Exercise: Integrating sources (MLA) 1

According to Swafford, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is an answer to Beethoven's Mass, the Missa Solemnis, in which the chorus is singing "the concluding prayer for peace, when the music is interrupted by the drums of war."

ERROR This sentence is unacceptable. Although the student has used quotation marks around the exact words of the source, the student has failed to use an ellipsis mark to indicate missing words from the source (and trumpets).

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis ends with an interrupted prayer for peace, and his Ninth Symphony steps in to answer that prayer.

ERROR This sentence is unacceptable. It is an acceptable paraphrase of the source's ideas, but the student has failed to cite the author of the source either in a signal phrase or in parentheses.

The universal appeal of the Ninth Symphony is undeniable: groups as ideologically different as "Communists, Christians, Nazis, and humanists" have all "claimed the music for their own."

ERROR This sentence is unacceptable. The student has used quotation marks around words taken directly from the source, but the student has failed to cite the author of the source either in a signal phrase or in parentheses.

One commentator has written that the Ninth Symphony "doesn't simply preach a sermon about freedom and brotherhood, but aspires to help bring them to pass" (Swafford).

OK This sentence is acceptable. The student has used quotation marks around words taken directly from the source and has indicated the author of the source in parentheses.

Swafford calls Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "elusive and kaleidoscopic," pointing out that it provides a "vision of utopia [that] is proclaimed, not attained."

OK This sentence is acceptable. The student has used quotation marks around words taken directly from the source. The student also has inserted the word that in brackets to make the quotation fit grammatically with the surrounding sentence.