Structure

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Structure

• Thesis
• Deductive vs. Inductive
• Topic sentence
• Analysis and Support
• Transition sentences
• Conclusion

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• Avoid 1st Person
• Active vs. Passive
• Active Frederick Douglass suggests that slavery
  is as injurious to the masters as to the slaves.
• Passive In Narrative of the Life of Frederick
  Douglass, slavery is seen as injurious to the
  masters as to the slaves.

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MLA Basics

• Layout
• Heading
• Title
• Page numbers
• In-text citations
• (Shakespeare 3.1.63-66).
• (Erasmus 38).
• Works Cited

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1. Be sure to cite, even when paraphrasing.

• Locke posits that the right of succession, and
  consequently of bearing rule, is not divinely
  determined (1).
• Douglass describes the fight he has with his
  master as a turning point in his sense of manhood
  (43).

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2. Cite the edition.

• Avoid citing famous works from an internet source
  or anthology
• Use the library
• Evaluate your sources

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3. Introduce quotes.

• Hamlets contemplations of suicide often appear
  in soliloquies To be, or not to be, that is the
  question / Whether tis nobler in the mind to
  suffer / / Or to take arms against a sea of
  troubles (Shakespeare 3.1.63-66).
• Though many Christians burn candles to the Virgin
  Mary, few are there that study to imitate her in
  pureness of life (Erasmus 38).

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4. Follow quotes with close analysis.

• Claudius admits that his offense is rank, it
  smells to heaven. / It hath the primal eldest
  curses upont, / A brothers murder. Pray can I
  not (Shakespeare 3.3.39-41). This confession is
  the only definitive proof of Claudiuss guilt.
  Hamlets entrance after the end of the soliloquy
  adds to the dramatic irony the audience knows
  what Hamlet spends the rest of the play
  questioning.

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5. Eliminate unnecessary words.

• Yes
• -Erasmus suggests
• -Douglass embodies Franklins self-made man by
  devoting his energy to self improvement.

• No
• -As Erasmus suggests
• -There are many ways in which Douglass embodies
  Franklins self-made man.

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6. Dont quote too long of a passage.

• Yes
• O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven. /
  It hath the primal eldest curses upont, / A
  brothers murder. Pray can I not (Shakespeare
  3.3.39-41).

• No
• O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven. /
  It hath the primal eldest curses upont, / A
  brothers murder. Pray can I not, / Though
  inclination be as sharp as will / My stronger
  guilt defeats my strong intent, / And, like a man
  to double business bound, / I stand in pause
  where I shall first begin, / And both neglect.
  What if this cursed hand / Were thicker than
  itself with brothers blood, / Is there not rain
  enouh in the sweet heavens / To wash it white as
  snow? Whereto serves mercy / But to confront the
  visage of offence? / And whats in prayer but
  this twofold force, / To be forestalled ere we
  come to fall, / Or pardond being down? Then Ill
  look up. / My fault is past. But O, what form of
  prayer / Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul
  murder? / That cannot be, since I am still
  possessd (Shakespeare 3.3.39-56).

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• 7. If you use a long quote, analysis must be
  substantive.
• 8. Indent long quotes.

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9. Clarify quoted information using brackets.

• Quote
• I could regard them in no other light than a
  band of successful robbers (Douglass 24).
• Clarified Quote
• Douglass could regard the enslavers in no
  other light than a band of successful robbers
  (Douglass 24).

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10. Recognize spelling errors and omitted
material.

• when under the title of paternal power it
  seemed appropriated to the father, would yet have
  founded but oddly, and in the very name shewn
  sic the absurdity (Locke 24).

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Final Tips

• Proofread your paper.
• Read it out loud.
• http//www.hope.edu/academic/english/
• Go to the library.