An ethical researcher cites an author’s words, ideas, data, original facts, unique wording, -- and anything that is not common knowledge. Common knowledge is something known by nearly everyone.
Modern Language Association (MLA) is a common method of documenting research. It can feel like a tedious exercise, but it helps you avoid plagiarizing, acknowledges the work and ideas of others, adds credibility to your work, supports your claim, and is standard practice for scholars.
Works Cited
Works Cited begins on a new page at the end of the research paper. Page numbers continue from the body of the paper. The words Works Cited are centered at the top of the page. The first line of each entry should be flush with the left margin, but subsequent lines of the entry are indented 1/2 inch in a format known as hanging indentation. Double space everything, including within the citation entries.
Entries are listed alphabetically by author’s last name. If there is no author, begin the entry with the title. If the author has multiple works cited, alphabetize the works by title, indicating the author’s name in the first entry, but substituting three hyphens and a period in subsequent entries. For example:
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. A.A. Levine, 2007.
---. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Scholastic, 2000.
For Works Cited page help:
Image Source: http://www.slideshare.net/amackley/building-a-research-paper-plagiarism-and-intext-citations
In-text Citations
When quoting, paraphrasing , summarizing, or referring to a source from the works cited page, use parenthetical/in-text citations in the body of the text.
An in-text citation generally consists of the author’s last name and page number (Smith 15).
What if…?
If the author’s name is already used in the sentence, include only the page number in the parentheses:
Smith stated the egg came before the chicken (144).
If the work cited has no author, use the title or a shortened version of it … (MLA Handbook 54).
If what you quote or paraphrase in your paper is itself a quotation in the source, add the phrase "qtd. in" to the parenthetical reference as shown here:
"I have proven that the chicken came before the egg" (qtd. in J. Smith 21).
If a source does not have page numbers or fixed page numbers (as from some electronic devices), include in the in-text citation enough information for the reader to find the corresponding entry on the works cited page—usually the author’s last name.
The play “The Chicken and the Egg” was a light-hearted comedy (Johnson).