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NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
STYLE GUIDE
for work in
LITERATURE
Last updated Oct 2020
CONTENTS
Introduction (1) Acknowledging Sources (1) Quoting, Paraphrasing and Alluding (2) How to Format Quotations (2) Referencing & Works Cited, & How they Relate to Each Other (4) Works Cited (4) Primary Sources in the List of Works Cited (5) Secondary Sources in the List of Works Cited (6) References in the Text (8) Guidelines for Presenting and Submitting Work (11) Plagiarism (14) Essay Presentation Checklist (15) How To: An Example of MLA Referencing & Presentation (16)
Introduction
- The most important aspect of your work is always the quality of your research, understanding, and thinking, but clear presentation tends to go along with clear and intelligent thinking, so in order to do justice to that quality, to get a mark that reflects it, to avoid plagiarism, and to have the satisfaction of presenting your work professionally, you need to present your work correctly.
- This Guide is for the use of all undergraduates taking Literature, Drama, or Film modules in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics (SELLL), and it sets out the conventions that you must follow in presenting your written work. The main focus is on referencing and bibliography, which are vital to the integrity of your writing. Full references must be given to all works that you quote, paraphrase or allude to. The conventions may look complicated at first, but once you have used them yourself they should come quite easily to you.
- Within SELLL, two styles are prescribed: one for work in literature based on Modern Language Association (MLA) conventions and one for work in language/linguistics (the Harvard-style author-date system). Students working across both disciplines (e.g. Q300 students) need both. Other Schools have different systems so if you are unsure, please do check with the relevant Module Leader who can advise.
Acknowledging Sources
Why acknowledge? Full and accurate acknowledgement of sources is essential in order to give the location of the material, to preserve academic integrity and avoid plagiarism (see page 14), and to situate your work in an ongoing scholarly debate.
How to acknowledge? All primary and secondary sources used should be fully acknowledged in two or three ways. There are details on all this below, but essentially:
If you quote verbatim from a source, you must: a) indicate that it is a quotation by enclosing the quoted words in double quotation marks, or (in the case of a long quotation) indenting them b) give a reference at the point where you quote c) include the source in your bibliography
If you paraphrase an idea from a source (as distinct from quoting it verbatim), there are no quotation marks, but you must still give a reference and include the source in your list of works cited. This is necessary where the idea is not your own and where it can be regarded as the intellectual property of its author. It is not necessary in the case of ideas that are very widely accepted or of well-known matters of fact (see the section on plagiarism, page 14, for examples).
- In order to make the quotation intelligible you may also need to make small changes or additions to the quoted material. If so you must put any changes in square brackets. You might, for instance, need to replace “reject” by “reject[s]” or “he” by “[Browning].”
- A quotation within a quotation is placed within single quotation marks, as in the example above.
- When you include short quotations from poetry (fewer than three lines), mark the line break with a slash ( / ). A space should precede and follow the slash. If a stanza break occurs during the quotation, use a double slash ( // ). (If the quotation includes more than two lines of verse, set it out as verse: see below).
Longer quotations (more than three lines of prose, or three or more lines of verse) Place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented from the left margin, while maintaining double-spacing. An example of verse quotation:
Shelley’s poem invites the reader to open up this closed world to imaginative possibility:
And what were thou, and earth, and stars, and sea, If to the human mind’s imaginings Silence and solitude were vacancy? Keach argues that ...
- As this shows, you should introduce the long quotation with a colon (though sometimes a comma is appropriate), then give the quotation, then start a new sentence rather than resuming your own sentence. i.e. don’t enclose a long quotation within a sentence of your main text, since it makes it difficult for a reader to follow the meaning of your sentence.
- You should not enclose long quotations in quotation marks.
- As in the case of shorter quotations, if you omit material from the original source, you need to mark this clearly by using an ellipsis, i.e.... and if you alter or add to the quoted material you should signal this using square brackets, i.e. [ ].
