For more information on plagiarism, refer to the VSA Academic Honesty Policy.

See also: citing AI

Months

For accessed dates, add the day, month and year.

e.g. Accessed 21 Sep. 2022.

• Make sure you check that MyBib has added all the essential information, like the author.

• Make sure the website name matches the name as it appears on the website. e.g. YouTube, not www.youtube.com

Common Problems with MyBib

• Incorrect Title

• Incorrect Author

• Incorrect Website Name

Capitalisation Rules for Titles in MLA

Capitalise the first word, the last word, and all main words.

Do not capitalize the following unless they are at the beginning of the title: a, an, the, and, but, for, nor, or, so, in, of, to).

e.g.

• Guardians of the Galaxy

• To All the Boys I've Loved Before

• The Fault in Our Stars

• The Amazing Spider-Man

• One of Us Is Lying

• The Origins of the Second World War

• At Night, I Become a Monster

• I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You

Capitalise these things in a Title

Capitalise these parts of speech:

• nouns

• pronouns

• verbs

• adjectives

• adverbs

• subordinating conjunctions (e.g., after, although, as, as if, as soon as, because, before, if, that, unless, until, when, where, while)

Do not Capitalise these

Do not capitalise these parts of speech:

• prepositions (e.g., against, as, between, in, of, to, according to)

• coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet)

• the "to" in infinitives

• articles (a, an, the)

Works Cited in MLA

The Works Cited list in MLA format is a comprehensive list of every source that was cited in the text of your paper. Located at the end of your document, it provides full bibliographic information for each source, allowing readers to locate each item independently. This list should be alphabetically ordered by the author's last name and include specific details such as authors, titles, publication dates, and more, according to the MLA guidelines.

• Misconception about the title:

  • MLA format calls it "Works Cited."

  • APA format refers to it as "References."

  • Chicago style labels it "Bibliography" or "Reference List," depending on citation method (notes and bibliography vs. author-date).

It's best not to directly use quotes from chatbots because the information might be incorrect or biased. Instead, use AI to help you find more reliable sources.

However, there may be situations when you choose to directly quote an AI tool. For example, if you were testing the abilities of a new chatbot, you might quote it as follows:

... decided to explore chatbot hallucinaations in open source chatbots. When I asked Llama-2 7b what the capital of paris was, it replied "Ah, a question about the capital of Paris! adjusts glasses Well, my dear, the capital of Paris is... (checks notes) ...Paris!" ("What is the Capital of Paris?").

Remember to include a reference in your works cited list:

Works Cited

"What is the Capital of Paris?". Poe, Llama-2-7b, 16 Mar. 2024, poe.com/s/MsPLk9fz4mZr2FXFxC6y

It's best to avoid paraphrasing chatbots because the information might be incorrect or biased. Instead, use AI tools like Perplexity or Bing Copilot to help you find more reliable sources.

Sometimes you might discuss the response of an AI tool in a report (for example in your Personal Project report), in which case you should include an in-text citation as follows:

... incorrectly claimed that Parag Agrawal is the current CEO (“How Would I Go about Learning How to Build a Simple Musical Synthesiser.”).

Remember to include a reference in your works cited list:

Work Cited

“How Would I Go about Learning How to Build a Simple Musical Synthesiser.” Poe, Gemini-Pro, 19 Mar. 2024, poe.com/s/dEen5wlOiNrkwmEohJMD.

• Whenever you use other people's images you need to provide a source.

• Include the image as close as possible to where it has been referred to in the text.

• Include a caption below each image with an in-text citation. Include the full reference on your works cited page.

• Make sure there you provide enough information so that anyone reading your work can easily find the original image that you have used.

• Include the image as close as possible to where it has been referred to in the text. Don’t cite a google image search as a source, click through to the web page linked to in the search results. If you are publishing your work on a website where people outside VSA can see it, make you use Creative Commons or public domain images to avoid copyright infringements

• Don't include images for decorative purposes in and academic report or essay. If you includes images, they should be there to support your argument.

• If you've forgotten where you found an image, use google images [click the camera icon to upload an image] or google lens to find it again.

• Don’t cite a google image search as a source, click through to the web page linked to in the search results.

• If you are publishing your work on a website where people outside VSA can see it, make you use Creative Commons or public domain images to avoid copyright infringements.

• Captions should end with a fullstop after the in-text citation.

When do I use italics and quotation marks in a caption?

This formatting applies to the title as it appears in both the works cited entry and as it appears below the caption.

Citing an artwork from a website

Fig. 1. Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray (Mondrian).

Works Cited

Mondrian, Piet. Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray. 1921. The Art Institute of Chicago, www.artic.edu/artworks/109819/lozenge-composition-with-yellow-black-blue-red-and-gray. Accessed 20 Aug. 2022.

Citing an image that you have edited

You can use a phrase like "adapted from" in the caption to show that you have made changes to the original image. In this case, the original black and white photograph has been colourised.

Fig. 2. Adapted from Air Raid Precautions in Hong Kong, 1941 (Palmer).

Works Cited

Palmer, Fred. Air Raid Precautions in Hong Kong, 1941. Imperial War Museums, www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205206687. Accessed 18 Aug. 2022.

Getty Images

Getty Images allow some of their images to embedded on websites, but you need to give credit to Getty Images and use the embed code they provide.

Embed from Getty Images

Works Cited

TONNAJA. Zhangye Danxia National Geopark, Gansu, China. Getty Images, 2019. www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/zhangye-danxia-national-geopark-gansu-china-royalty-free-image/1164560768. Accessed 30 Aug. 2022.

Citing an image from a website

When you are use an image from a website, include a reference for the website where you found the image in your works cited list and an in-text citaton in the caption to link to the reference.

Remember, if you are publishing your image on a website you should use creative commons public domain images. This photograph image of Elvis meeting Nixon below is one of the most famous public domain images in the U.S. National Archives.

Because the caption below the image is not copied from the website, and is just a description of the image, no italics or quotation marks are required.

Fig. 4. Photograph of Elvis meeting Nixon (Carlson).

Works Cited

Carlson, Peter. “When Elvis Met Nixon.” Smithsonian, Dec. 2010, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-elvis-met-nixon-69892425/. Accessed 25 Aug. 2022.

Citing an image from a website that already has a caption

When you are use an image from a website that already has a description or title, you can use that as the caption and include the full reference for the page it came from in your works cited list.

If the image is a photograph or an work of art, the caption should be in italics, otherwise use quotation marks.

Fig. 5. Refugee & IDP Camps from Above (United Nations Photo).

Works Cited

United Nations Photo. Refugee & IDP Camps from Above. Flickr, 7 Dec. 2012, www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/24590922034/. Accessed 26 Aug. 2022.

Citing a screenshot from YouTube

Include a timestamp in your in-text citation to show at what point in the video you took the screenshot:

Fig. 6. Screenshot of “The AI That Creates Any Picture You Want, Explained” (Vox 10:38).

Works Cited

Vox. “The AI That Creates Any Picture You Want, Explained.” YouTube, 1 June 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVcsDDABEkM. Accessed 31 Aug. 2022.

Citing a photograph that you have taken yourself

Include a statement in the caption to make it clear that you are the author. No reference is needed in your works cited list.

Citing Google Maps

Works Cited

Map of Tsim Tsa Tsui, Hong Kong. Google Maps, 2019. www.google.com/maps/@22.2989636,114.1711692,15.91z. Accessed 10 Oct. 2021.

Citing an artwork without an author

If you want to cite an art work and no author is given, you can use the image title for the caption and you don't need to include an in-text citation:

Works Cited

Portrait of Oscar Wilde as a Young Man. 1880. Art Institute of Chicago, www.artic.edu/artworks/101012/untitled-portrait-of-oscar-wilde-as-a-young-man. Accessed 16 Apr. 2022.

Note that the date above “1880” is followed by a full-stop, as it is an optional element relating to the original publication date of the artwork rather than the date it was published on the website.

Introduction

• Whenever you use other people's words, ideas, images or data you need to provide a source. If you don't provide a source you are claiming that the work is completely your own. Failing to acknowledge the sources of data in tables and figures may be considered to be plagiarism or academic dishonesty.

