MLA & Writing Notes

MLA Formatting All text should be double-spaced, heading included Heading: _________________________________________________________________ Your NameLast Name 1 Mrs. Melberg English 3 Period 2 15 September 2015

Guidelines Don’t be informal (don’t write the way that you speak or text) NO: ppl, jk, lol, cursing Two words: high school, a lot, every day One paragraph = 4-8 sentences Don’t begin sentences with and, but or because SPELLCHECK PROOFREAD

Commonly misspelled words There (location), their (possession), they’re (they are) Your (possession), you’re (you are) It’s (it is), its (possession) To (direction), too (also), two (2) Let’s (let us), lets (allows) Whose (question of possession), who’s (who is) Receive/ deceive (i before e except for after c and except for neighbor and weight)

Capitalization Only capitalize: the beginnings of sentences Proper nouns: Person: I like Emily; she seems like a nice person. Title: I went to the doctor. I went to Dr. Smith. Direction: Drive south on the freeway. I’d like to live in the South. Place: Someday I’d like to visit Asia. I hear that the Indian Ocean is beautiful. Schools: My goal was to go to the University of Alabama. Titles of books, movies, TV shows, songs, plays, magazines, and works of art: My favorite TV show is Murder She Wrote. I enjoy reading Real Simple magazine.

Fun punctuation Dash vs. hyphen hyphen: used to connect words, numbers, and names EX: Call hy-phen. Her name is Sarah Hinds-Friedle. dash: used to create a pause. EX: I went to the football game--that was interesting. Only use ampersands (&) for brand names EX: Johnson & Johnson, Smith & Wesson Ellipses: I went to the football game...that was interesting.

NO Dead Words ManyLikeLoveSo Pretty A lotBigNiceHappy Interesting GreatSpecialSuperSad Bad VeryReallyThingExciting Fun GoodLikeSomeIt Excellent