MLA, introductory clauses, Outside sources, and transitions

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MLA, introductory clauses, Outside sources, and
transitions
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• Times New Roman size 12 font
• Double spaced
• Margins-1 inch all the way around except for the
  top margin which is a half inch
• Your header must be your last name and page
  number-Lewis 1, Lewis 2, Lewis 3

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• You must have a Works Cited page. This page is
  typed in the same manner as the paper and is on a
  separate page. This page does not count in your
  total pages. (For example, if you need 3 pages
  total, it must be 3 pages and then the works
  cited page)

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The Essay

• Wood, Robin. An Introduction to the American
  Horror Film Planks of Reason. Ed. Barry Keith
  Grant. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Metuchen 1984.
  164-201.  

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Basic book

• Author. Title of Book. City Publishers, Year of
  publication.

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Handout

• Instructor's Name. "Title of Handout/Notes/Slidesh
  ow." Course notes. Name of Course. Dept.,
  Institution. Date notes were received.

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Short story

• Author of Story/poem. "Title of Story/poem."
  Title of Collection. City of Publication
  Publisher, Year. Page numbers.

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Scholarly Article

• Author. "Title of Article." Title of Journal
  Volume number (Year) Page(s).

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Film

• The Shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Jack
  Nicholson, Shelley Duvall. Warner Bros., 1980.
• IN TEXT-(Title)  or (Last Name)

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Website

• Title of the Site. Editor. Date and/or Version
  Number. Name of Sponsoring Institution. Date of
  Access ltURLgt.
• IN TEXT-If there is an author use the last name
  and page number if it exists. If not, use the
  name of the site-For example, (The Republic of
  Pemberley) if you are citing the Jane Austen/Mr.
  Darcy fanclub.

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Interview

• Person Interviewed. Type of Interview (personal,
  telephone, email, etc.). Date.

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Lecture

• Lewis, Amelia C. "Cisneros Discussion."
  University of West Georgia, Georgia. 22 May 1984.

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Titles

• You must have a title-it does underneath your
  header and is double spaced.
• Be creative with the title-have fun with it.
• Try to avoid lame vague titles (For example,
  Hitchcocks Psycho or Horror Films)

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The difference between an A, B, and C Paper

• A C paper does the following-
• Meets all minimum requirements
• Logically ordered and stays on theme
• A clear analytical thesis
• Provides elaboration and examples to support an
  argument
• Analysis and not plot summary
• Grammatical errors do not cause serious confusion

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B Paper

• All of the above characteristics as well as
• A sophisticated thesis
• A strong intro and conclusion
• Recognizes complexities with well thought out
  analysis
• Few errors with proper MLA documentation

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A Paper

• All of the above AND
• Shows persuasive logical development with the use
  of transitional ideas, words, and phrases.
• All points supported with well-analyzed examples
• Maintains a distinct voice with interesting and
  varied sentences with nearly error free writing.

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Questions/words to ask/use

• WHY is this character being used in this way? Is
  the author challenging commonly held literary
  beliefs or not? How is the device being used and
  why?
• If you feel like you are struggling with this,
  structuring your thesis in analytical terms will
  help-use words like literary device, transition,
  threshold, archetype, words from our handouts,
  area of social change or exploration, or
  ideology.

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Lack of Text or just personal opinion

• If you have an entire paragraph or thesis
  statement that never directly mentions Psycho
  and/or Robin Wood than you need to have it.
• Furthermore, you are not considered an
  authority-use the text to lend your paper
  authority.

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Vague

• Hitchcock uses various symbols to portray themes
  about women and society.
• VS
• Hitchcock uses the symbol of money to portray
  misogynistic undertones to American capitalist
  society with Marion as the simultaneous rebel and
  victim.

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Always go one step further in your thesis

• Hitchcock has many examples of male authority
  figures in the film. Hitchcock uses insert sign
  to portray insert signified
• This is C level analysis and necessary, but
  should not be the meat of your paper-why is
  this important? What greater themes does it
  involve? Why did Hitchcock do this?

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Connecting Quotations

• You must do this with every quotation. Every
  single last quotation.
• Treat it as a grammatical part of the sentence
• This is considered a major grammar mistake

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Connecting Quotations Continued

• Author shows/portrays/writes/reveals/illuminates/i
  nsert similar word that quote
• In the passage that states quote, rest of
  sentence
• Toomey becomes a child of god when he is
  singing.

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Continued

• Ron Rash illuminates the idea that landscape is
  destiny (34)
• In the passage that includes the speckled trout
  were the pretty ones, Rash displays the manner
  by which (rest of sentence)
• Child of god is the phrase Rash uses to
  characterize Toomey.

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In text citations

• Your basic in text citation should look like this
  (Rash 34).
• Carlton Toomey is a child of god (Rash 34).
• The punctuation goes at the END of the citation
  and the citation should always go at the very end
  of the sentence.

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Incorrect citations

• Carlton Toomey may be a child of god (Rash 34),
  but he is still evil.
• Carlton Toomey is a child of god (Rash PG 34)
• Any inclusion of anything else in the citation is
  incorrect-do not put PG, page, the full author
  name, date, or anything else. Just last name of
  author and the number of the page.
• Do the same for any other type of quotation
  (meaning your article quote should be done in the
  same manner-(author 34)

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Other potential ways to do it

• If you mention the author you do not have to
  mention them again in the citation. For example
• Ron Rash states that Carlton Toomey is a child
  of god (34).
• You do not have to restate the author name when
  its already stated in that same sentence

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Conclusions

• The best conclusions not only give a short
  summary of what you have already written
• Save the conclusion for the ultimate So what
  bringing together your conclusions about the
  entire paper as a whole (much like you did for
  each individual paragraph)

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• include a brief summary of the paper's main
  points.
• ask a provocative question.
• use a quotation.
• evoke a vivid image.
• call for some sort of action.
• end with a warning.
• universalize (compare to other situations).
• suggest results or consequences.

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Acceptable formats for me to open

• .doc
• .docx
• .rtf
• .txt
• BAD formats-.wps, .ogg (?)