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MLAMadeSimple

A Guide to MLA

Research and Citation

Table of Contents

The Research Process………………………………………………………….……3

Better Searches………………………………………………………………….……4

Evaluating Resources………………………………………………………….…….5

Writing Academic Essays…………………………………………………………...7

The Finer Points of the MLA Formatted Paper…………………………………10

Using Noodlebib to Keep Track of Sources……………….....………………..11

Creating a Works Cited: The Basic Page Set-up…………………………...... 12

Changes to MLA………….…………………………………………………………12

Citation for Print Sources……………………………………………………….....13

Citation for Non-Print Miscellaneous Sources…………………………………16

Citation for Online Sources……….………………………………………………17

Parenthetical Citations…………………………………………………………….19

Avoiding Plagiarism…...... ………………………………………21

Frequently Asked Questions About Plagiarism………………………………..22The Research Process

This brief guide is designed to help you think about your research process and evaluate the quality of materials that can be found either in print or online. Some of the points you need to consider before beginning your research process are:

  • What is your research question? (i.e. what is it you are looking for?).
  • What kind of information do you need?
  • What tools are you going to use to find this information? (i.e. the Internet, the school library)
  • How are you going to find this information? (i.e. if you are using Internet search engines, what keywords are you going to use?)
  • How much time are you going to spend researching? (i.e. you could go on forever finding information, but you shouldn't. What would be a reasonable time frame for finding the information you need?)
  • How are you going to evaluate your information? (i.e. when you are finished your research it is always useful to reflect on the process. What things worked, what things didn't, what would you do next time?).

Planning Your Search: Research Questions and Preliminary Information Gathering

Before even beginyour research, a key first step is deciding on what type of information you are looking for and brainstorming where you might find your answers. In the space below, list out at least four significant questions you would like to answer during your research process.

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

Whether you are using an online search or searching through the library’s collection of reference books, it's important to condense your research questions into clearly defined keywords. Keywords that are too general may return you hundreds of thousands of hits. In order to avoid being overloaded with information, think carefully about what you are searching for.

For example, a search on Google for the word “India" returned 448 million hits! But a search for "India and Hindu wedding traditions" returned only 630,000 hits. This is still a large number, but much more useful. You can see how carefully selecting your keywords will help to shorten the time you spend wading through useless information.

Think of all the possible terms you might use for your subject. List 5-9 keywords below:

1.______2.______3.______

4.______5.______6. .______

7.______8.______9.______

Each search engine uses a slightly different language to help you with your searches, so it is worth the time it takes to read the search guides each engine provides. There are many different search engines, and a great place to start is InfoPeople’s Best Search Tools page at .

Evaluating Resources

Finding the information you want is only the first step. There is a lot of material available, but not all of it is equally reliable and useful. As a researcher, a large part of your job is not simply to find information, but to make judgments about its merit. Before you use any material you have found, you need to spend some time evaluating it for accuracy and importance. Use the following questions as a guide.

Evaluating Internet resources is not that different from evaluating other kinds of resources. You will need to consider the following aspects of each web resource you are considering using: can you trust the site’s 1) authority, 2) currency, 3) author, and 4) bias.

Who put this information here?
The source of the material might give you a clue to its reliability. A site maintained by a university or government organization might be more reliable than one maintained by a private citizen.

  • Many web site addresses include the name and type of organization sponsoring the webpage. The 3-letter domain codes and 2-letter country codes provide hints on the type of organization. Common domain codes are:

Domain / Sample Address
.edu = educational institution / edu
.gov = US government site / gov
.org = organization or association / org
.com = commercial site / com
.museum = museum / museum
.net = personal or other site / net

How old is the material?
Sometimes the age of information matters. If you need current statistics then check the age of the material you have found. As a rule of thumb, in most fields anything more than five years old is probably out-dated. But a site which deals with historical information may not need updating as frequently as one which is all about the latest political events. Just because information isn't regularly changed doesn't mean you shouldn't use it, but you need to be aware that your information is not necessarily the most recent.

Who wrote the information? Who is responsible for this information being here?
The status of the writer is often of considerable importance in deciding the reliability of information. You can probably assume that material written or otherwise provided by a known expert in the field is likely to be reliable. Just because you have never heard of the author of the page doesn't mean that the information is inaccurate or unreliable, but it does mean that you can't take it at face value. You might have to do some cross-checking, either elsewhere on the net, or with books or articles.

