Wednesday, January 12, 2011

MLA Bootcamp with Mr. Sirois

Today, you're going to take an article selected especially for you by Mr. Sirois, read it, and write a response using correct MLA formatting and citing.  Sounds exciting, huh?  Well, let's get started!

1.  The first thing you'll need to do is to actually read the article, highlighting or underlining significant words, phrases, or ideas you think you'll use in your paper.

2.  Start writing your response or at least brainstorming the points you want/need to cover.

3.  You can refer to the article(s) in a couple of ways: direct quotes or summarizing.

4.  Click on this link to see an example of using a direct quote in your paper. 

5.  If you use the author's name to introduce or end the quote, you do not need to include his or her name in the parentheses following the quote.  Here's an example. 


6.  If you summarize or paraphrase part of an article, book, Web site, etc., you still need to give credit.  In other words, even if you use your own words, but basically restate what you've read, you should cite the source.  Look here for an example.


7.  Here's another example of incorporating an author's ideas, but giving proper credit.

8.  When citing indirect sources (quotes from a source in another source), follow these guidelines from Purdue University's OWL Writing Lab:


"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).
Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source."

9.  Got it?  Now, to create your actual Bibliography or Works Cited page, go back to the EGRHS blog (egrhs.blogspot.com) and look over on the right hand side of the page for citation creator links.  This is what your Works cited entry will look like:
_______________________________________________________
Works Cited
"World History For Us All: Big Era 5." World History for Us All. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. .
_______________________________________________________