MLA format

The point is uniformity - to make your writing as easy to read, comment on, and successfully return, as possible

Do not overlook the importance of the title!

Your title is the first impression work makes.

A good title is clever, says something about your work, and compels the reader to read on… in other words, a good title is BRILLIANT!

Structure In any paper - whether it’s a reflective

essay, a research-based paper, or personal statement - you are essentially building an argument. You want to convince someone of something by putting forth your ideas and defending them

This is the mindset that the five paragraph essay is supposed to teach you

Structure: The Intro Paragraph (part I, the hook) Inarguably, the introductory paragraph is the most

essential part of your paper. In your intro you should pretend your audience isn’t –

me – as your bteacher, I’m obligated to continue reading. If I weren’t your teacher, you would have to convince me that I should be interested.

Intrigue me!

Hook? Here’s a hastily written example of a

hook: “In discussions of morality, all too

frequently people pit good against evil, a rather simple equation. Really, morality isn’t as black-and-white as people tend to be more complicated.”

The Introduction III: The Thesis

In addition to stating WHAT your intent is, your thesis should suggest HOW you’ll be making your argument as well.

For example: Wrong

Bad Theses!

“In this paper I will evaluate whether The Misfit changes.”

Or “This essay will prove

that the grandmother doesn’t change for having met The Misfit.”

Tell me what the point of your paper is without telling me you’re telling me!

For example: Right!Good Thesis:

Through their exchange concerning the nature of religious faith, one that seems to deeply move both characters, O’Connor implies that both are capable true moral change.

This thesis not only tells me what the paper will be about, but suggests the things I’ll be discussing in my body

paragraphs.

This is the difference between…

This I am telling you the

best way to get to Taco Bell by telling you to take a left on to Laura Duncan Road.

And this The best way to get to

Taco Bell is to take a left on to Laura Duncan Road.

Structure Part II: The Body

Whatever comes between the intro and the conclusion should directly relate to your thesis

It should strengthen your argument

Structure: The Conclusion

A good Conclusion MUST (must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must must

must must must must must must must must must must must) be longer than a sentence or two

Every time you start a conclusion with, “In conclusion…”

…Somewhere a newborn puppy dies.

Quotes: Use Them If writing a paper is a war, then

direct quotes are your weapons

Support of your thesis should be as detailed, as text-specific as possible, and what could be more specific than quoting the text?

Quotes: Using Them Direct quotes should never be

sentences unto themselves – always try to integrate direct quotes into your own ideas, your own words

This might mean that you don’t use an entire passage from a work related to a point you’re making, rather specific segments and phrases

For example: Wrong

“No more homework, reading, or even showing up on time!” This quote shows that Mrs. O’Donnell is the most awesome teacher ever.

For Example: Right!

With her policies of “no homework, reading, or even showing up on time,” Mrs. O’Donnell proves to be the most awesome teacher ever.

When the quote don’t fit If you need to change a quote to make it

flow with your writing, you can change them slightly by adding words – additions are indicated with brackets [ ] For Example:

If I want to incorporate Grendel’s quote, “I sing of walls” into my writing: Grendel tells Beowulf that he, “sing[s] of

walls,” (171).

Quotes: Random Thoughts Extended quotations

(four lines or longer) are like those dishes your mom keeps in a glass cabinet - they should only be taken out for special occasions Every line of your

longer quote should be indented thusly:

Quotes: More random Thoughts

Quotation marks that appear in your title get one ‘ instead of “

The Misfit In ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find’

Grendel: ‘Beware of the Fish’

And… The placement of question marks with

quotes follows logic:

If a question is in quotation marks, the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks.

If the text in quotes is a statement, and the entire sentence is a question, then this is when the punctuation goes outside the quote marks

For example: He asked, “Will you go out with me?”

And can you believe she responded, “You smell like eggs and dandruff shampoo, loser”?

Quotes: random thoughts: The Finale

If it’s not an actual “quote” don’t put “quote marks” around the word/phrase or I will deduct so many “points” you will “cry” For example people have a tendency to

put figures of speech of verbal clichés in quotes, like: The Misfit and his cronies “have it all.”

Underlining is dead.And italics killed him.

Quotes or Italics?

Italics Newspaper Magazine Novel Book of Poetry Album T.V. Show Movie

Quotes Newspaper article Magazine article Chapter Poem Song T.V. show Episode

A good rule is that long works are A good rule is that long works are italicized/underlined and short works get italicized/underlined and short works get

quotesquotes

Don’t underline the title of your paper!Seriously

Phrases to Stay Away From, Part 1

“I think,” “I believe,” “In my opinion” The presumption is that in your writing, all

of these things are true

When these phrases precede a statement, they make those statements weaker

Phrases to Stay Away From, Part 2

Making statements that feel true, but that can’t be verified, or that weren’t verified by you: Watch especially for statements that start with “Some would say…” or “Many think…”

Instead of “Many would say that maintaining a healthy marriage requires hard work”

Go with “Maintaining a healthy marriage requires hard work.”

Don’t say things like “The Crucible, Miller’s most political work…” because the implication is that you’ve read all the other plays of Arthur Miller and have arrived at that conclusion yourself

Phrases to Stay Away From, Part 3

Don’t use the phrase ‘in today’s society’ or ‘in the modern day’ And for the love of Todd, don’t say: ‘in today’s

modern day society’

Other odds and ends Always use the present tense when

writing about literature: Susan didn’t kill herself, she kills herself

– what happens in books is always happening – Cyrano is murdered by a log Oedipus blinds himself Piggy is bouldered to death

Indefinite pronouns Indefinite pronouns are words which

replace nouns without specifying which noun they replace Excessive use of these can make your

writing confusing to the reader Don’t do this:

“This is why she was angered by his behavior while he didn’t know it, though she thought he may have figured that out.”

Semi-colon usage Semi-colons link two

related phrases that could be independent sentences; in the words of Montell Jordan, “this is how we do it.”

If the two phrases on either sides of the semi-colon aren’t complete sentences, then you’ve screwed up.

The following numbers should be spelled out: 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 7

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 ETC!!!!!

Concise, continued The best writing

expresses the maximum amount of information in a minimum amount of words.