  • Who is responsible for the website? Check for an Author
    Look for the name of the author or organization responsible for the page. Look for the following information:
  • Credentials -- who is the author or organization and what sort of qualifications do they have?
  • Contact address -- is an email or some other contact information given?
  • "About" link -- is there an "about," "background," or "philosophy" link that provides author or organizational information?

Why is this material here?
Who put the material on the Internet and why? Think about whether they might have some reason other than pure helpfulness for posting information. Many special interest groups have web pages, and while this doesn't necessarily mean the material is biased, it is something you need to think about. All sorts of groups now have web pages on the Internet, and obviously all of them have a message they are trying to get across. Think about what is being said, and why the material is there.

  • Is there a clear purpose or reason for this site?
    Websites can be created for a variety of purposes: to disseminate information, provide access to collections, support teaching, sell products, persuade, etc. Discovering the purpose can help determine the reliability of the site and the information it provides. Some pages explicitly state their purpose, others do not. To find information about the purpose:
  • Check for an "about" link -- these links often provide some information about the purpose of the site.
  • Find the homepage for the site -- sometimes the home page includes the "about" link or other clues on the purpose of the organization sponsoring the site.
  • Look for an agenda -- are documents slanted in some way to persuade you? If the purpose of the website is to persuade, you should examine the material very closely before accepting it as fact.

Can I do a cross check?
Think about ways you might cross check the information you have found. You might have a look at another site with similar material, ask somebody who knows something about the topic, have a look at a book on the subject. Use your own experience as well. If you have already done some research in the area, you will already have some knowledge of the subject. How does this material fit in with what you already know?

Plagiarism & CitingResources

What is Citing?

Citing simply means that you indicate which material is not your own and show where you got it from. Even if you have not used someone's exact words, but have rephrased their ideas, you need to give credit your sources. The idea is that someone else reading your work should be able to recognize the difference between your work and someone else's. You need to provide them with enough information about your sources that they could find the source for themselves.

In order to cite words correctly, you must keep track of where you found information. Every time you photocopy information from a book, print out pages from a website, take notes from a magazine, you should be writing down all the bibliographical information of each source.

There are two levels to MLA citation style: the works cited page and parenthetical citations. Use the following pages to help you keep track of the bibliographical information for your works cited. More information on plagiarism and parenthetical citations follows the section on creating a Works Cited.

Writing Academic Essays

INTRODUCTIONS:

  1. Begin with a hook statement. A hook statement catches the reader’s attention. Try beginning with one of these:
  2. A startling statistic
  3. An interesting quotation
  4. An allusion to tie your ideas to a larger and important literary or historical event
  5. An anecdote
  6. Overview or background of what you plan on discussing in your essay
  7. Thesis statement states your position on a limited topic. Thesis = Topic + Position + Reasons
  8. Transition smoothly into your first paragraph

THESIS STATEMENT

  • The thesis statement is the main idea of your entire paper
  • Expresses your position in a full, declarative sentence
  • Controls the focus of your entire paper
  • Points forward to the conclusion
  • Conforms to your reasons, examples, and evidence brought up later in your essay

A WORKING THREE PART THESIS:

  1. Clarify a limited topic. Topics that are too broad or too general are difficult to support well.
  2. Take a clear position. Your position is the stance or way that you understand your topic.
  3. Clarify basic rationale. It is not enough just to take a stance on a topic. Good thesis statements always begin to explain why, giving the reader a preview of the essay to come. Good thesis statements give reasons.

Example thesis formats:

Although ______, Topic + Position + because ______.

Although discrimination against India’s achuta class is technically illegal, discrimination and prejudice continues to impede the daily lives of the “Untouchables” in Hindu states because of a lack of governmental support.

Since ______Topic, Position + Solutions ______.

Since the achuta class of people in India continue to be discriminated against despite laws declaring otherwise, more money and time must be spent on better educating both the “Untouchable” people as well as the general public.

Avoiding Mistakes in Your Introduction

  • Avoid a purpose statement, such as “The purpose of this…”, “Now I shall prove…”, “In this paragraph, I will tell you…”
  • Avoid repetition of the title or the text if already mentioned earlier in the introduction
  • Avoid complex or difficult questions that may puzzle your reader
  • Avoid simple definitions – EXPLAIN

Perdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) has some great

tips for writing a research thesis statement. Find them online

at

BODY PARAGRAPHS:

  1. A group of sentences that present and develop one main idea about a topic
  2. The body paragraphs must support the thesis
  3. Develop and support the thesis through well-developed detail sentences.

