___ 1. Choose a topic
___ 2. Begin preliminary reading
___ 3. Restrict the subject
___ 4. Develop a preliminary thesis statement
___ 1. Compile the working bibliography
___ 2. Prepare the bibliography on cards in
correct form (3" x 5" cards)
___ 3. Begin work in the library;:
___ a. general bibliographies
___ b. indexes (books and collections,
literature in periodicals, newspaper indexes, pamphlet indexes)
___ 1. Develop a preliminary outline
___ 2. Evaluate your source material; which is
primary material and which is secondary material?
___ 3. Begin note-taking on cards (4" x
6" cards)
___ 4. Avoid plagiarism
___ 1. Develop the final outline;
___ 2. Prepare to write:
___ a.
Put your note cards in the order that your outline is in
___ b. consider your (real and imagined)
readers and how their expectations may affect your tone and style
___ 3. Write the rough draft
___ 4. Check your documentation carefully
___ 5. Revise and rewrite
___ 6. Check the format of the text, citations, notes, and bibliography
____7.
Proofread
Author(s). Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of
Publication.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999.
(After
the first listing of the author's name, use three hyphens and a period for the
author's name. List books alphabetically.)
Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York:
St. Martin's, 1997.
---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide
to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000.
Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993.
"Cigarette Sales Fall 30% as California Tax Rises." New York Times
Peterson, Nancy J., ed. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's
Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Pages.
Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers."
A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One. Ed. Ben Rafoth.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. 24-34.
"Jamaica." Encyclopedia Britannica. 1999 ed.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Source Day Month Year:
pages.
N.B.
When citing the date, list day before month; use a three-letter abbreviation of
the month (e.g. Jan., Mar., Aug.). If there is more than one edition available
for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the
edition following the date (e.g. 17 May 1987, late ed.).
Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71.
Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent
5 Dec. 2000: 20.
Basic Forms for Electronic Sources
If no author is given for a web page or
electronic source, start with and alphabetize by the title of the piece and use
a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.
It is necessary to list your date of access
because web postings are often updated, and information available at one date
may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address
for the site. Also, note the use of angled brackets around the electronic
address; MLA requires them for clarity.
Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization
affiliated with the site. Date of Access <electronic address>.
Felluga, Dino. Undergraduate Guide to Literary Theory. 17 Dec. 1999. Purdue University.
15 Nov. 2000 <http://omni.cc.purdue.edu%7Efelluga/theory2.html>.
N.B.
It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often
updated, and information available at one date may no longer be available later.
Be sure to include the complete address for the site. Also, note the use
of angled brackets around the electronic address; MLA requires them for clarity.
Author(s)."Article Title." Name of web site. Date of posting/revision. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with site. Date of access <electronic address>.
Poland, Dave. "The Hot Button." Roughcut. 26 Oct. 1998. Turner Network Television.
28 Oct. 1998 <http://www.roughcut.com>.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue
(Year): Pages/Paragraphs. Date of Access <electronic
address>.
N.B.
Some electronic journals and magazines provide paragraph or page numbers;
include them if available. This format is also appropriate to online magazines;
as with a print version, you should provide a complete publication date rather
than volume and issue number.
Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases 6.6 (2000):
33 pars. 5 Dec. 2000 <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/wheelis.htm>.
Reed, William. "Whites and the Entertainment Industry."
Tennessee Tribune 25 Dec. 1996: 28. Ethnic
NewsWatch. CD-ROM. Data Technologies. Feb. 1997.
Handling Quotations
In Your Text
MLA format follows the author-page method of
citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s)
from which the quotation is taken must appear in the text, and a complete
reference should appear in your works-cited list (see Your Works Cited Page,
below). The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in
parentheses following the quotation, but the page number(s) should always appear
in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence.
Examples:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelingsÓ (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelingsÓ (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
For nonprint (films, TV series, etc.) or
electronic sources, try to include the name that begins the entry in the Works
Cited page.
Sometimes you may have to use an indirect
quotation, that is, a quotation that you found in another source that was
quoting from the original. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in"
to indicate the source:
Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and
they don't do that well" (qtd.in Weisman 259).
Sometimes more information is necessary to
identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or
more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or
even her or his full name if different authors share initials) in your citation.
If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title
for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the
other works by that same person.
1.
evaluative bibliographic comments, for example:
1 See Blackmur, especially chapters three and four, for an insightful
analysis of this trend.
2 On the problems related to repressed memory recovery, see Wollens pp. 120-
35; for a contrasting view, see Pyle.
2. occasional explanatory notes or other brief
additional information that would seem digressive if included in the main text
but might be interesting to readers, for example:
3 In a 1998 interview, she reiterated this point even more strongly: "I am an
artist, not a politician!" (Weller 124).
|
Show
you have done your research |
---But---
|
Write
something new and original |
|
Appeal
to experts and authorities |
---But---
|
Improve
upon, or disagree with experts and authorities |
|
Improve
your English by mimicking what you hear and read |
---But---
|
Use
your own words, your own voice |
|
Give
credit where credit is due |
---But---
|
Make
your own significant contribution
|
Since teachers and administrators may not
distinguish between deliberate and accidental plagiarism, the heart of avoiding
plagiarism is to make sure you give credit where it is due. This may be credit
for something somebody said, wrote, emailed, drew, or implied.
|
Need
to Document |
No
Need to Document |
|
·
When you are using or
referring to somebody else’s words or ideas from a magazine, book,
newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web page, computer program, letter,
advertisement, or any other medium ·
When you use information
gained through interviewing another person ·
When you copy the exact words
or a "unique phrase" from somewhere ·
When you reprint any diagrams,
illustrations, charts, and pictures ·
When you use ideas that others
have given you in conversations or over email |
·
When you are writing your own
experiences, your own observations, your own insights, your own thoughts,
your own conclusions about a subject ·
When you are using "common
knowledge" — folklore, common sense observations, shared
information within your field of study or cultural group ·
When you are compiling
generally accepted facts ·
When you are writing up your
own experimental results |
|
|
Action during the writing process
|
Appearance on the finished product
|
|
When researching, note-taking, and
interviewing |
|
Proofread and check with your notes (or
photocopies of sources) to make sure that anything taken from your
notes is acknowledged in some combination of the ways listed below:
|
|
When paraphrasing and summarizing
|
|
|
|
When quoting directly
|
|
|
|
When quoting indirectly
|
|
|
Material is probably common knowledge if . .
.
·
You find the same information
undocumented in at least five other sources
·
You think it is information that
your readers will already know
·
You think a person could easily find
the information with general reference sources
Microcomputer
Programs and the Process of Writing
I. Major
Steps in the Writing Process
A. Organizing
B. Writing the first draft
C. Evaluating
D. Revising
II.
Writing Programs for the Microcomputer
A. Types
of Programs and Their Relationship to the Writing Process
1.
Thought
a. Use in organizing
b. Use in revising
2. Word
Processors
a. Use in writing the first draft
b. Use in revising
3.
Analytical programs: grammar, style, spelling
a. Use in evaluating
b. Use in revising
B.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Computer Writing Programs
1.
Positive features
a. Less time spent on repetitive or mechanical writing
tasks
b. Greater flexibility and versatility in writing process
c. Increased revision strategies
d. Specific learning possibilities
2.
Negative features
a. The increased time spent on learning software programs
and computers
b. The availability of hardware and software
c. The unrealistic expectations of users
1) A cure-all for writing problems
2) A way to avoid learning correct grammar/syntax/spelling
3) A method to reduce time spent on writing proficiently
4) A simple process to learn and execute
C. Future
Possibilities of Computer Programs for Writing
1. Rapid change
2. Improved programs
3. Increased use and availability
4. More realistic assessment of value - critical work
Selecting a topic is one of
the most important and sometimes the most difficult part of the research
process. A research topic should: