Paul. T​ wittering Machine. 1922. ​Museum of Modern Art, New York.​The Artchive,
www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May
2006.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System​. ​American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists,​ 2006.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. P​ arks and Recreation.​ D​ eedle-Dee
Productions and Universal Media Studios,​ 2015.

Note: the publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works
published by their author or editor, a Web cite whose title is the same name as its publisher, a

Web cite that makes works available but does not actually publish them (such as
YouTube,WordPress, or JSTOR).
Publication date
The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version
of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network
on one date, but released on Netflix on a different date. When the source has more than one
date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your use of it. If you’re unsure about
which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.
In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was
released in 1999. This is the way to create a general citation for a television episode.

“Hush.” B​ uffy the Vampire Slayer​, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah
Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, ​1999.​

However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode
originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you
would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network
(rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah
Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 1​ 4 Dec. 1999.​

Location
You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.
An essay in a book, or an article in journal should include page numbers.

Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” ​The Thing around Your Neck,
Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, p​ p. 74-94.​

The location of an online work should include a URL.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention." ​Emerging Infectious Diseases​, vol. 6, no. 6,
2000, pp. 595-600,​wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8
Feb. 2009.

A physical object that you experienced firsthand should identify the place of location.

Matisse, Henri. ​The Swimming Pool.​ 1952, ​Museum of Modern Art, New York​.

Optional elements
The eighth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should include any
information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including unnecessary
information that may be distracting. The following is a list of select optional elements that should
be part of a documented source at the writer’s discretion.
Date of original publication:
If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both
dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.

Erdrich, Louise. L​ ove Medicine.​ ​1984.​ Perennial-Harper, ​1993.

City of publication:
The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but the eighth
edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published
before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were
published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.

Thoreau, Henry David. ​Excursions​. B​ oston,​ 1863.

Date of access:
When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of access on
which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A​ List Apart: For People Who
Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. A​ ccessed 4 May
2009.

URLs:
As mentioned above, while the eighth edition recommends including URLs when you cite online
sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their
discretion.
DOIs:

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an
online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is
locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a
URL.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of
Freshwater Invertebrates." E​ nvironmental Toxicology,​ vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb.
2006, pp. 90-94. ​Wiley Online Library,​doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Creating in-text citations using the eighth edition
The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It
should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should
direct readers to the entry in the list of works cited. For the most part, an in-text citation is the
author’s name and page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the
sentence) in parentheses:

Imperialism is “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating
metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (S​ aid 9)​ .

or

According to E​ dward W. Said,​ imperialism is defined by “the practice, the
theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant
territory” (​9​).

Work Cited

Said, Edward W.​ ​Culture and Imperialism.​ Knopf, 1994.

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast,
include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference, like so
(00:02:15-00:02:35).
Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide your reader with a reference without
interrupting your text. Your​ readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without
becoming distracted by extra information.

Final thoughts about the eighth edition
The current MLA guidelines teach you a widely applicable skill. Once you become familiar with
the core elements that should be included in each entry in the Works Cited list, you will be able
to create documentation for any type of source. While the handbook still includes helpful
examples that you may use as guidelines, you will not need to consult it every time you need to
figure out how to cite a source you’ve never used before. If you include the core elements, in the
proper order, using consistent punctuation, you will be fully equipped to create a list of works
cited on your own.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA
Entire Website

The Purdue OWL​. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2016.

*This policy was written the Principal, PYP coordinator, MYP coordinator, DP
coordinator, Language and Literature teacher and a Mathematics teacher on September
26, 2016. The policy was then reviewed by the whole teaching staff.

Reviewed and revised between August 5 and September 26th, 2016 by the Principal, PYP
coordinator, MYP coordinator, DP coordinator, a math teacher and a language and literature
teacher.