For this entry created by the student, the student apparently misunderstood the source materials since although the source mentioned the roughness of the sport, the article that was used by the student as the primary source material did not directly state nor imply that the spectators are included in the roughness that occurs in hockey. Also the student assumed that since the article mentioned that there were “built-in cooling-off periods” and “higher emotional temperature than […] baseball or […] football” (qtd. in McGrath 9), there was no cooling-off instances in the game of hockey (Spatt 475).
2. Have the source ideas been acknowledged with sufficient and accurate documentation, according to MLA style?
The source ideas in this student’s essay were not sufficiently and accurately documented based on the MLA style. This is evident in the lack of an in-text citation at the end of the paragraph of the student’s essay and thus committed an act of plagiarism. According to Spatt, even if the writer may have used his or her own words in order to construct the paragraph, the ideas used by the student were that of McGrath (Spatt 475).
Without the ideas provided by McGrath in his article, the student would not have been able to create the said essay paragraph. As such, credit and acknowledgement must be given to McGrath for his insights regarding the game of hockey (458-59).
3. Have quotations from the source been indicated with quotation marks?
The student borrowed the term “cooling-off periods” (qtd. in McGrath 9) from the article that was used by the student from the source material without the use of quotation marks. This was the second error of the student that could cause the essay work be classified as a plagiarized essay. Not only did the student not acknowledge the source where the ideas for the essay were derived from, but also the student failed to acknowledge the exact wording used by the author of the source used by the student through the use of quotation marks (Spatt 459).
Student Essay B
1. Has the source been misquoted or misunderstood?
The student had misunderstood the context of the essay presented by McGrath in his article (Spatt 475). Based on the essay that was constructed by the student, the reader of the essay would assume that the passionate emotional outbursts observed during hockey games were crucial in each hockey game (Spatt 475).
2. Have the source ideas been acknowledged with sufficient and accurate documentation, according to MLA style?
Although the student acknowledged the author of the article from where the ideas for the essay were derived from, the student may have overdid the documentation. Since the student already specified the name of the author whose ideas were used in the essay, the student did not need to use the name of the author in the in-text citation at the end of the paragraph. The specification of the page number at the end of the essay paragraph would have sufficed (Spatt 469).
Also, the student placed the in-text citation after a period ending the essay. In creating in-text citation, this should be placed before the period except in instances when the parenthetical citation is located at the end of an indented quotation. It is only when indented quotations are included in the essay where the end of the indented quotation should be ended first with a period and then the parenthetical citation is placed after the period. This is because there are no quotation marks that would state the end of the indented quotation that was inserted in the essay (Spatt 469).
3. Have quotations from the source been indicated with quotation marks?
As with the first essay, the student borrowed the exact wording from the article used as the source material for the essay. In this case, the student failed to put the words “cult of toughness” (qtd. in McGrath 9) in quotation marks. Although the student did include an in-text citation in the essay, according to Spatt, there are two things that the student must remember to prevent plagiarism. The first is that the source of the ideas should be acknowledged in the form of in-text or parenthetical citations. The second is that if the student or the writer would opt to use the exact words used by the author in the resource material, the student should also place these in quotation marks (459).
Student Essay C
1. Has the source been misquoted or misunderstood?
The student who created this essay did not misquote or send another meaning to the readers of his or her work apart from what the author of the resource material was trying to imply which was that although hockey was considered a rough sport, the roughness associated with this is embedded in the game similar to that of a ritual (Spatt 475-76).
2. Have the source ideas been acknowledged with sufficient and accurate documentation, according to MLA style?
The student properly acknowledged the author and the main source from where he or she derived the ideas for the essay from. Since the student already mentioned the name of the author of the article in the paragraph, the student only included the page number from where the article was located. The student also stated the page number where the article was located before the period ending the sentence of the paragraph which is the correct placing for the parenthetical citation (Spatt 458-59).
3. Have quotations from the source been indicated with quotation marks?
The student had accurately indicated various terms that he or she had used in the essay he or she constructed with the use of quotation marks in order to establish to his or her readers that the student is acknowledging not just the source where the ideas where taken from, but also acknowledging that some of the vocabulary and terminologies that the student used in the essay where also the terminologies and vocabulary that were derived from the article as well (Spatt 459).
Student Essay D
1. Has the source been misquoted or misunderstood?
The student who created this last essay was accurate in delivering the same idea that McGrath had (qtd. in Spatt 475) intended his article to relay to his readers.
2. Have the source ideas been acknowledged with sufficient and accurate documentation, according to MLA style?
Although the student had acknowledged the source materials used for the essay using a parenthetical citation, the style that was used by the student for the in-text citation was incorrect. The format to be used for using an in-text or parenthetical citation for the MLA style is to specify the last name of the author followed by the page number inside the parenthesis. The last name of the author should not be separated from the page number using a comma. Also, the page number should not be preceded by the letter “p” (Spatt 466-67).
3. Have quotations from the source been indicated with quotation marks?
The student had specified quotations from the source with quotation marks. However, there was only ones that needed to be placed in quotation marks which were the phrases “fistfights to routinely break out” (qtd. in Spatt 475) and “cult of toughness” (qtd. in Spatt 475) since these were direct quotations from the article written by McGrath. The phrase “burn at a high emotional level” (Spatt 476) was a paraphrase done by the student from the original text from the article which was written as “burn at a much higher emotional temperature” (qtd. in Spatt 475). This being the case, the student did not need to put this inside quotation marks.
The phrase “ritualistic pushing” (Spatt 476) should have included three periods in between and after the words “ritualistic” and “pushing” because in the original article, there were additional words in between and after the two words. The addition of three periods in between these two words would advise the readers that although this was a direct quotation from the article, the student left out some of the words in order to make the statement or the phrase more cohesive and as such be able to create a clear statement while ensuring that the ideas and thoughts of the author are acknowledge in order to prevent any possibility of plagiarism (Spatt 477).
Works Cited
Spatt, Brenda. Writing for Sources 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.