- You must reference the sources of both shorter and longer quotations: see below.
Referencing and Works Cited, and how they relate to each other
You can find a full, very useful guide to MLA style with all the information you need here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/ mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
Referencing: Throughout your essay, you need to give citations. This means referencing the sources of your quotations and ideas, at the point where you mention them. In MLA style, this involves putting the name of the source’s author in brackets after you have used their work, along with the relevant page number from the source. (See below). Works Cited: This is an alphabetical list at the end of the essay gathering together all the sources that you reference. References and works cited map onto each other very closely, so you can produce one from the other, compiling the works cited and producing the references from it, or the other way round: inserting the references as you go along and compiling the works cited from them. Either way, you should compile your references and works cited as you work on your essay: if you leave them to the final stages you may lose track and miss items out (thus risking plagiarism).
An example of referencing and works in action There’s a useful extract at the end of this Guide illustrating "How to": how the conventions for referencing and bibliography work (pages 16-17). It acts as a summary of some of main points in the Guide, but it’s also worth having a look at it now and noticing for yourself what information is being given, and in what formats.
Works Cited
Layout & Content of the List of Works Cited Your works cited must be organized alphabetically by authors’ surnames. It should be a single list, not divided into primary and secondary texts, and it should not contain bullet points. It should not be a general list of ‘Works Consulted’, but must contain only the works that you reference (unless your module leader informs you otherwise). Information required For a book, for example, you need to give: A. SURNAME of author (then a comma) B. FIRST NAME(S) in full or initials (then a full stop) C. TITLE in italics (then a full stop) D. PUBLISHER (then a comma) E. YEAR PUBLISHED (then a full stop) See below for examples of this and other types of publication.
Secondary Sources in the List of Works Cited
A book by a single author Lefebure, Molly. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A Bondage of Opium. Stein and Day, 1974. Note that the Lefebure is a monograph (secondary, critical text), while Auster, The Music of Chance (listed above) is a novel (primary, literary text), but the format is the same. A book by two or more authors Birkett, Jennifer, and James Kearns_. A Guide to French Literature: From Early Modern to Postmodern._ Macmillan, 1997. Notice that the second author’s forename and surname are not reversed, since they are not involved in the alphabetical order of the bibliography.
An edition of a book (second, third edition etc.) Feuer, Jane. The Hollywood Musical. 2nd ed., Indiana University Press, 1993. A translated book Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. Translated by Hazel Barnes, Routledge, 1995. A multi-authored anthology or a collection of essays Armstrong, Isobel, editor. New Feminist Discourses: Critical Essays on Theories and Texts. Routledge, 1992.
An article or chapter in a multi-authored anthology or a collection of essays Jordan, Elaine. "The Dangers of Angela Carter". New Feminist Discourses: Critical Essays on Theories and Texts , edited by Isobel Armstrong, Routledge, 1992, pp. 119- 31.
Note that you need to specify the title of the article ("The Dangers of Angela Carter") then of the book ( New Feminist Discourses ). You must specify page numbers to show the location of the item in the book. If you cite two or more chapters from the same collection you can enter the collection in the bibliography (e.g. Armstrong above), then enter the articles more briefly (to avoid writing out the publishing information for each separate chapter). For example: Jordan, Elaine, "The Dangers of Angela Carter." Armstrong, pp. 119-31.
An article in a scholarly journal Duvall, John. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly , vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp. 127-53.
i.e. this kind of source takes the form of:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal , vol. no, issue no., year, page range.
You should use this same format for articles from journals that you access through JSTOR or similar electronic archives. This is because they are not web material as such, but simply scanned electronic copies from printed volumes. You should be able to find the volume and issue numbers on the first page of the article, or in the information provided in the library catalogue.
An article in a newspaper Schmidt, Michael. "Tragedy of Three Star-Crossed Lovers." Daily Telegraph , 1 February 1990, p.
