Research Paper: The Final Touches

Formatting

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 so that the first word of the entry stands out. This is called hanging indentation.

Formatting

• Your last name should go on the far right corner of every sheet that follows with the page number. Example: Smith 8

• 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 (except long quotes–more details on this later.)

Example:

Dent 1

Stu Dent

E_ _ _ Smith

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…

In-text Citations

Introducing your sources

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

Anne Willis, literary critic, writes that “blah blah blah” (333).

Lorraine Hansberry, author of Raisin in the Sun, wrote the play based on her real life experience and shares that” blah, blah, blah” (41).Music:

“First Time” song

How do you cite your source* in the paper and how does this tie

into the Works Cited?

Your in-text citation will correspond with an entry in your Works Cited page

*Sources, including novels, plays, articles, online material, criticism, etc. may be referred to as either “work(s)” or text(s)”

A single author of one text

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

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

• With 3 authors it will be (Author1, Author2, and Author3 10).

• Beyond 3 authors, one may name them all, or name the first followed by the abbreviation for "and others" et al.  (Author1 et al.  10). 

Add arrows to ‘point’ at ands, commas, and et al

No author of one text

• Add in-text and works cited of authorless text

Two texts by the same author:

Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38), though he has acknowledged that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye Development" 17).

ADD WORKS CITED EXAMPLE WITH TWO WORKS BY SAME AUTHOR

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).

Whatcha talkin’ bout Willis?

ADD WORKS CITED EXAMPLE WITH TWO AUTHORS

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.

ADD Works Cited Example to show anthology so we can ask kids what they’d pull for the quote

Text found in an anthology or edited collection:

• Lawrence Rosenfield analyzes the way in which New York’s Central Park held a socializing function for nineteenth-century residents similar to that of traditional republican civic oratory (222).

Add Works Cited example for anthology

Formatting your quotes

…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).

Punctuating your quotes

Please notice that there is no punctuation inside the parenthesis, and the closing punctuation from the sentence is placed after the parenthesis.

• Add Examples of properly punctuated 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).

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 .

Whatcha need to know about 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).

Important: Don’t use more than a couple of long quotes in your paper.

In the event of a long quote–more than 4 lines–the writer must set it off by indenting 10 spaces. This will not need quotation marks.

Quotes and punctuation

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

According to Foulkes‘ study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).

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

Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there/ That's all I remember" (11-12).

Integrating your quotes

Clarity

Future use: If you mention an author's name in the text later, only give the page number in  the parenthesis.

Ex 1: If, in one paragraph, you include multiple quotes from the same author are continuing to quote from one author "She's a real Pre-Madonna" (152).

• EDIT DOWN. However, if you start quoting someone else for a while and then go back to someone you quoted at the beginning, make it clear in your transitions by using the author’s name again. i.e. Leder, however, suggests that while Madonna is considered…..

VarietyHere are three ways to include A parenthetical citation:

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

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

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

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).

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 each reader.

• example from page 374 of our textbook:– Past tense: Macbeth saw a dagger, which was either a

hallucination caused by sleep deprivation or an example of supernatural powers at work.

– Present tense: Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air, which is either a hallucination….

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

*Your teacher may have additional requirements.

So what’s the order?

Additional Info

Paragraph Tips

• Do not begin or end a paragraph with a quote unless it is the intro or conclusion

• Always introduce the quote in some way, as well as connect it to your topic sentence.

• Topic sentences should all connect to your thesis somehow.

• Every paragraph should have topic sentences• Every paragraph should transition smoothly

from paragraph to paragraph

Up for a challenge?Reprinted article: Hunt, Tim. "The Misreading of Kerouac." Review of Contemporary Fiction 3.2 (1983): 29-33. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. C. Riley. Vol. 61. Detroit: Gale, 1990. 308-10. Website:Author/Editor. Name of site. Date or last update. Name of any organization associated with this site. Access Date. <URL>.

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!)

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