• All tables and figures need both a label and a number (e.g. Table 1, Fig. 2), a caption (with an in-text citation), and a reference for the full source in your works cited list (unless you have created the data yourself).

• Don't include tables figures for decorative purposes in an academic report or essay. If you includes tables or figures, they should be there to support your argument.

• Tables and figures should be placed as close to the relevant part of the text as possible. If you refer to them in your text (e.g. see fig. 1, see table 2), then the table or figure shold be appear as close as possible to this.

• Try to create your own tables and figures rather than using screenshots taken from sources.

• If you do reproduce a table directly, use the word "Source:" in your caption and include enough information about the source to allow the reader to easiliy find the complete citation in your works cited list.

• Use the phrase "Adapted from:" if you have made significant changes to the original.

Tables in MLA

Tables use rows and columns to display data. Format tables that use data from a source in the following manner:

Table 1

Most Popular Influencers on Douyin

Adapted from "Number of Fans of the Leading Influencers on Douyin”.

Include an in-text citation in your caption to allow the reader to find it in your works cited list. In the above example there is no author, so the title would be used in the in-text citation, and there is no need to repeat the title of this source as it has been used as the description in the caption. You also need to include the full reference for the source in your works cited list.

"Number of Fans of the Leading Influencers on Douyin (Tiktok) in China as of May 13, 2022 (in Millions)." Statista, 13 May 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1227126/china-most-followed-influencers-on-douyin-chinese-tiktok. Accessed 13 May 2022.

If you have generated the data yourself, there is no need to cite a source (unless there is any ambiguity).

Table 2

Books Borrowed from VSA Secondary Library in April 2022, by genre

If you need to include a note for your table, use lowercase letters:

Table 3

Books Borrowed from VSA Secondary Library in March 2022, by Genre

a. Including YA Fantasy

Other notes about using tables:

• If you have created the table yourself with your own data, you do not need to include any source information below the table, though you should make sure it is clear in your writing that you have done the research yourself.

• Each table should be labelled “Table” (with a capital T) followed by a number (arabic numeral) in sequence e.g. Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 …

• When referring to the table in your writing use a lowercase t e.g. (see table 1).

• No fullstop is required at the end of the table title.

• Capitalise table titles in the same way as titles in your works cited list.

Figures in MLA

• In MLA any illustration or data that is not presented in columns and rows is called a figure.

• Figures include charts, diagrams, graphs, maps, photos or any artworks.

• All figures require a caption, which should be placed below the image and precede by Fig. 1 for the first image in your work, Fig. 2 for the second, and so on.

• Note: In the MLA handbook figures are also referred to as illustrations.

Fig. 1. Adapted from "Distribution of Bitcoin Mining Hashrate from September 2019 to January 2022, by Country" (Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance).

Include an in-text citation in your caption to allow the reader to find it in your works cited list. You also need to include the full reference for the source in your works cited list.

Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. "Distribution of Bitcoin Mining Hashrate from September 2019 to January 2022, by Country." Statista, 17 May 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1200477/bitcoin-mining-by-country. Accessed 23 May 2022.

You can refer to a figure in your writing like this:

... an exodus of bitcoin miners from China to Kazakhstan (see fig. 1).

• How do I cite raw data from a survey or poll I created? How do I cite published data?

• How do I indicate that the data in a table I have created come from several sources?

When should I use a quotation instead of paraphrasing?

In general is is a good idea to paraphrase rather than quote, as this makes it easier to express your own thoughts and ideas regarding the source material you are discussing. Use quotes sparingly, and avoid using them as a way to bump up your word count.

You might want to consider using quotes when:

• a unique term or phrase is used

• you are providing a definition

• you are discussing the specific language used in the source, rather than the content

• you might alter the meaning of the original source significantly by paraphrasing it

• the source material is already famous as a quote

Signal phrases

Quotations should not appear by themselves, but should rather be incorporated into a sentence by using a signal phrase such as:

“According to X”, “Y states that … ”, “Z observes that ...”.

More Signal Phrases Here

Indirect quotes

You can use a source that has been cited by another author if you need to, but it is best to try and find the original source if possible. If you are not able to find the original source use the abbreviation qtd. in (“quoted in”).

According to Green (qtd. in Matheson 132), the degree of …..

Expert tips

The MLA Handbook advises that “when a quotation is directly followed by a parenthetical citation … any required comma or period follows the citation” (88).

Other Links

• How do I punctuate quoted dialogue from a novel?

• If I use a quotation that is already in quotation marks in my source, how many quotation marks should I use?

• How do I format a quotation of song lyrics?

• How to Avoid Bracketed Changes in Quotations

• Writing Academically [Hull University]

• Quotations [UNC]

Using quotations from literature

While you may need to include quotes more often that in other subjects, make sure that you:

• avoid using block quotes unless absolutely needed e.g. you are closely analysing the language used in the entire quote.

• avoid padding out your word limit with long block quotations, which will mean that you will struggle to make a strong argument within the word limit.

• don't use quotes to just summarise the narrative.

• only use quotes when needed to directly support your argument.

Present your argument and analysis of the text, support it with evidence in the form of a paraphrase or quote if needed, and then discuss how this evidence supports your argument and analysis.

• Using Literary Quotations

Block quotes

If a quotation is not longer than four lines, you should “put it in quotation marks and incorporate it into the text” (75). When quoting a block of text that is longer than four lines, you should indent the quote by 1.25cm. This is known as a block quote. When using a block quote you do not need to include quotation marks.

For example, if you were to include the following long quote from 1984, you would format it as follows (note the in-text citation appears after the full-stop) :

So completely did they dwarf the surrounding architecture that from the roof of Victory Mansions you could see all four of them simultaneously. They were the homes of the four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided. The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty. (Orwell 10)

Editing quotes

Ellipsis and Other Alterations

Whenever you alter a quotation by removing words, use an ellipsis to indicate that words have been omitted. This indicated in your writing by 3 periods, preceded and followed by a space ( … ).

If you need to alter a quote by inserting text, indicate this using [square brackets].

Works Cited

MLA Handbook. Modern Language Association Of America, 2021.

Orwell, George. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

Citing an Academic Journal (Click on the text for more information)

Masicampo, E. J., and Roy F. Baumeister. “Relating Mindfulness and Self-Regulatory Processes.”. Psychological Inquiry, vol. 18, no. 4, 2007, pp. 255–258 . JSTOR, ww.jstor.org/stable/20447394. Accessed 22 Aug. 2022.

How do I cite a film?

The basic format for a film is as follows:

Title. Directed by First name Last name of director, Distributor, Release date.

For example:

Infernal Affairs. Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, Media Asia Films, 1992.

If you discuss the directors of the film directly in your work, list the directors at the beginning of the works cited entry:

Lau, Andrew, and Alan Mak, directors. Infernal Affairs. Media Asia Films, 1992.

You may also want to include other contributors, depending on what aspects of the film you are discussing in your writing.

Infernal Affairs. Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, performance by Andy Lau and Tony Leung, Media Asia Films, 1992.

Some other common contribution details might include: Adapted by, Directed by, Edited by, Illustrated by, Performance by, Translated by, Created by.

If you need to cite a particular version of a film you can do this as follows:

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. 1977. Special edition, Lucasfilm, 1997.

Cite dialogue using quotes or block quotes as needed. If using block quotes, include the characters' names and indent second and subsequent lines of dialogue by the same character slightly further than the 1.25cm required by the block quote.

When citing audio or video works, give the time or time range in the in-text citation, in hours, minutes, and seconds, separated by a colon e.g. (Infernal Affairs 01:16:34-38), (“Life Hacks I Learnt from Youtube” 00:5:34-38).

How do I cite a screenshot?

See also How do I cite a screenshot or frame capture in a caption and in my works-cited list? on the MLA Style Center.

While Bresson makes repeated use of hands to convey meaning, Clair uses feet (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Still from "And Then There Were None (1945)" (Clair 21:31).

How do I cite an interview?