A Review To cite a review, include the title of the review (if available), then the phrase, “Review of” and provide the title of the work being reviewed (in italics for books, plays, and films; in quotation marks for articles, poems, and short stories). Finally, provide performance and/or publication information. Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Life in the Sprawling Suburbs, If You Can Really Call It Living." Review of Radiant City , directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown. New York Times, 30 May 2007, p. E1.
Weiller, K. H. Review of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations , edited by Linda K. Fuller. Choice, Apr. 2007, p. 1377.
Course materials NB. Quoting from, or paraphrasing, course materials may or may not be appropriate on a particular module. If in doubt, please ask your module leader. If you do use course materials, you must acknowledge them: a) A lecture (if you are using words or ideas used by the lecturer): Pincombe, Mike. "Hamlet, Revenge." Introduction to Literary Studies II, 4 October 2014, Newcastle University. Lecture. b) A handout (when giving an in-text citation for a hand out - see below - remember to add a page number): Pincome, Mike. "Hamlet, Revenge." Introduction to Literary Studies II, 4 October 2014, Newcastle University. Lecture handout. c) Powerpoint presentation posted on Canvas (when giving an in-text citation for this item - see below - remember to add the slide number): Pincome, Mike, "Hamlet, Revenge." Introduction to Literary Studies II, 4 October 2014, Newcastle University. Powerpoint presentation from lecture. d) Primary texts posted on Canvas: If all the usual publication information is provided then use this, you don’t need to specify that you accessed the material through Canvas. If the information is incomplete, give as much as possible, adding ‘text posted on Canvas’. e) Zoom session (if you wish to cite content from a Zoom session): Jennifer Orr, ‘The Vernacular Revival: Robert Fergusson’s poetry 1770-1780’, a seminar given on [date].
A website
- Remember that you need to be very discerning about the web materials you use. If in doubt, ask the module leader concerned. 2. For web materials that you do use, the general principle is to give the same information and use the same format as for a printed item of similar type, as far as possible. Before citing a website, try to identify: author and/or editor names, article title, title of the website/project/book, numbers of editions/volumes/ posting dates,
Citing works in a journal, anthology, or collection If you make use of a source that appears as part of a larger work, cite the author of the shorter work (e.g. the author of specific article, story, poem, or chapter that you have used). E.g. to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in Nature in 1921, you might write something like this: Relativity's theoretical foundations can be traced to earlier work by Faraday and Maxwell (Einstein 782).
Citing films, television, radio, and websites Sometimes writers are confused about how to create in-text citations for electronic sources because these sources do not have page numbers. In these instances, there is often no need to include page numbers in the in-text citation. For example, when making a general reference to a film, make sure your sentence makes it clear which film source you are referring to. E.g., you may write:
Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo stars Herzog's long-time film partner, Klaus Kinski. During the shooting of Fitzcarraldo , Herzog and Kinski were often at odds, but their explosive relationship fostered a memorable and influential film.
In this example, the inclusion of "Herzog" (the name of the director) leads the reader to the entry on the works cited page: Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo. Filmverlag der Autoren,
However, for some references to non-print sources, including references to specific moments in films and podcasts, you can include the relevant range of hours, minutes, and seconds (these take the place of page numbers). For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).
Multiple references to the same primary source If you repeatedly quote from/refer to the same primary source - for example when writing an essay on Jane Eyre - you do not need to include Brontë's name every time. As long as it is obvious that the reference is to Jane Eyre , you can simply include the relevant page number. E.g.: Jane notes that "Bessie's presence [...] seemed cheerful" (31).
