MLA Format

In-text citing

Works Cited

• MLA Style

IN-TEXT DOCUMENTATIONAs Lester Faigley puts it, "The world has become

a bazaar from which to shop for an individual 'lifestyle' " (12). As one observer suggests, "The world has become a bazaar from which to shop for an individual 'lifestyle' " (Faigley 12).

WORKS-CITED DOCUMENTATION Faigley, Lester. Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity

and the Subject of Composition. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1992.

In-text citing

• In your text, you have three options for citing a source: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

• As you cite each source, you will need to decide whether or not to name the author in a signal phrase—"as Toni Morrison writes"—or in parentheses—"(Morrison 24)."

• 1. AUTHOR NAMED IN A SIGNAL PHRASE

If you mention the author in a signal phrase, put only the page number(s) in parentheses. Do not write page or p.– McCullough describes John Adams as having "the

hands of a man accustomed to pruning his own trees, cutting his own hay, and splitting his own firewood" (18).

– McCullough describes John Adams's hands as those of someone used to manual labor (18).

• If you do not mention the author in a signal phrase, put his or her last name in parentheses along with the page number(s). Do not use punctuation between the name and the page number(s).– Adams is said to have had "the hands of a man

accustomed to pruning his own trees, cutting his own hay, and splitting his own firewood" (McCullough 18).

– One biographer describes John Adams as someone who was not a stranger to manual labor (McCullough 18).

• If you cite multiple works by one author, you have four choices. You can mention the author in a signal phrase and give the title and page reference in parentheses. Give the full title if it's brief; otherwise, give a short version.– Kaplan insists that understanding power in

the Near East requires "Western leaders who know when to intervene, and do so without illusions" (Eastward 330).

Next Paper: Argument

• See page 636. We will read this essay together noting the use of sources and how they are documented.

Describing Norton Ch 34

• Use detail. Duh. Come on. See what I mean:

She went down the street.

The tall, thin woman with an odd, disarrayed beehive weaved drunkenly down the dirty, trash-strewn alley, half-tripping over the occasional homeless person who lay protected against the bitterly cold elements with bits of cardboard and trash.

Describing

• Depending on the type of essay, you may need to describe OBJECTIVELY: no slant, no bias.

• Personal essays require SUBJECTIVITY: bias, slant.

Description

• Vantage point:– Omnipotent third person– Limited first person present tense– Second person

Adjectives and Adverbs Handbook Ch 11

• See your book for further clarification.

• Quick overview coming up next.

AdjectivesAdjectives• Describes a noun or pronoun.• Answers questions

– Which one?• My house in Maine is a log cabin.• That book belongs to me.

– What kind? • The yellow Volkswagen belongs to my wife.

– How many?• I own twelve baseball caps.

– How? (with linking verb)• I feel fine.

AdverbsAdverbs• An adverb describes verbs, adjectives

or other adverbs• Answers the question

– How?• That shirt is too big.

– When?• She said that she will arrive soon.

– Where?• I saw the bird fly over my head.

– Why?– Under what circumstances?– To what extent?

Three forms

• Positive/basic -- happy• Comparative

– happier– more beautiful

• Superlative– happiest– most beautiful

Comparative• Expresses difference between two.

• One-syllable adjectives or adverbs– Add er– The bread is warm.– The rolls are warmer.

• Two or more syllables– add more– The book was shocking– The movie was more shocking.

Double Comparisons

• Incorrect: Phoenix is more hotter than San Francisco.

• Correct: Phoenix is hotter than San Francisco.

• Incorrect: Jackie is more quieter than Lisa.

• Correct: Jackie is quieter than Lisa.

Superlative

• Shows difference between three or more.

• Comparative: The second bell is louder than the first bell.

• Superlative: The third bell is loudest.

Superlative

• For one syllable add -est.

• For two or more syllables add most.– Wonderful most wonderful

• For adjectives that end with -y change y to i and add er or -est.– funny funnier funniest– pretty prettier prettiest– ugly uglier ugliest

Articles: a, an, theArticles: a, an, the

• Definite article tells which specific person, place, thing.– “the” is a definite article– The dancer, the house

• Indefinite article tells which one of many persons, places, things.– “a” and “an” are indefinite articles.– a lawyer, an apple.

Articles: a, an, theArticles: a, an, the

• Use “a” before words beginning with consonants.– a ball, a house, a girl.

• Use “an” before words beginning with vowels or vowel sounds.– An orange, an elephant, an honest

man.

PrepositionsPrepositions

• A preposition shows relationship between two parts of sentence.– We are in Room 3403.– “in” shows relation between “we” and

“Room 3403.”

• Usually precedes a noun or pronoun.– The noun or pronoun is the object of the

preposition.

ConjunctionConjunction

• Links words, phrases, or clauses and signals their relationship as grammatically equal or unequal.

Four kinds of conjunctionsFour kinds of conjunctions

• Coordinating conjunctions or Fanboys– For– And– Nor – But– Or– Yet– So

• Coordinating conjunctions link equal parts of a sentence.

Correlative conjunctionsCorrelative conjunctions• both/and

– Both my mother and my father live in Cleveland, Ohio.

• either/or– Either come inside or leave.

• neither/nor• not only/but

– Not only do we write, but we read also.• whether/ or

– Whether you are right, or whether you are wrong, we will accept your decision.

Subordinating conjunctionsSubordinating conjunctions• Begin adverb clauses

• Link unequal parts of a sentence

• Link independent clauses to dependent clauses.– He was late for work because he overslept.

• This is a complex sentence.

– Independent clause: He was late for work.– Dependent clause: because he overslept.– because is a subordinating conjunction

Conjunctive adverbsConjunctive adverbs

• Used with semicolon to link independent clauses– He has an excellent singing voice;

however, he does not sing.• This is a compound sentence.

– He has an excellent singing voice; however, he does not sing because he is shy.• This is a compound-complex sentence

InterjectionsInterjections

• A strong expression of feeling.

• Followed by a comma or exclamation point.– Ouch! That hurts!– Well! I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.– Well, that concludes the show.

Sentence Fragments

Again, something you want to read on your own and work your way through.

Introduction

A sentence fragment tries its best to be a sentence, but it just can’t make it. It’s missing something.

Often, it’s missing a verb or part of a verb string:

John working extra hard on his hook shot lately.

Here, for instance, we’re missing an auxiliary — has been, in this case, probably — that would complete the verb string and the sentence.

Incomplete Verb, Part Two

A sentence fragment tries its best to be a sentence, but it just can’t make it. It’s missing something.

Spending hours every day after school and even on weekends.

This time we’re missing a whole verb. “Spending” is a participle wanting to modify something, but there is no subject-verb relationship within the sentence.

Often, it’s missing a verb or part of a verb string:

Avoiding Sentence Fragments

Sometimes a sentence fragment can give you a great deal of information, but it’s still not a complete sentence:

After the coach encouraged him so much last year and he seemed to improve with each passing game.

Here we have a subject-verb relationship — in fact, we have two of them — but the entire clause is subordinated by the dependent word after. We have no independent clause.

Avoiding Sentence Fragments

Be alert for strings of prepositional phrases that never get around to establishing a subject-verb relationship:

Immediately after the founding of the college and during those early years as the predominant educational institution in the American Midwest.

Again, be careful of sentences which give their share of information but still don’t contain a subject and verb.

Literature Reviews

• Think of it as a research paper.

• Pick a topic. In psychology, it might be explanatory style or locus of control or bystander effect.

• Then do a database search for relevant articles. Read the articles and summarize the findings.

Homework Assignment

• Homework: Page 174– Read the sample literature review.– answer the following questions on paper to

turn in:• How many sources? Note the types of sources.• What was the writer’s purpose?• What is the thesis of this essay? Is there one

sentence that sums it up (yes there is)?• What are the three key points that support this

goal?

Dialogue

• Brings life to personal essays like memoirs or profiles.

• Enclose dialogue in quotes.

• Start a new paragraph with each speaker.

• Use signal phrases as needed.

Reflections

• So, blogs are reflective essays.

• You want to think through an issue, so you write about it to sort out how you feel about it.

Key Features

• Topic that intrigues you

• Some kind of structure

• Specific details

• Questioning, speculative tone

Brief Guide to Writing

• Choose the subject• Consider the purpose, audience, and

stance• Generate ideas and text• Organize it: define or describe topic;

explore it with anecdotes, observations, definitions or speculations; end it with telling image, material for further thought, implications of topic

Grief page 831

• Please take ten minutes to read this; pick a buddy and discuss the essay.

• What works about it?

• How does the ending affect you? Was it surprising? Did it feel abrupt?

• Do you think she felt better after writing this piece? Worse?