MLA Review

1. MLA Review Survey of Literature

2. What is an in-text citation? • Documentation inside the paper

3. What are the five reasons for in-text citations? • 1. Quoting • 2. Summarizing • 3. Paraphrasing • 4. Statistics, percentage • 5. Visual aid (graphs, illustrations, images)

4. What are the five criteria to use a quote? • 1. Vivid, expressive language • 2. Credibility • 3. Present the author in his/her own voice • 4. Jargon (technical language) • 5. Translation (originally written in a foreign language)

5. What is the main difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? • Paraphrasing is when you put the author’s words in your own words; however, you closely follow the sentence structure. • Hence, if the passage you are paraphrasing is four lines, then your paraphrase is approximately four lines. • Summarizing is condensing the passage in your own words. You can use as many or as little words as you need.

6. What is an ellipsis? And what does it look like? • Ellipsis is used to shorten a quote passage. • To use an ellipsis, you put three periods with a space between. It looks like this: . . .

7. What should you be aware of when using an ellipsis? • You must not distort the quote. Also you must make sure that the quote remains grammatically and logically coherent.

8. Do you ever use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quote? Explain why or why not • You never use an ellipsis at the beginning of the quote (though you do use it in the middle and at the end if you are omitting words in that sentence) because the reader assumes that you are merging your words with the author you are quoting. • Example: Poverty is indeed “a devastating and debilitating disease . . .” (Emerson 19).

9. If you are omitting an entire sentence or sentences from the quote, how many periods should you have? • Four: one period to indicate that the sentence ended and three periods for the ellipsis • Example. Ramona claims that “men and women live in different spheres. . . . In the female sphere, women communicate openly about their emotions, and in the male sphere, men communicate through silence (12).

10. What are brackets? What do they look like? • Brackets look like this: [ ] • Brackets are used for you to add in your own words inside a quote to help clarify a word or concept • Example • Feminist writer Mary Daly contends, “Minoan society [matriarchal culture] celebrated and worshipped nature and the female body” (345).

11. What do you put in brackets when the passage you are quoting from is grammatically incorrect? • [sic] or [the correct answer] • Example • Ramona disputes that “U.S. is not ready to elect their [sic] first female president” (219). • Or • Ramona disputes that “U.S. is not ready to elect their [its] first female president” (219).

12. What is a signal phrase? • A signal phrase introduces the source. • Example • Writer Peter Patterson contends, “ ” ( ). • “ ,” writer Peter Patterson contends. “ ” ( ). • “ ,” contends writer Peter Patterson.

13. What do you provide the very first time you introduce the author to the reader? • The full name (first and last name) and a description of the person pertaining to his/her scholarship. • Example • Movie critic David Edelstein argues

14. Once you introduced the author to the reader, how then do you refer to the author in the rest of your paper? • By the author’s last name only. Do not use Dr., Ms. or Mr. • Example • Edelstein asserts

15. If you have a signal phrase, what goes in the parenthetical citation? According to feministscholar Pat Campbell, “Motherhood is a powerful act” ( ). • The page number only. If the page number is not given, then provide the paragraph number or section number • According to feminist scholar Pat Campbell, “Motherhood is a powerful act” (35).

16. Do you ever write out p. or pg. or page in the parenthetical citation? • Examples: • (p. 12) • (pg. 12) • (page 12)

17. NO! Only the page number • Example (12) • If it is a paragraph number, you write (par. 12) • If it is a section number, you write (sec. 12)

18. If you do not have a signal phrase and you do know that name of the author, what do you put in your parenthetical citation? • “MLA documentation drives students nuts!” ( ).

19. The author‟s last name and page number (or paragraph or section number if the page number is not provided) • Example “MLA documentation drives students nuts!” (McKinney, par. 3). • Notice that there is a comma after the author’s name when you use par. or sec. • But for a page number, there is no comma: (Mckinney 34).

20. What do you put in the parenthetical citation when you do not have a signal phrase and the author is unknown? • “MLA documentation is tedious” ( ). • This quote is from the article “Should Students Learn MLA?”

21. The first main word of the title and page number (or par. / sec.) • “MLA documentation is tedious” (“Should” 2). • Notice that because the first main word comes from an article that is in quotation marks, you must keep the quotation mark intact

22. Can you ever have a double quote within a double quote? • Johnson contends, “The policy makers are not “consistent” with their stance on global warming” (19).

23. NO! You can never have a double quote within a double quote. The quote inside must turn into a single quote • Example • Johnson contends, “The policy makers are • not ‘consistent’ with their stance on global • warming” (19).

24. What does (qtd. in Harrelson, par. 2) mean? • Singer Brittany Spears asserts, “I am getting an unfair treatment from the media who is treating me as a crazy woman” (qtd. in Harrelson, par. 2).

25. qtd. is an abbreviation that means quoted from. It is used when the source quoted was mentioned in the text you read. • Singer Brittany Spears asserts, “I am getting an unfair treatment from the media who is treating me as a crazy woman” (qtd. in Harrelson, par. 2). • Thus, Brittany Spears was quoted in Harrelson’s article, which you read.

26. What is a long quote for prose (not poetry)? • More than four lines (5 or more)

27. What must you do for long quotes? YOU MUST BLOCK QUOTE! • 1. Drop the quotation marks • 2. Indent two tabs (an inch) • 3. Keep in double space • 4. Period goes before the parenthetical citation • 5. Make sure you introduce Block quote with a colon

28. Example of a long quote Education specialist Barb Walker writes: Student feel left out of the system. They do not understand why they must endlessly take exams. They are always bored and feel that they are not being challenged. This is a real crisis that educators must be aware of. (12)

29. What is a long quote for poetry? • More than three lines

30. How do you use quotations for poetry? That is, how would you quote the first two lines of Frost‟s poem “Fire and Ice”? Some say the world will end in fire. Some say in ice.

31. Poet Robert Frost writes, Some say the world will end in fire. / Some say in ice (1-2). Note: the line numbers of the poem are put in parenthetical citation

32. Useful Sites • http://easybib.org/ • http://citationmachine.net/index2.php • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ • MLA Template is on the homework website. • PPT adapted from: http://www.lssc.edu

33. Presentation Rules • Paragraphs on slides are not allowed • Use only short and concise details • Images should correlate with topic • Do not read from each slide, so • Plan, Prepare, Practice, Present • Know your location, use font large enough for back row • Use a uniform template on each slide • Project your voice • Face your audience, not the slides