You can also include abbreviated titles of primary sources, if this would add clarity. You may be aware of accepted abbreviations for works you are writing about (e.g. PL for Paradise Lost , or MO for Murder on the Orient Express ), but if not, use a short title (like Murder ). Do not abbreviate authors' names in the form of initials. For example:
a) Citations with abbreviated titles for prose : ( Jane 57) or ( Jane 57-58). b) Citations with abbreviated titles for poetry:
- for a long poem: ( AM 17) or ( AM 17-21)
- for a short poem: ("Ode" 23) or ("Ode" 23-25) c) For classic plays in verse, give act, scene and line numbers, e.g. ( King Lear 4.2.11-14). d) Some long poems in parts are formatted similarly, e.g. Paradise Lost has cantos and line numbers, e.g. ( PL 2.189).
In-text citations for sources with no known author If you do not know the author of a source, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire web sites) and provide a page number if it is available. E.g.:
We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change.. ." ("Impact of Global Warming").
Citing a work by multiple authors For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:
Best and Marcus argue that one should read a text for what it says on its surface, rather than looking for some hidden meaning (9).
The authors claim that surface reading looks at what is “evident, perceptible, apprehensible in texts” (Best and Marcus 9).
Multiple Citations If you use more than one source in the same sentence, you need to include all of them in the same in-text reference. Separate the sources by a semi-colon:
as has been discussed elsewhere (Burke 3; Dewey 21).
Citing several works by the same author If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.
a) Several books by the same author: Murray states that writing is "a process" that "varies with our thinking style" ( Write to Learn 6). Additionally, Murray argues that the purpose of writing is to "carry ideas and information from the mind of one person into the mind of another" ( Writer Teaches 3).
b) Several articles by the same author: Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38), though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye Development" 17).
c) If you do not mention the author's name in the sentence, your citation in brackets should include the author's name, then a comma, a shortened title, and the page number(s): Visual studies, because it is such a new discipline, may be "too easy" (Elkins, "Visual Studies" 63).
Titles
a) Titles of books, plays, long poems and periodicals must be in italics, e.g. Twelfth Night. b) Titles of short poems, short stories and articles must be enclosed in double quotation marks and not italicised, e.g. Keats’s "Ode to a Nightingale". What counts as a long or short poem? As a rule of thumb, italics are used for items that are published separately. Word count Word limits vary, and while the following normally apply, it is vital that you check the instructions for each individual submission. Stage 1 Please follow the word limits stated for individual assessments. Stage 2/ Submitted Work for 20-credit module (if 100% of assessment): 4,000 words Independent Research Project: 4,000 words Extended Study: 5,000 words Dissertation (Stage 3 only): 10,000 words The word count includes quotations, references and footnotes, but excludes the works cited and any diagrams or tables.
You should aim for the word limit stated (and writing concisely is an important skill). Double- check the rules for word limits with your module leader but, as a general rule, work may be 10% longer or shorter than the stated limit. If submissions go more than 10% over the limit markers will not read the excess, and at 10% or more below the limit work risks being self- penalising, i.e. it may well have insufficient breadth or depth.
NB: Your submission must contain a statement of the number of words : you should both type this on the front page of the submission, and write it on the Feedback Sheet.
Overall Presentation
- Your work must be presented according to the conventions for referencing, works cited etc. as set out in this Style Guide. It must include a list of all sources (printed or electronic) used.
- You should present and proof-read your work carefully. See the Essay Presentation Checklist in this Guide.
- The feedback sheet is a useful guide to the qualities looked for in submitted work. You should also see the Criteria of Assessment on the school website and follow any subject specific advice given by the director of your module(s).
- Double-space the text of your paper and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). The font size should be 12 pt. Use margins of 1 inch (2.54cm) or the default in Word. When submitting hard copies, print on both sides of the paper.
- You should include page numbers in a single sequence.
- At Stage 2 and 3, your work must be anonymous , identified by your student number but not your name.
- Your work should have a title page on which is typed: o The title of the essay o The name and number of the module o Your student number o The statement: I hereby certify that this submission is wholly my own work, and that all quotations from primary or secondary sources have been acknowledged. I have read the section on Plagiarism in the School Style Guide / my Stage & Degree Manual and understand that plagiarism and other unacknowledged debts will be penalised and may lead to failure in the whole examination or degree.
