1) MLA format (including a Works Cited page & in-text citations).
2) Clear thesis at the end of the introduction.
3) Concise, clear topic sentences at the top of every paragraph.
(Can topic sentences be more than one sentence? Yes.)
4) You must incorporate at least two sources you have researched on your own.
5) In mentioning points from these sources in your essay, at least one point must be paraphrased.
6) Quotes must be correctly integrated.
7) For most of your body paragraphs (in any paragraph in which you are making a point with any depth), you must use A/B/C constructions. Please note that in this paper, the "B" might be a number of things--specific descriptions of the film, a point from a secondary source, a quote from "The Metamorphosis."
8) You must have a transitionial paragraph between the two sections of the paper.
9) You must use words/phrases that indicate similarity, or difference--compare/contrast.
http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm
http://jc-schools.net/write/transition.htm
Also...
*Your paper must be proofed & spell-checked. Nothing sloppy.
*Do not use any variation of "can be" in either thesis or topic sentences, ("it can be seen,"
"this can be related," etc.)
*Avoid the general "you."
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
How to do MLA formatting.
1) HOW DO I FORMAT MY PAPER?
Here are sample MLA pages (first page of your essay, a middle page, works cited page) with specifics about format, margins, heading for your paper, and where to put page numbers.
2) HOW DO I WRITE MY WORKS CITED ENTRIES?
Different kinds of resources require different kinds of entries. To learn how to do Works Cited entries, start here.
The most common kinds of entries are listed below, but if you don't see your kind of resource, please go to the link above.
Book:
Last name of author, first name. Title of Book. City of publication: name of publisher, year it was published.
Work in anthology:
Last name of author, first name. “Title of Article or Story.” Title of Anthology. Name of editor in anthology. City of publication: name of publisher, year it was published. Page numbers in which it appears.
An example:
Wilson, Anthony. “I Play Basketball.” A Collection of Stories About Basketball. Ed. Emanule Soto. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. 250-262.
Article from newspaper, accessed online: Last name of author, first name. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper. Date the article appeared. Date the article was accessed <link to the article>.
NOTE. Dates should be written in a very specific way: 6 Dec. 2010
Any month with more than five letters should be abbreviated into three letters.
HOW DO I DO IN-TEXT CITATIONS?
Newspapers accessed online, or online-only newspapers. According to the New York Times, Belgium forced Africans into slave-like labor, so that Belgium could make money from ivory and growing rubber trees in the Congo, and during that time Belgians committed all kinds of atrocities against Africans, like whipping them and cutting their hands off (Davies).
The most common kinds of entries are listed below, but if you don't see your kind of resource, please go to the link above.
Book:
Last name of author, first name. Title of Book. City of publication: name of publisher, year it was published.
Work in anthology:
Last name of author, first name. “Title of Article or Story.” Title of Anthology. Name of editor in anthology. City of publication: name of publisher, year it was published. Page numbers in which it appears.
An example:
Wilson, Anthony. “I Play Basketball.” A Collection of Stories About Basketball. Ed. Emanule Soto. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. 250-262.
Article from newspaper, accessed online: Last name of author, first name. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper. Date the article appeared. Date the article was accessed <link to the article>.
NOTE. Dates should be written in a very specific way: 6 Dec. 2010
Any month with more than five letters should be abbreviated into three letters.
HOW DO I DO IN-TEXT CITATIONS?
A: Go here for a list of how to do different kinds of in-text citations.
Some quick examples:
Books. When Marlow finally meets Kurtz, he describes him as a “gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out pre-eminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words,” but then he also describes his words as coming from “the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness” (Conrad 87).
Work in anthology. In the end, the narrator sees himself as a "creature driven and derided by vanity" (Joyce 105).
Some quick examples:
Books. When Marlow finally meets Kurtz, he describes him as a “gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out pre-eminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words,” but then he also describes his words as coming from “the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness” (Conrad 87).
Work in anthology. In the end, the narrator sees himself as a "creature driven and derided by vanity" (Joyce 105).
Newspapers accessed online, or online-only newspapers. According to the New York Times, Belgium forced Africans into slave-like labor, so that Belgium could make money from ivory and growing rubber trees in the Congo, and during that time Belgians committed all kinds of atrocities against Africans, like whipping them and cutting their hands off (Davies).
Sample Student Outline.
Below I've copied and pasted an outline written by a former student for a very similar paper. The student's final paper earned an "A."
***
Thesis: While the book Heart of Darkness and the film "Apocalypse Now" might seem similar, when one looks deeper, they are in fact very different.
Research source: Review from Washington Post of Apocalypse Now (will be using point about Kurtz from this review).
Second section--"differences"Topic sentence: While both involve a dangerous journey down a body of water, the time period and settings of the book and movie are very different.
Topic sentence: Heart of Darkness and "Apocalypse Now" are thematically different in many ways. For example, the book is more about capitalism, and what people will do to make money. The movie, however, is about war.
Research source: article in NYtimes. Will be using historical fact from article about how Belgium (book is set in area of Africa controlled by Belgium) made money from colonizing part of Africa.
Topic sentence: Also on the topic of theme, the Heart of Darkness seems very racist, while the movie does not. The Heart of Darkness suggests that Africans are savages and that anyone who spends time with them will also become savage. The movie, however, suggests that war is horrific and that anyone who spends too much time around war might become savage--and most of the people we see waging war in this movie are white Americans.
Research source: The Education of a British-Protected Child (book of essays) by Chinua Achebe. Will be paraphrasing from essay --- his interpretation of Heart of Darkness and how it is racist.
***
Thesis: While the book Heart of Darkness and the film "Apocalypse Now" might seem similar, when one looks deeper, they are in fact very different.
First section--"similarity" section
Topic sentence: Both the book and the movie involve a dangerous journey down a body of water, and in both, that journey is narrated by a similar character.
Topic sentence: The character of "Kurtz" is similar in each. In both the movie and book, Kurtz is a once "respectable" white man who has apparently gone crazy and disappeared into the jungle.
Topic sentence: Both the book and the movie involve a dangerous journey down a body of water, and in both, that journey is narrated by a similar character.
Topic sentence: The character of "Kurtz" is similar in each. In both the movie and book, Kurtz is a once "respectable" white man who has apparently gone crazy and disappeared into the jungle.
Research source: Review from Washington Post of Apocalypse Now (will be using point about Kurtz from this review).
Second section--"differences"
Topic sentence: Heart of Darkness and "Apocalypse Now" are thematically different in many ways. For example, the book is more about capitalism, and what people will do to make money. The movie, however, is about war.
Research source: article in NYtimes. Will be using historical fact from article about how Belgium (book is set in area of Africa controlled by Belgium) made money from colonizing part of Africa.
Topic sentence: Also on the topic of theme, the Heart of Darkness seems very racist, while the movie does not. The Heart of Darkness suggests that Africans are savages and that anyone who spends time with them will also become savage. The movie, however, suggests that war is horrific and that anyone who spends too much time around war might become savage--and most of the people we see waging war in this movie are white Americans.
Research source: The Education of a British-Protected Child (book of essays) by Chinua Achebe. Will be paraphrasing from essay --- his interpretation of Heart of Darkness and how it is racist.
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