mla rules and guidance

Researching the MLA paper - SQ3R is your friend. Really.
SURVEY What do you know about the topic?
QUESTION What do you need to know about the topic to complete the paper?
RULE #2: “YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO BE LAZY”
Remember, this means that you are not writing a book. You are writing about a single defined aspect of this topic. This has nothing to do with procrastination or a half-hearted attempt at writing a paper. That stuff is anathema.
READ Now find your research material and create either an acceptable amount of handwritten research.
WHAT ARE SOME GOOD WEBSITES TO USE?
Sites that end in .edu or .gov are as absolute and perfect as they come. If your site is a .org, that means it could be good (if you know the organization), but it might be not so good if it belongs to people who are just looking to push their bizarre nature onto other people (http://www.rael.org/)
Also, for most research papers, you should be careful that you don’t use sites that are commercial (for instance, sell steroids). There are many sites like this online. Stick with the above the boards stuff.
MLA DOCUMENTATION All research (except common knowledge) is cited. Your paper is cited in MLA. While APA is also a way to cite, it’s not what we’re doing here. Don’t ask me what CMS is. I’ve never used. You most likely won’t either.
You can get directions in your Worsmith or you can go to the Owl at Purdue MLA cite.
You are required to have at least 6 sources. Two of these sources must be from the Internet. One must be in print (magazine, book, etc.). Two of these will be your original sources. After that, you can use whatever you want. You may use more than 6 sources. You will have 2 primary sources (Main sources of information) and the rest will be secondary sources (1 to a few pieces of information that back up the claims of your primary source).
BOOK ONE AUTHOR
Gorman, Elizabeth. Prairie Women. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. Print
CLASS NOTES
Smith, John. "Beowulf: Archetypal Hero." English 102 Class. Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills, AL. March 28, 2003.
MAGAZINE
Cannon, Angie. "Just Saying No to Tests." U.S. News & World Report. Oct. 1999: 34. Print.
INTERVIEW
Whitehurst, Daniel, former mayor of Fresno. Personal interview. 5 Mar. 2003.
THE LIBRARY HAS INFORMATION FOR HOW TO CITE GALE NET AND EBSCO HOST – I don’t require their use, but if you use them, know how.
WEBSITES
Last Name, First Name. Title. Date Created. Web. Date Accessed. URL.
While there are a million little ways that you may cite websites, this way will work for the purpose of this class. NOTE: You will not always have a date created (if you don’t have day, month, and year, you also don’t have a date), and you won’t always have an author, but you will have the other 3. Improvise accordingly.
RECITE This is where you take your notes. You can underline handouts or printouts. You can copy notes (whatever it takes to get to your required amount of stuff). Just find the info.
REVIEW Organize and outline. Reassess your thesis and go back to the library or computer to research some more. Make sure you understand what you are researching. Just because you have the material doesn’t mean that it makes sense. Ask me!!
OH YEAH Send all of your URLs so that I can check their validity.
IN PARAGRAPH CITATIONS You must cite everything. Every fact, every name, number, bit of information or external opinion about the topic has to come from somewhere (except common knowledge stuff). This is 1 of the reasons that we do topics that I choose. Ever since I had a student know everything about Jeff Gordon and think that he didn’t have to cite his facts, I realized that it’s best to have students research teacher-acceptable topics.
As a result, this paper is here to help you.
QUOTES It is very important to understand your information in your own words. Some information can only come across in sentences written a certain way (“John Daniel. Glass Jr. was born on August 26, 1971”). It’s not plagiarism to take this information and use it the only way it really can be written. Most information (99.9999999999999%) must be put into your own words. In some instances (Comp and Lit papers), it becomes necessary to take big hunks of sentences and use them word for word in a book or really long paper.
YOU WILL NOT DO THIS IN THIS PAPER. THE LONGEST QUOTE YOU MAY USE IS A SINGLE SENTENCE, AND YOU MUST INCORPORATE IT INTO THE PAPER. IN THIS, WHILE YOU ARE “TECHNICALLY CORRECT” IN BEING ALLOWED TO USE IT, YOU MAY NOT USE IT. YOU MUST PARAPHRASE IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS. IF YOU DO THIS, I WILL CONSIDER YOUR PAPER SHORT DUE TO HEAVILY BORROWING FROM THE WORKS OF OTHER PEOPLE AND I WILL DEDUCT SENTENCE SENSE POINTS AS WELL FOR YOU NOT UNDERSTANDING YOUR RESEARCH. NO EXCEPTIONS.
FOR EXAMPLE (the quote is in black): Steroids have created a variety of new injuries. While the athletes pay the price, there is a different person who is doing the collecting: Dr. James Andrews, wonder surgeon to sports injuries. Noted sports columnist A. Cynic summarized Andrews multi-million dollar business by stating, “Andrews owes his homes, cars, and vacations to the fact that sports stars aren’t smart enough to realize when they aren’t exercising, but are tearing muscle off of the bones.” (Cynic)
THE ABOVE IS GOOD (incorporated).
THE BELOW IS BAD (no flow and should have been paraphrased).
Sports injuries are bad. They affect many players and teams. This year, they affected the Yankees. Carl Pavano is a perfect example of a bad sports injury. “The Pavano news is bad. He had been throwing on the side, and got up on the mound on Sunday, but though the team kept saying he was getting better, he didn't seem so optimistic. He is going to see Dr. James Andrews in Alabama and may, in fact, need Tommy John surgery, which would finish him for this season and probably next season, too, possibly ending is career.” (Amore)
PRINT SOURCES
(Author’s last name Page # (IF AVAILABLE))
(If no Author or you use the author multiple times, then switch to first important word of the title underlined or in quotes appropriately Page #)
NOTE: there is no comma between these items and there is no word “page”, “p.,” “para” or “paragraph” either.
If the paraphrase includes where the source is from (“In his book Now I Can Die in Peace, Bill Simmons expresses how Boston….”), then you can just use the page number. INTERNET SOURCES
(Author’s last name (IF AVAILABLE))
(First important word of title underlined or quoted appropriately (OTHERWISE))
WHEN IN DOUBT, SEE ME!! DON’T ASSUME!!!!!
IF YOU ASSUME OR DEVIATE FROM THESE RULES, THEN YOUR BAD GRADE IS YOUR FAULT. I DON’T CARE IF WE ARE USING CHANGES SINCE THE NEW WORDSMITH CAME OUT; YOU PAID GOOD MONEY FOR THIS BOOK, SO WE’RE USING ITS RULES. IF YOU ARE USING RULES FROM BEFORE IT WAS PUBLISHED, THEN IT IS ALSO ON YOU. I DON’T MAKE EXCEPTIONS FOR BEING GIVEN MISINFORMATION FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES.