HOW TO SAVE YOUR DRAFT

Research Paper: The Final Touches

Formatting

Don’t you Format Incorrectly

Formatting the Works Cited• You must provide complete citation

information in correct MLA form for all sources from which you borrow material.

• Start your Works Cited list on a new page, and number it as though it were a page in your paper.

• Arrange entries alphabetically by the authors' last names. If no author is provided for any source, use the title to alphabetize.

• After the first line of an entry, indent five spaces (one tab space) so that the first word of the entry stands out. This is called a hanging indentation.

•Note double spacing between all lines, but no extra space between sources.

Smith 12

1/2”

Works Cited

1”

1” 1”Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: The Random

House Publishing Group, 1981.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo & Juliet. Eds. Kylene Beers

and Lee Odell. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005,

798-910.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1884.

10th ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.

1 1/2”

Formatting your paper

• Your last name should go on the far right corner of every sheet that follows with the page number. This is called a header.

• Each page should have a one-inch margin (not 1 1/2 or 2 inches).

• Page 1 and all subsequent pages will have the author's last name and the page number as a header 1/2 inch from the top of the paper. The actual text will begin at the 1 inch margin.

• Use 10 or 12 point type and a standard font such as Times New Roman.

• Type on only one side of the page and double space all text.

Your last name 1

Your full name

Course/Teacher/Period

Assignment Title

Date

Centered Title

Then begin writing your paper with a

wonderful attention getter and great

introduction to your wonderful 7-10 page

paper. Everything is written in Times New

Roman size 12, and everything is double

Spaced with a 1” margin all around.

Double space between each line evenly—no “double double” spaces.

header

What your first page

should look like…no title page needed.

1”

In-text Citations

(Talking ‘bout ) My Citation

In-text citation will correspond with an entry in the Works Cited page.

A single author of one text

• Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

Notice how the in-text citation above corresponds with the details included in the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on

Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: University of

California P, 1966.

Multiple authors of one text• In the event the quote comes from a book with two

authors, list both in parenthesis like this (Author1 and Author2 10).

• With three authors it will be (Author1, Author2, and Author3 10).

• Beyond three authors, one may name them all, or name the first followed by et al, the abbreviation for "and others"  (Author1 et al.  10). 

Notice when the word “and” is used, as well as commas and “et al.”

No author of one text

Like Illinois, “Indiana makes much of its state income through farming and exporting of corn” (“Farming” 36).

“Farming.” Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset,

1993. 35-37.

Two texts by the same author:

Twain states that “neither she nor her friends will doubt that she is doing the best she can for man and God” (“The New” 384), but he also contends that “[w]e deal in a curious and laughable confusion of notions concerning God” (“Reflections” 333).

Twain, Mark. “Reflections on Religion.” The Hudson

Review. 16.3 (1963): 329-352.

- - -. “The New Dynasty.” The New England Quarterly.

30.3 (1957): 383-388.

Note that the second time the name is listed, it’s three dashes (followed by a period) instead of the name repeated.

Two texts by the same author:

• Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, you would format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, followed, when appropriate, by page numbers:

People “deal in a curious and laughable confusion of notions concerning God” (Twain, “Reflections” 333).

Two authors -- of different texts --with the same last name:

Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer children (R. Miller 12), others note that the advantages for medical research outweigh this consideration (A. Miller 46).

Miller, Allen. Clone This. Denver: MacMurray, 1999.

Miller, Roger. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York:

Penguin Books, 1987.

R.Anderson G. Anderson

A tricky one

Text found in an anthology or edited collection:

For an essay, short story, or other document included in an anthology or edited collection, use the name of the author of the text, not the editor of the anthology or collection, but use the page numbers from the anthology or collection.

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's

Guide: Helping Writers One to One. Ed. Ben Rafoth. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann, 2000. 24-34.

Text found in an anthology or edited collection:

• Murriel Harris analyzes the way in which teachers can assist students as they move from high school to college (24).

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers."

A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One. Ed.

Ben Rafoth. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. 24-34.

Text that cites another author (Citing Indirect Sources)

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted.

For example:Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Text found in a Shakespearean play

• Like many men , Hamlet infamously wonders, “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare 2.1.5-12)

Act scene line

Use Arabic numbers unless a teacher asks specifically for Roman numerals.

*Note that each is separated by a period, no space.

Formatting your quotes

Good Citations

Introducing your sources The first time you cite a source, tell us who it is and why he/she is credible…

Mark Twain, satirist and author of Huckleberry Finn, shares that “blah, blah, blah” (41).

In “A Hard Book to Take,” literary critic James M. Cox discusses the role of Jim in Huckleberry Finn, arguing that “blah, blah, blah” (333).

Notice that you do not need to repeat the author’s last name if it’s mentioned in the sentence.

End-punctuation and your quotesPlease notice that there is no end-punctuation inside the

parenthesis, and the closing punctuation from the sentence is placed after the parenthesis.

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck contemplates prayer, explaining that “Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn't so. I tried it. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn't any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't make it work” (Twain 14).

