Quoting in the World Literature essay

It is really up to you which style you use in your essay until you are consistent - whether is it APA, MLA or Harvard does not really matter... MLA is however usually used for literature, at least in the US...

I give you some examples of how it could look like:
APA
In text: "The truth is to say that 2+2 equals 4. If that is granted, everything else follows" (Orwell, 1948, p. 456) - a direct quote with Author's last name, year of publication and the page where the quotation is located.
In his essay, Thoreau (1849) claims that... - a paraphrase containing Author's last name and the year of publication.
In bibliography: Orwell, G. (1948). Nineteen Eighty-Four. London :s-smilie:

ecker and Warburg.

Harvard
In text: "The truth is to say that 2+2 equals 4. If that is granted, everything else follows" (Orwell, 1948, p. 456) - a direct quote with Author's last name, year of publication and the page where the quotation is located.
In his essay, Thoreau (1849) claims that... - a paraphrase containing Author's last name and the year of publication.
In bibliography: Orwell, G., 1948. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London :s-smilie:

ecker and Warburg.

MLA
In text: "The truth is to say that 2+2 equals 4. If that is granted, everything else follows" (Orwell 456) - a direct quote with Author's last name and the page where the quotation is located.
In his essay, Thoreau claims that... - a paraphrase containing Author's last name
In bibliography: Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London :s-smilie:

ecker and Warburg, 1948.

Reply 4

laryxle

For world lits you only need to quote the books you are analysing. Simply putting footnotes for each quote, referencing the author and book and page number (use ibid of course as well) well suffice, and then if you want properly reference the books in a bibliography at the end (odds are the marker will know what book/play/poem you are writing about so it isn't critical).

Reply 5

Original post by laryxle

For world lits you only need to quote the books you are analysing. Simply putting footnotes for each quote, referencing the author and book and page number (use ibid of course as well) well suffice, and then if you want properly reference the books in a bibliography at the end (odds are the marker will know what book/play/poem you are writing about so it isn't critical).

While this might be true, I think that (1) using footnotes is a somewhat old-fashioned and out-dated way of referencing and using the parenthetical referencing is simpler and more common, and (2) I would encourage everyone NOT to use your books as the ONLY sources in your WLAs - use external and secondary sources as well, read around the books and authors you are writing about - it shows quite a lot about your initiative (using the terms from the EE criteria - it is your holistic judgment that is shown in using secondary sources).

Reply 6

laryxle

AFAIK quoting from outside sources is discouraged as it is generally seen as a waste of words in an essay with a very tight word limit, and you are given no extra marks in the mark scheme for it. I have seen plenty of 20/20 WL's and none of them have used outside sources. Quoting from other works is (often) seen as detrimental as it (often) detracts from students showing criteria A (understanding of the texts) and their own personal reading which is emphasised. This is true of a lot of IB subjects.

Reply 7

Original post by laryxle

AFAIK quoting from outside sources is discouraged as it is generally seen as a waste of words in an essay with a very tight word limit, and you are given no extra marks in the mark scheme for it. I have seen plenty of 20/20 WL's and none of them have used outside sources. Quoting from other works is (often) seen as detrimental as it (often) detracts from students showing criteria A (understanding of the texts) and their own personal reading which is emphasised. This is true of a lot of IB subjects.

Interesting you should say that because at least our teacher somewhat demanded at least some secondary sources, especially for background information on the author. I think that in certain cases it can actually improve your understanding of the text, if you are familiar with the era the author lived in, the author's personal life, his/her influences...

But of course, if you just find an analysis of the book somewhere on the internet (viva la SparkNotes :biggrin:

) and then, instead of coming up with your own original idea, use it in your essay, you cannot expect a 20/20...

Reply 8

lalilou

8

Original post by metjush

Interesting you should say that because at least our teacher somewhat demanded at least some secondary sources, especially for background information on the author. I think that in certain cases it can actually improve your understanding of the text, if you are familiar with the era the author lived in, the author's personal life, his/her influences...

But of course, if you just find an analysis of the book somewhere on the internet (viva la SparkNotes :biggrin:

) and then, instead of coming up with your own original idea, use it in your essay, you cannot expect a 20/20...

Our teachers also discourage citing secondary sources, as quite often people just get into the habit of hiding behind quotes. But I can see that if used wisely, secondary sources can strengthen the essay's argument.

I didn't use any secondary sources for WL1, and then for WL2 did a lot of research (mostly because I was 100% lost and needed direction) and found that the research helped me in expanding my ideas, and wished I had done so for the WL1 as well, which looks pretty rubbish to me now.

I'm currently stumped on how to reference. Using the Harvard system, will add to my word count, which I really can't afford to do!

Reply 9

The Man of the Hour

Original post by metjush

While this might be true, I think that (1) using footnotes is a somewhat old-fashioned and out-dated way of referencing and using the parenthetical referencing is simpler and more common, and (2) I would encourage everyone NOT to use your books as the ONLY sources in your WLAs - use external and secondary sources as well, read around the books and authors you are writing about - it shows quite a lot about your initiative (using the terms from the EE criteria - it is your holistic judgment that is shown in using secondary sources).

No no no...external quoting in WLs is strongly discouraged by the IB. It should be you, two books and all the ideas floating around in your head. It doesn't show initiative-- it only shows that you are capable of reading other people's arguments and letting them inspire what you think. So NO EXTERNAL QUOTING. You have around 1500 words. You are not Socrates. You are student 234892349024590283490328409234980234023480932409324. :P Don't waste time getting into secondary sources. IB want to see what YOU have to say and you don't need to go off into unrelated tangents. They'll know if you've been reading too far into the authors...they want something ORIGINAL.

And MLA.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 10

arrowhead

20

http://citationmachine.net/

That is the link to the Son of Citation Machine. Pick a format that you prefer (be it MLA, APA or whatever), input the required data into the fields and you get the citation for the bibliography and that which is used in the text itself.

Easiest thing ever.

Reply 11

Original post by The Man of the Hour

No no no...external quoting in WLs is strongly discouraged by the IB. It should be you, two books and all the ideas floating around in your head. It doesn't show initiative-- it only shows that you are capable of reading other people's arguments and letting them inspire what you think. So NO EXTERNAL QUOTING. You have around 1500 words. You are not Socrates. You are student 234892349024590283490328409234980234023480932409324. :P Don't waste time getting into secondary sources. IB want to see what YOU have to say and you don't need to go off into unrelated tangents. They'll know if you've been reading too far into the authors...they want something ORIGINAL.

And MLA.

I'm not saying that you should use other people's arguments and analysis of the works as "research" or pad out your essay with quotes; I'm saying that you can go deeper into the text if you read more than just the books themselves - read bios, read about the era the books were written in - put simply, Know the books, Know the authors, Know historic background. And the second and third are usually not to be found in the books you analyze.

For English A1, definitely MLA (but I don't believe you would be anyhow punished for using APA or Harvard). Other languages often have their own citation systems...

Reply 12

The Man of the Hour