Knowing When To Cite?
In my essay (specifically a recount essay of a moment in the past), my objective is to end with the discussion of Death as a being (because my recounted moment will be related to death). I'd like to indrectly reference The Book Thief by Mark Zusak by saying something like:
Death. He who steals our colors and uses them as his vacation - he who takes pleasure in beauty while destroying it nonetheless.
I don't want to take this as my own idea though, so I'm wondering how exactly I'd cite this? Do I need to at all?
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2 answers
General in-text citations like Lauren suggests will almost certainly be sufficient, particularly for a short, informal paper. However, if your paper is longer or a more formal paper (for example, a report as opposed to a shorter research essay), a little more rigorous citing may be in order. But never fear, it's easy to do this.
Some high schools even have their own citation guides! For example, Soquel High School in California has put up this citation guide:
Printed Works
- Books, one author
Author. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Publication year. Print.
Welch, James. Winter In Blood. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Print.
... and Mount Vernon High School in Virginia has posted a PDF table that seems to be a summary or modification of relevant APA citation styles.
A web search on your high school, or perhaps comparable high schools in your area, may yield useful information.
If you find nothing useful like this, your school library may well have a copy of an appropriate general style guide. These have information on citation styles, and really are quite simple to use. There's a question here on Writers - What are the most common style manuals? - that will give you an idea of what style guides are good for what kinds of papers, but any style guide will probably do the job. (APA or MLA, or maybe Chicago, would probably be fine.)
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You should cite it if it's not your idea. The simplest way would be something like:
As Mark Zusak describes it in his novel The Book Thief, Death is he who steals our colors.....
You're clearly mentioning the author and the work. If you use Zusak's exact words, quote him; if you're summarizing, make sure you change the quote enough that it's not plagiarism.
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