In humanities courses such as literature and philosophy, resource materials play an important role. Most significant, of course, are the primary sources: the texts themselves. If you write a paper about Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels, the instructor expects you to cite incidents, narrative, and dialogue from the story to support any claims you make about it. Similarly, a paper about Plato's Republic would look rather silly without any reference to what Plato wrote. Therefore, students in literature and philosophy classes need to learn the proper techniques for quoting and documenting primary sources. The “Sample Literary Analysis Paper” demonstrates the effective use of primary sources.

Students in advanced courses in these disciplines will generally begin to draw on secondary sources as well: the writings of critics, biographers, and theoreticians who have preceded them in analyzing the primary sources. See “Avoiding Plagiarism: The Proper Use of Sources” for the conventions for citing secondary sources without falling into plagiarism.

Documenting Sources in Literature and Philosophy

The humanities recognize several systems to document sources. Traditional footnote/endnote systems like the one in Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations are generally accepted. The Modern Language Association (MLA) is more popular:

One critic has pointed to King Claudius' "respectable qualities" (Bradley 138).

However, if the author's name introduced the passage or idea, then you need not repeat it when giving the page number:

Bradley has pointed to King Claudius' "respectable qualities" (138).

Like a footnote/endnote system, the MLA style requires a list, usually called “Works Cited,” at the end of the paper with an entry for every source used. A “Works Consulted” list may be added to recognize other sources read but not directly cited in the paper. The basic formats are described in Documenting Sources: Two Standard Formats.) For a more detailed account of MLA format, consult The Little, Brown Handbook.