Hey, I'm writing a paper and I am using music lyrics in the paper. Do you have to cite music lyrics in MLA format or do music lyrics fall under the umbrella of public knowledge? And if music lyrics do need to be cited, how would one cite them?
Help on paper writing protocol
Hey, I'm writing a paper and I am using music lyrics in the paper. Do you have to cite music lyrics in MLA format or do music lyrics fall under the umbrella of public knowledge? And if music lyrics do need to be cited, how would one cite them?
Yes, you need to cite them. The song is not yours and is copyrighted to someone else. Citations would be like citing multiple lines of poems. If I recall correctly it should be like this.
As he "[looked] on [his] kingdom he was finally there / sitting on [his] throne as fresh prince of Bel-Air" (Smith 40-41 [I'm just guessing the line numbers]).
For the MLA page I found a site that gives you the full citation format:
Songwriter's last name, first name. "Title of Song." Lyrics. Title of Album. Name of Publishing Company, Year Recorded.
Dylan, Bob. "Like a Rolling Stone." Lyrics. Perf. The Drive-By Truckers. Highway 61 Revisited. Uncut/Ignite!, 2005.
Last edited by TheOriginalGrumpySpy; 12-02-2008 at 01:24 AM.
Thank you very much TOGS.
I don't have much to add, except...
Lol, MLA format. I haven't had to worry about that since... high school? Maybe undergrad.
In the physical sciences and engineering, everyone seems to have their own format. I'm guessing it's the same in biology and medicine as well...
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Originally Posted by Think
Even in a higher division English course we are asked to parenthetically cite but no actual Works Cited page.
Although in a tech writing class which was for engineers, she did say something along those lines, but the Tech Doc we wrote was in MLA format. It's a nice clean format in my opinion.
I suppose, but when I cite for a presentation, a paper for class, or the like, I just cite my references in any format I make up on the spot, and I always include all the important information since I just understand what a citation should look like.
As for journal articles, each journal always has its own format, and it's a pain in the ass to make sure you're following it.
PANDAS
If you don't like them, then get the fuck out.
True enough, but MLA seems to be widely accepted enough and easy to just default to it.
Luckily I haven't submitted anything to a journal yet. From articles I've read, it looks like a daunting task just writing it. I think it was on multi-layer electronic polymers... it was, and probably still is, way over my head.
It is dumb, but I have to do it for this paper I have to write. It is due in a little over 12 hours, so I should probably stop dicking off and actually get past the second paragraph. That would require me to stop procrastinating though. College is stoopid sometimes. I'm a numbers man, for the love of god.
It's usually APA format for the sciences. Unless you're submitting to a journal, then they all have their own format for publication.
MLA is a shitty format -- inline citation doesn't include a year, so if you're involved in any field with a limited number of authors publishing, you could have multiple (Cromwell)s and actually be citing (Cromwell 2007), (Cromwell 1998), and (Cromwell 1776). That bugs for any field where its useful to know temporal placement of the article. That is to say every field.
Inline citation is stupid because it distracts from the content of the sentence. Footnotes or endnotes are the superior method.
Ibid.
What you said makes no sense. When else would you use citations except for when you submit to a journal? The only other time would be when you give a presentation, and in that case people usually just use whatever format suits them.
And anyways, I guarantee you that physicists don't listen to anything that the APA says, at least as far as their profession is concerned.
PANDAS
If you don't like them, then get the fuck out.
lol, Common and Ludacris are in my works cited for my academic analysis of the creation of an African-American literary tradition. Win.
Way to go repeating what he said.
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