Use this format for any interview you conduct yourself:

Interviewee(s) Last Name, First name. Interview with the author. Day Month Year of interview.

For example:

Chomsky, Noam. Interview with the author. 11 July 2017.

For an interview that has been published online, use the name of the interviewee as the author, and the title of the interview as the title if published (in “quotation marks”), otherwise describe it as in the example below (without any formatting):

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed, 25 Apr. 2009, www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-reviewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 May. 2023.

How do I cite a video game?

Title of Game. Game developer’s name, date of release. Platform.

For example:

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. PUBG Corporation, 2017. Android game.

If you wish to discuss the role of a particular contributor, use this format:

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Directed by Brendan Greene, PUBG Corporation, 2017. Android game.

Visit the MLA Style guide for more examples.

How do cite an annual report?

2024 NVIDIA Corporation Annual Review. NVIDIA, 2024, s201.q4cdn.com/141608511/files/doc_financials/2024/ar/NVIDIA-2024-Annual-Report.pdf. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

You don't need to list an author if no invidual author is give; just start with the name of the report. You can omit the website name and incldue the company name as the publisher, but leave out any words like: Company (Co.), Corporation (Corp.), Incorporated (Inc.), or Limited (Ltd.). You can also leave out words like "the" at the beginning of the company name. Company names don't need to be italicised (though website names do).

See also How do I cite a company’s report? at the MLA Style Center.

Works Cited

Clair, René. “And Then There Were None (1945).” YouTube, uploaded by Public Domain Films, 16 Aug. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydCqPEoQ-jI. Accessed 2 Sept. 2022.

How can I cite a chatbot?

To cite a chatbot, you need to know:

• Your prompt (use the prompt in “quotation marks” as the title)

• Website name (formatted in italics, e.g. Poe)

• Bot/Model name (e.g. StableDiffusionXL for images, ChatGPT, Claude-2-100k for text; don't use italics for this)

• The date you used the AI

• Public URL (created using the share button)

In your works cited list it will look like this:

"Prompt". Website Name, AI Model. Date you used the AI, Public URL.

How can I cite Poe?

In your works cited list a conversation with Poe will look like this:

"Who is Louis Cha?". Poe, Gemini-Pro. 17 Mar. 2024, poe.com/s/AdtEREDku86PE8rUSHCO.

How can I create a public URL that anyone can view?

How can I cite Perplexity?

It's better to click through to the original source and cite this where possible.

The original sources are shown by the numbers in circles in Perplexity's reply. They link to the websites that Perplexity has summarised to give you an answer.

If you still want to cite Perplexity rather than the original sources it has used, you can use this format:

"Who is Louis Cha?". Perplexity. 17 Mar. 2024, www.perplexity.ai/search/who-is-louis-qcPoWLkkTRWgN2U5yBwGHQ.

You can get the public URL by clicking the share button, selecting shareable, and then clicking "Copy Link":

Should I list the AI tool as an author?

When citing AI tools using MLA, you should not use the AI as the author. Leave the author blank, and start the reference with the prompt.

Do I need to include an accessed date?

No accessed date is needed, as long as you include the date you prompted the AI.

Introduction

A reference for an article from PressReader should look like this:

The basic structure is:

Creating a reference using MyBib

At VSA we use MLA 9 to document sources.

Academic articles are published in journals and are usually accessed through a database like JSTOR. To cite an academic journal article you need some key information like the volume and page numbers of the journal, the name of the journal and the database it is hosted in.

You can manually add the citation to MyBib or you can use the database's built-in citation generator and paste this into MyBib.

DOIs

Note that some Academic databases will provide you with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) instead of a permalink or a URL. When a DOI is provided use this in preference to a URL, as URLs may change over time.

When you include a DOI, unlike with URLs, you should include the protocol http:// or https://.

Citing from JSTOR

Use the built-in citation generator and paste your citation into MyBib.

Introduction

Whenever you paraphrase, quote or use information or ideas from a source, you need to include an in-text citation so that anyone reading your work can easily find the original source of the information.

Use in-text citatations to

• give credit to the authors of the sources you have used.