Submission Instructions Information about your assessments and the hand in dates can be found in the Module Handbooks. The hand in procedure may vary from one assessment to the next so it is important to make sure you follow the instructions you are given. Some assignments can be submitted up to 7 days before the deadline. For information on which assessments this covers, please visit the School website. For information on how to submit your work please visit the Current Students section of the School website.
Submission Dates All submission dates are available on the School of English website and in Module Guides. You should note that the University has severe penalties for submitting late (even by a few minutes). Work submitted between 1 minute and 7 days late will be capped at 40, work submitted over 7 days late receives a mark of 0. Students will extenuating circumstances should submit a PEC form.
Marking and Feedback Stage 1 work is first marked by module leaders or seminar tutors and moderated by a second member of staff. Stage 2/3 work is normally marked by the module leader or a member of the teaching team and moderated by another member of staff with related expertise. External examiners — experts in the relevant subjects from other universities — oversee the whole examining process and sample work to check overall fairness of assessment and marking according to the Criteria of Assessment, published in the School Handbook. Your work will be returned to you, annotated with comments from the first marker, in addition to the comments on the Feedback Sheet, once available (approximately 20 working days after the end of the assessment period), and in the next semester there will be an opportunity to raise any queries with the module leader. Formative (non-assessed) essays: Arrangements for these are somewhat different and will be announced in the context of individual modules.
Essay Presentation Checklist
Word Limits: check carefully that you are adhering to the word limit for your assignment.
Candidates must not draw substantially on the same material in more than one answer or reproduce work already submitted for assessment.
Since the criteria for awarding marks explicitly include the following, you should check that you have in fact taken them into account.
- Accurate English: grammar, syntax, no sentence fragment, correct punctuation and use of vocabulary. Appropriate styles (e.g. don’t use contractions such as "don’t", "won’t" etc.
- Layout: 1 inch margins, double spaced lines, pages numbered and bearing your student number (but not your name), paragraphs clearly indicated by indentation or line-space.
- Spelling and proof-reading: spellcheck used if available, essay read through for things the spellcheck won’t spot, correct use of apostrophe to mark possessives and omission of letters (e.g. society’s and societies). Note its , not it’s = of it.
- Quotations: short quotations and longer quotations handled correctly as in this style guide
- Titles, referencing and notes: titles, references and notes (if any) as per this style guide. All quotation and paraphrase referenced
- Works cited: complete; in alphabetical order of author, all required information in the right order and punctuated correctly
How To: An Example of MLA Referencing and Presentation
The next pages offers an extract from a sample essay, followed by a sample list of works cited.
The full examples are here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/ mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sample_paper.html
Use them as guidelines, but if in doubt always follow the instructions of your module leader and seminar leader.
This improvement allowed the relations between the rural and urban populations to
strengthen, resulting in an increase in trade. The urban population (defined as having
over 2,500 inhabitants) in the northern states increased rapidly after 1820. 1 This increase
accompanied the decrease in rural populations, as farmers who “preferred trade,
transportation, or ‘tinkering’” to the tasks of tending to crops and animals found great
opportunities in the city (Danhof 7). Trade and transportation thus began to influence
farming life significantly. Before 1820, the rural community accounted for eighty percent
of consumption of farmers’ goods (Hurt 127). With the improvements in transportation,
twenty-five percent of farmers’ products were sold for commercial gain, and by 1825,
farming “became a business rather than a way of life” (128). This business required
farmers to specialize their production and caused most farmers to give “less attention to
the production of surplus commodities like wheat, tobacco, pork, or beef” (128). The
increase in specialization encouraged some farmers to turn to technology to increase their
production and capitalize on commercial markets (172).
In-text citations occur after the quote but before the full stop.
If you cite the same source multiple times in a row, you do not have to repeat the author's last name until you start a cite a different author or start a new paragraph.
Use
your paper that would otherwise disrupt the flow of the text.