Supporting Detail Sentences

  1. A paragraph with only one or two supporting details is NOT EFFECTIVE
  2. At least THREE details are needed to provide strong support for the main idea:

descriptions definitions elaborationexamples exploration

  1. To support your thesis, you will need to use:
  • Direct quotations from scholarly sources
  • Paraphrases of information from reputable sources
  • Statistics from reliable studies
  • Key terms and dates
  1. Give credit to the original source of the information by usingparenthetical citations.

Direct Quotations:

When using direct quotations, it is NOT enough just to add in a quotation. You MUST explain:

1)Who you are quoting (or paraphrasing). Why should your readers believe him or her? Give the source’s credentials. Is he or she a scientist or a philosopher? When and what did he or she write that you are quoting from?

2)Explain the significance of the quotation. What does this particular quote prove? Quotations should support your point, not make it for you.

3)Give credit to the original source. Be sure to use correct MLA parenthetical citations.

Smooth Transition Sentences

  • Transition sentences act as a bridge from one part of your essay to the next.
  • The transition sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph, and it should

1)Sum up you just discussed in the paragraph

2)Signal the change into the next paragraph

  • Try starting your transition sentence with one of these transitional words or phrases:
  • Equally important
  • For the same reason
  • Previously
  • In addition to
  • In fact
  • As stated earlier
  • Whereas
  • In any case
  • Therefore
  • On the other hand
  • However
  • Compared to
  • Although it may be true
  • Nevertheless
  • In spite of

CONCLUSIONS:

  1. Restate the thesis in different words
  2. Go BEYOND the thesis by stating something worthwhile:

reach a judgment endorse an issue discuss findingsoffer directives

  1. End with a clincher, a strong statement that will help the reader remember your essay. Leave the reader with a thought provoking statement.

Avoiding Mistakes in Your Conclusion

  • Avoid presenting new ideas
  • Avoid stopping at an awkward spot or trailing off into meaningless or irrelevant information
  • Avoid questions that raise new issues

GOOD ESSAYS WILL…

  1. not use 1st or 2nd person pronouns. Do not refer directly to yourself or to the reader.
  2. not use contractions. Spell out all contractions – couldn’t must be could not.
  3. begin with creative titles to capture the reader’s attention.
  4. avoid clichéd language.
  5. eliminate repetition and redundancy.
  6. correctly cite all sources using MLA parenthetical citations and a works cited page.
  7. be thoroughly self-revised before ever being shown to an audience. When an author takes the time to both edit (proofread for grammar, spelling, and mechanical problems) and revise (proofread for content, organization, and style issues), it shows that the author cares about the subject matter. An essay that is turned in when it contains obvious mechanical and content problems discredits the author.
  8. attend to MLA style format – 1” margins, headers, spacing, etc.

JUST FOR FUN…

HOW TO WRITE GOOD

by Frank L. Visco

My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

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  1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
  4. Employ the vernacular.
  5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
  6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
  7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  8. Contractions aren't necessary.
  9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
  10. One should never generalize.
  11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
  12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
  13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
  14. Profanity sucks.
  15. Be more or less specific.
  16. Understatement is always best.
  17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
  18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
  19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
  20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
  21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
  22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
  23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

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The Finer Points of the MLA Formatted Paper

THE SET-UP

  1. Everything is double spaced
  2. In Word, select the “File” option from the main menu, then choose “Page Setup” to change the margins to 1” at top/bottom and right/left
  3. Use 11 or 12 pt. font, either Times New Roman or Arial. No other font type is acceptable
  4. No extra space between paragraphs

FIRST PAGE

  1. Headersgo in the upper right corner of every page – your last name and the page number (ex. Obenski 2). To add headers in Google Docs, selecting “Insert” from the main menu, then choose “Page Numbers.” Add the page number at the “Top of Page” and type your last name before the number.
  2. Title: The title is centered

 Do not underline, italicize, or bold your title

 Do not put quotation marks around your entire title

 Do not put an extra space between your title and the

opening paragraph of your paper

EXPOSITORY WRITING STYLE

  1. Do not use contractions
  2. Do not use first person pronouns (I, me, my, myself, you, we, us, etc.)
  3. Italicize the titles of books, movies, newspapers, CDs (do NOT underline)
  4. Quotation marks around short stories, poems, songs
  5. Write out all numbers under 10
  6. Do not start out a sentence with a number (Wrong → 53 percent of all... Right → Fifty-three percent of all…)
  7. Do not use symbols in formal writing, with the exception of the $. Write out #, @, %, &, etc.

Using Noodlebib to Keep Track of Sources

You will be using your school Noodlebib account to keep track of the bibliographical information for each of your research sources. You can login to your account from the school’s library page.