• increase the credibility of your argument

• avoid plagiarism

The Basics

MyBib Guide

You can use MyBib to find what your in-text citation​ should include, but this will only work if you have added the correct author's name.

MyBib Tip

MyBib will suggest the in-text citations for your sources, but these will only be correct if you have included the correct author and article title in your reference.

Expert Tips

• Your in-text citation will always be either the last name of the author, or the name of the article (in quotation marks).

• Your in-text citations will never be a website name

• Your in-text citations should never be in italics

• You should not use a URL inside an in-text citation

• Full-stop should appear after the in-text citation (after the last bracket).

Multiple Sources by the Same Author

If you are citing multiple works by the same author, identify which source you are citing from by including a comma after the author’s name, followed by the title (or a shortened version of the title) e.g. (Austen, Pride ).

Co-Authors

For 2 authors, list both authors in the in-text citation:

e.g. (Lin and Lan)

Work Cited

Lin, Tsun-Ju, and Yu-Ju Lan. “Language Learning in Virtual Reality Environments: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 18, no. 4, 2015, pp. 486–497. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.18.4.486.

For 3 or more authors, list the the first authorfollowedd by et al.:

e.g. (Yang et al.)

Work Cited

Yang, Fumeng, et al. “A Virtual Reality Memory Palace Variant Aids Knowledge Retrieval from Scholarly Articles.” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2020, pp. 1–1, 10.1109/tvcg.2020.3009003. Accessed 4 Mar. 2021.

Where should I put my in-text citations?

In-text citations should usually be placed at the end of a sentence.

Manga scholar Mike Hill notes that "the influence of Disney can be seen in the character designs and storytelling techniques used in many manga" (34).

If you quote or paraphrase from two different pages in the same source you can include these in one in-text citation, separated by a colon:

In the period from 1979 to 1999, Hong Kong's film production averaged 133 films annually, while the mainland made less than 100 films per year in the 1980s (127; 134).

If you quote or paraphrase from different sources in one sentence, you can also include these in one in-text citation, separated by a colon:

In a recent study, it was found that "music can have a positive impact on memory recall" and this has been subsequently backed up by research (Green 67; Wang 89).

If you quote or paraphrase from different sources in one sentence, you can place the in-text citation directly after the quotations if needed to link the quotation more clearly to the correct source. You can also do this to clearly distinguish your ideas from those of others.

According to Yip, video game arcades were a common sight in the city (45), while Mak makes the point that "people of all ages were flocking to arcades" (211).

• If you are using Google Slides or Powerpoint, you still need to acknowledge all your sources using in-text citations and a works cited page.

• Sources can be acknowledged in an oral presentation using a signal phrase e.g.: "According to a May 2022 article form The Economist, ....."

• If you need to quote a source directly you can use the words “quote … unquote” or you can use air quotes.

• Your teacher may also ask you to submit a works cited page with your oral presentation.

Paraphrasing Guide

How to avoid plagiarism

• Decide on keywords to use for research.

• Choose the best place to look for information e.g. Britannica, the Library, Google.

• Skim read results pages and find sources with information relevant to your research.

• Paraphrase the relevant information from each source into your notes doc and add a url for each source.

• If copying and pasting useful material to quote later, use “colour and quotes” to identify it as copied.

• Add paraphrased material into assignment and add it to MyBib so that you can later add it to your Works Cited page.

How to paraphrase in 5 easy steps

1. Read the text that you are paraphrasing carefully until you really understand it. You might need to reread several times

2. Are there any words e.g.nouns you can’t change?

3. Try and remember the text without looking at it. Close the tab in your browser or switch to another tab. Don’t switch back to the original until you have finished.

4. Paraphrase the text aloud with a partner if possible, or imagine doing this. Use your own words, like telling a story. Write your paraphrase down in your notes with a reference or URL so that you can find it again later.

5. Check your paraphrase with the original text. Is the meaning the same?

Plagiarism

Source: My Love from the Star, Episode 2, 2013

6 R’s of Paraphrasing

• Read & Reread

• Rethink

• Restate

• Rearrange

• Reword

• Review

How to plagiarise (Don’t do this!)

