Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Use quotation marks around borrowed language
Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
Writing Papers in MLA Style

To indicate that you are using a source’s exact phrases or sentences, you must enclose them in quotation marks unless they have been set off from the text by indenting (see 56b). To omit the quotation marks is to claim — falsely — that the language is your own, as in the example that starts on the next page. Such an omission is plagiarism even if you have cited the source.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Although these policies may have a positive impact on human health, they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions, and exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities.

— David Resnik, “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom,” p. 31

PLAGIARISM

Bioethicist David Resnik points out that policies to ban trans fats may protect human health, but they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices and interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions (31).

BORROWED LANGUAGE IN QUOTATION MARKS

Bioethicist David Resnik points out that policies to ban trans fats may protect human health, but they “open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices [and] interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions” (31).