No end punctuation Period

End-punctuation: The exception to the rule

When a quote ends in a question mark or exclamation point, you DO use that end punctuation and a period after the parenthesis

“I said I reckoned I would slip over the river and find out what was going on. Jim liked that notion; but he said I must go in the dark and look sharp. Then he studied it over and said, couldn't I put on some of them old things and dress up like a girl?” (Twain 73).

Note that question mark is in quotation marks

Period

Quote-within-a-quote

 Tom Sawyer asks Ben Rogers, “‘Don't you reckon that the people that made the books knows what's the correct thing to do? Do you reckon you can learn 'em anything? Not by a good deal. No, sir, we'll just go on and ransom them in the regular way’” (Twain 12).

In the event there is a quote inside your quote, use a single quotation

mark for the interior quote, but keep the double exterior quotation

marks to show entire excerpt .

Note the single quote within the double quotes

Quote-within-a-quote

• A teacher read this to her students, “‘If you subscribe to the summer Weekly Reader, you will receive ten issues.’ One of her students waited all summer for a pair of tennis shoes’’(Lederer 147).  

Note that the single quote is used when the dialogue inside your borrowed passage starts and ends.

Long Quotes

Laughter is also an elixir for the mind. Tests administered by Swedish psychologist Lars Ljungdahl before and after humor

therapy reveal a reduction of stress and depression and a

heightened sense of mental well being and creativity.(Lederer 10)

In the event of a long quote–more than 4 lines–the writer must set it off by indenting 1 inch, or two tabs. This will not need quotation marks, but it should remain double spaced.

Note that with long quotes, the period falls BEFORE the parenthesis.

Indent 1 inch

Quoting a Poem (or Shakespearean piece)

Excerpt of “Incident” by Countee CullenI saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December; Of all the things that happened there That's all that I remember.

Quoting PoemCullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened

there/ That's all I remember" (11-12).

Put a backslash to identify the end of the line of poetry

Taking Words Out…Periods of Ellipses

In the event one doesn't wish to use a whole quote, one may use an ellipsis (...) to indicate that text is missing.

Example:In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale... and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

Adding Words to Quotations: [Use Brackets]

• If you add a word or words in a quotation, you

should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text.

• Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).

Variations on PunctuationWhen your sentence doesn’t end with the citation…

According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.

If the question mark is your own, and not the text’s…

Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?

Integrating your quotes

You can Quote if you Want to

VarietyHere are three ways to include a parenthetical citation:

Wordsworth states that Romantic poetry is marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

Wordsworth extensively explores the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Historical Present Tense• When writing a literary analysis paper, use the

present tense to describe events that occur in your book. The logic is that every time someone reads a piece of literature, it is a new experience for the reader.

• Consider this:– Past tense: Macbeth saw a dagger, which was either a

hallucination …– Present tense: Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the

air, which is either a hallucination….

Additional Info

Before you cheat

Plagiarism includes the following:• not citing sources of information or ideas I used that belong

to someone else• summarizing ideas or information that belong to someone

else and failing to cite the original source• not putting quotation marks around words that are not mine

even though I cite the source• quoting material but failing to cite the source• getting a paper or part of a paper off the internet and

claiming it is my own• getting a paper or part of a paper from another student and

claiming it is my own

Why cite your sources?(So you don’t plagiarize!)

1st page of Paper (page 1)Works cited page (page?)

*Your teacher may have additional requirements, like a title page.

So what’s the order?

Paragraph Tips

• Each paragraph’s topic sentence should connect to –and help prove—your thesis.

• Every paragraph should transition smoothly from one to the next.

• Some teachers may stress opening or concluding a body paragraph with your own words. Placing a quote at the beginning or end of a paragraph (that is not your intro or conclusion) may not communicate your paragraph’s main idea or sub-argument.

Now you know everything you need to write a great paper.

Don’t Stop Proofreading!

Works Cited

Romano, Tony and Gary Anderson. Expository

Composition: Discovering Your Voice. St. Paul,

MN: EMC, 2008.

The Purdue OWL. 26 Aug. 2008. The Writing Lab

and OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. 23

April 2008 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.

Art gathered from…

• http://gratefulweb.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/02/shakespeare.jpghttp://universityblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/rubix-cube-solved-photo-by-mehere-468027_91178037.jpg

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pro.corbis.com/images/CB021984.jpg%3Fsize%3D572%26uid%3D%257B9387ABCB-8BC6-4796-A6A9-026D11D23841%257D&imgrefurl=http://pro.corbis.com/search/Enlargement.aspx%3FCID%3Disg%26mediauid%3D9387ABCB-8BC6-4796-A6A9-026D11D23841&h=400&w=267&sz=40&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=IC0YxA2k9QXBWM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dman%2Bholding%2Btwo%2Bphones%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLD

• http://www.chocosho.com/admin/images/380x285/80177_1_punctuation_pagemarks_b.jpghttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.randygregory.org/images/104.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.randygregory.org/%3Fpg%3D2&h=131&w=600&sz=9&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=22TfFRnofV5hxM:&tbnh=29&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dperiods%2Bof%2Belipses%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLD

• http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/MLA.htm