Do you do this? Have you ever done this before, or have you done some of these things? Be honest!

• Copy and paste assignment question into Google

• Click on the first link on the results page (usually wikipedia)

• Copy and paste useful paragraphs to a Google Doc that you call “Notes”

• Copy some useful paragraphs to final assignment document

• Change a few words to synonyms

• Make a Works Cited page with some websites that look good and hand it in

Paraphrasing toolkit

Use these techniques to paraphrase more complicated technical texts.

• Combine sentences.

• Remove details that are not relevant.

• Change sentence structure.

• Change voice.

• Use different forms of a word.

• Use synonyms. Note that only replacing a few words for synonyms is not paraphrasing.

Acknowledging the use of AI in an Appendix

If your teacher has allowed you to use AI tools when completing an assessment, they may also ask you to include a statement acknowledging that you have used AI, with further details on what tools you have used, including screenshots and prompts. Include this text in an appendix before your works cited list. For example:

Appendix

I used Elicit to brainstorm research questions.

Your teacher may also ask you to document how you have used AI tools with details about prompts used and/or screenshots.

Appendix

I used ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas about my project. I used the following prompt: “5 possible ways to explore language learning in virtual reality”. I have not presented any content generated by AI tools as my own work. Screenshot:

As you avoid using Wikipedia when writing in English, you should also avoid using 百度百科 when writing in Chinese.

More examples here

How can I cite an AI Image that I have created myself?

When citing AI image tools, use the prompt in “quotation marks” as the reference title in your works cited page. e.g. “Glowing jellyfish floating through a foggy forest at twilight, manga style”.

You also need to know the following information:

• Website name (formatted in italics, e.g. Poe)

• Bot/Model name (e.g. StableDiffusionXL, DALL·E, Magic Media, Imagen)

• Date created

• Public URL (created using the share button)

The basic format is:

“Prompt”. Website name, Bot/Model Name, Date Created, URL (use the share button)

How can I cite an image that I created using Poe?

Provide a caption and reference in your works cited list:

Work Cited

“A bear riding a motorbike by Matisse”. Poe, Stable Diffusion XL, 29 Sept. 2023, https://poe.com/s/RCS5KRiIpqqBNZdxN8FZ.

How can I create a public URL that anyone can view?

How can I cite an AI image that I created in Canva?

When creating an AI image in Canva, include your prompt and the name of the AI model you used e.g. DALL·E. If you have made your Canva project public you can include the public URL (by getting the share link), but this isn't necessary.

AI model names include: DALL·E, Magic Media, Imagen and many more; you can see the full list here.

Work Cited

“A bear riding a motorbike by Matisse”. Canva, DALL·E, 16 Mar. 2024, www.canva.com/design/DAF_6OtYqGc/tIpmpxmtyCI7qq2QzSElBA/edit?utm_content=DAF_6OtYqGc.

or if you don't want to share the public URL for your design:

“A bear riding a motorbike by Matisse”. Canva, DALL·E, 16 Mar. 2024, www.canva.com.

What should I do if my prompt is really long?

You can shorten the prompt/title if it’s too long by just including a short description of the prompt instead, as long as it is keyed to the reference on your works cited page. When you name the image yourself, you don't need to wrap the title in quotation marks:

"A dynamic action scene of a knight battling a dragon on a cliffside, with roaring waves below, inspired by the Romanticism movement, reminiscent of the works of Eugène Delacroix."

>>> could be simplified to >>>

Knight Battling Dragon.

However, when citing an image created for an art or design project, you may want to include the entire prompt.

Using AI images that you have not created yourself

If you use images created by someone else using an AI tool, you can just cite the image as normal, though you may want to include a note stating that the image is generated by AI.

Work Cited

@EliotHiggins. Fake Photo of Trump Being Arrested. Twitter, 21 Mar. 2023, twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1637928223848767492. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.

• MLA Practice Template (official)

• IB Documentation Checklist

• IB Citing & Referencing Glossary

• Sample MLA Essays (from the MLA Style Center)