Feel free to read and explore any of these works, but be certain that you follow MLA guidelines for citation of electronic sources. The papers are intended as additions to the scholarly community, not as freebies that you can plagiarize at will. Remember, most Universities have a strict policy on plagiarism-- you could receive an "F" for any course wherein you are suspected of plagiarism, and you could face even more severe penalties. Since these papers are written by professional scholars, your teacher will probably be able to tell if you "borrow" from them without giving credit for ideas, even if they are paraphrased (reworded).

Also, be sure to consider many sources, including those that you can find in your University's library. This Webpage is not, nor is it intended to be, a final and authoritative critique. This is a small collection of voices in a very large discourse about these authors. Much of what is here is well evidenced opinion-- use it to research and form your own opinions.

Consider the information on this website as "official" as what you get in a print book. You would not copy from a text book, you should not copy from this site, either. You can use the information here-- you just have to give credit where credit is due!

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Citation of Websites: "How do I do it?"

If you quote fewer than 200 words from any source you are within the rules of "fair use" and do not have to ask permission of the work's author/editor to cite them in a scholarly paper.

But you do still have to cite the source in a works cited page, and the rules for electronic citation vary. Note: in most guidelines on citation, you might be asked to provide a "sponsoring organization" or "hosting institution." This site has neither. The host is the Editor, Kim Wells. We do have an Editorial Board, and we are peer reviewed-- you can get information about that at this link. You must customize the bibliographic entry to fit what you do have. But, in general, the basic MLA format for citation of an electronic source is:

This is for a Works Cited Page:

Name of site owner, author or editor. Title of Web Site, Date of latest update of site, if available.  Online. Internet. Name of organization or person sponsoring web site. Access or printout date <URL>.

If any of the "required" pieces is not available, you should skip it and put what is available; for a site with no title, description of site (such as "Home page"). If a website does not have an author , source of publication (like a University) or editor's name listed, however, you should consider whether or not the site is really reliable, and perhaps make a trip to your library for some more reputable sources.

For example, if you are citing the Women Writers site in general, the citation in your bibliography/works cited page should look like this:

Wells, Kim. Women Writers. February 2002. Online. Internet. Fill in date you access/print       out site. <http://www.womenwriters.net/>.

If you are citing a particular paper on the website, your citation should look like this:

Love, Jennifer. "No Girls Allowed: Women Poets and the Beat Generation." Women Writers. Editor, Kim Wells. February 2002. Online. Internet. Fill in date you access/print       out site. <http://www.womenwriters.net/may2001/nogirlsallowed.htm>.

The following is for the Body Of Your Paper--
you will need both the reference in your paper AND the Works Cited Page

When you refer to an idea in a paper, even if it is not a direct quotation, you should reference the person from whom you got the idea. For example, if I were quoting the paper by Li Di-Lu on Chopin's The Awakening, this is how I would (and how you should according to MLA guidelines) do it:

Critical theory varies on how to read Edna's suicide. For example, one can even read it from a Buddhist standpoint as Edna's attempts to find herself (Lu, The Awakenend One, 2).

This is how to parenthetically refer to an idea that one gets from an author. Now, if I were directly quoting the idea from Lu's paper, this is how to do it.

Critical theory varies on how to read Edna's suicide. For example, one can even read it from a Buddhist standpoint. Li Di-Lu states:

If read as a suicide, then Edna Pontellier's last swim is a consequence of her awakening to the limitations of her femaleness in a male-dominant society. But on a metaphysical level, especially from the Buddhist perspective, The Awakening's final scene can be seen as Edna's ultimate gesture in trying to grasp the essence of her being. (The Awakenend One, 2)

I cannot, as a writer and teacher, stress the fact that you MUST CITE AND PROPERLY GIVE CREDIT FOR THESE IDEAS AND PAPERS. I know of at least one teacher who has flunked several students, with my full support, for cheating by using ideas from one of these papers and not giving credit.

Still unsure? Check out this online guide to electronic citation from Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey

Guidelines Page Posted: February 10, 2002