1. Informal Quoting and author tags
Giving credit where credit is due

2. Giving Credit
Have you ever heard a friend or family member say something that was really cool, but then you knew that it was someone else who originally said it? What does that do to your opinion of that person? What if someone stole your good idea and they got credit for it with the boss, who then gave them a huge raise? Wouldn’t it bother you?
Why would it bother you?
That’s right, because you said it, and someone else is taking credit for it. It’s called plagiarism.

3. Plagiarism =
STEALING someone else’s IDEAS, WORDS, RESEARCH, ANYTHING, and claiming it as your own.
We want to include other ideas to make our claims stronger
There is a right and a wrong way to do it
The wrong way is stating another author’s ideas as a fact that you came up with
The wrong way is stating something that you read as if it came from your own brain.
The wrong way gives no credit to the person who came up with the idea.
The wrong way is all plagiarism

4. The right way The right way to include someone else’s ideas or work:
Author tags!!!
What is an author tag?
Just like it sounds, it is a short phrase (or tag line) that lets the reader know that an idea or phrase belongs to someone other than the person writing the paper.
They can be used at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle, or at the end.

5. “Beginning of the sentence” author’s tags
AUTHOR says that
In an article written by AUTHOR , he/she states that
AUTHOR backs up this claim when they say that
This idea is further explained by AUTHOR when they say that
AUTHOR elaborates on this theory that claim when they say
AUTHOR adds insight to the issue by highlighting the fact that
AUTHOR helps to prove claim when they say that
Did you notice that the language is all in present tense? We don’t refer to the author as if they are dead (even if they are) or in the past tense when citing informally in MLA
Can you think of any other sentence starter tags on your own? Think of a new one and share it with your neighbor.
Say that your claim is that boys learn faster than girls.
Try a few of these starting tag lines out if you were to include this piece of information:
Article Title: Boys VS Girls
“Boys focus more on the important facts while girls tend to focus heavily on the details. While the details get lost in the female brain, the solid facts are solidified quickly and stored in long-term memory.”
- Sammy Sexist

6. “Middle of the sentence” author’s tags
. . . AUTHOR says, . . .
. . . AUTHOR elaborates, . . .
. . . explains AUTHOR, . . .
. . . highlights AUTHOR, . . .
. . . AUTHOR points out, . . .
. . . AUTHOR continues, . . .
Can you think of any “middle of the sentence” author’s tags? Share one with a partner.
Say that your claim is that boys learn faster than girls.
These types of author tags usually interrupt the quote you are trying to use. Try a few on the same quote that we used for the beginning sentence starters.
Article Title: Boys VS Girls
“Boys focus more on the important facts while girls tend to focus heavily on the details. While the details get lost in the female brain, the solid facts are solidified quickly and stored in long-term memory.”
- Sammy Sexist

7. “End of the sentence” author’s tags
. . . notes AUTHOR.
. . . states AUTHOR.
. . . AUTHOR explains in their article, “TITLE.”
. . . AUTHOR writes.
. . . AUTHOR clarifies in their article, “TITLE.”
. . . concludes AUTHOR.
Can you come up with any “end of the sentence” author’s tags? Share one with a partner.
Say that your claim is that boys learn faster than girls.
These types of author tags usually interrupt the quote you are trying to use. Try a few on the same quote that we used for the beginning sentence starters.
Article Title: Boys VS Girls
“Boys focus more on the important facts while girls tend to focus heavily on the details. While the details get lost in the female brain, the solid facts are solidified quickly and stored in long-term memory.”
- Sammy Sexist

8. Article Title: Boys VS Girls
“Boys focus more on the important facts while girls tend to focus heavily on the details. While the details get lost in the female brain, the solid facts are solidified quickly and stored in long-term memory.”
- Sammy Sexist
Challenge Accepted
Can you come up with examples of how you would cite the author without using a direct quote? Try paraphrasing the information in this paragraph to bolster your claim (that boys are faster learners than girls) WITHOUT quoting Sammy Sexist directly. Paraphrase or summarize what they are saying and use an author tag to show that it is not your idea, but Sammy’s.