Mastering MLA (and so much more!) A Student Activity to Practice Using Research Sources Engl 101, Joanne Huffstutter

OBJECTIVES  Identify purpose of documentation  Identify different types of source texts  Hands-on practice integrating quotations  Student-generated parenthetical citation  Student-generated Works Cited entry

PURPOSES Ask students to identify the purposes for using MLA documentation. They almost always come up with these on their own:  Protect the writer against charges of plagiarism  Strengthen the writer’s credibility  Ethical issue (giving credit where credit is due)  Refer reader to sources for further study

TASK  Each student team is given a worksheet identifying elements of Works Cited entries for various texts…

MLA Samples Worksheet BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. BOOK BY TWO AUTHORS: Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. EDITED BOOK: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. TEXT IN AN ANTHOLOGY: Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication. ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL: Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication. ARTICLE IN AN ON-LINE JOURNAL: Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Name of Database. Medium of publication. Date Accessed. ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER: Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical [Location, if needed] Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication. ARTICLE IN AN ON-LINE NEWSPAPER: Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical. Publisher/Sponsor [Location, if needed], Day Month Year. Medium of publication. Date Accessed. ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK: "Title of Article." Title of Collection. Edition. Year. Medium of Publication. ARTICLE IN AN ON-LINE REFERENCE BOOK: "Title of Article." Title of Collection. Publisher/Sponsor (or n.p.), Date of Publication (or n.d.). Medium of Publication. Date Accessed. A WEB SITE: Lastname, Firstname (of editor, author, or compiler, if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of sponsor or publisher (or n.p. if not given), date of publication (or n.d. if not given). Medium of publication. Date of access. AN ARTICLE OR PAGE ON A WEB SITE: Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Website. Version. Publisher/Sponsor (or n.p.), Date of Publication (or n.d.). Page numbers (or n. pag.). Medium of Publication. Date Accessed. URL (if required; remove hyperlinks and break URL after slashes).

 Each team gets a different text (Book, Newspaper, Website, etc.), with a page marked with a sticky tab.  Teams are given 5-10 minutes to do the following, using their worksheet as a guide:  Identify their text (Anthology, Journal, etc.)  They always have questions, so this is a good opportunity for the Instructor to go on Walk-About to help out.  Find a quotation on the marked page to integrate into a sentence  Generate a parenthetical citation  Generate a Works Cited entry PROCESS

MODELING Instructor models exercise with an example on board (refer to student worksheet).  A Book by one author:  Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Original Publication Date. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. In-text citation: If he ever said, “I want to suck your blood,” it would appear here (Stoker 124). Stoker, Bram. Dracula New York: Harper & Row, Print.

STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS  One Team at a time, each writes their sentence, with integrated quotation, on board.  Example includes parenthetical citation.  Team also writes a Works Cited entry for their quotation.  This is a good time to show the class the text and discuss how they can tell whether it’s a Journal vs. a Reference Book, or a Book vs. an Edited Book, etc…  Team “explains” their example according to the elements on the Worksheet  I also ask them to explain the relationship between the parenthetical citation and the Works Cited Page.

PEER-TO-PEER DISCOURSE  Class is invited to use their Worksheets to evaluate the examples provided by the Team for correctness and raise questions or comments.  Instructor intercedes with guidance on improving integration or elaborating on key points.  Questions from the class often include…

 How much do you have to put into the parenthetical citation?  Great opportunity to discuss introducing/identifying sources so all you need is page number.  How do you integrate the quotation so the structure of your sentence is correct?  You can use brackets, ellipses, etc. to help shape the quotation to your sentence.  Do you have to put the URL in your Works Cited Entry?  No, but if you do, there are some “tricks” you need to know…  BTW, can you ALWAYS trust a.org or.edu site?...  How do you format a book title versus an article title, or a website, etc?  Italics (no underlines), quotation marks, etc… LIVELY DISCUSSION TOPICS!

WRAP-UP  Students transcribe correct entries into their own worksheets for future reference.  After each Team has contributed, a pre- fabricated Works Cited page is displayed on screen to discuss arrangement, format, etc.  The Works Cited Page is also posted on Blackboard for future reference.

Jones 8 Works Cited “Composition.” The American Heritage Dictionary. 3 rd ed Print. Defoe, Daniel. “Roxana.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, Print. Howarth, Peter. “Housman’s Dirty Postcards: Poetry, Modernism, and Masochism.” PMLA (2009): Print “Housman’s Dirty Postcards: Poetry, Modernism, and Masochism.” PMLA (2009): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct Justicetalking.org. U of Pennsylvania, Web. 20 Oct Kershner, Jim. “More like Misleading Indicators.” Spokesman-Review [Spokane, WA] 26 Sep. 2009: B1+. Print “More like Misleading Indicators.” Spokesman-review.com. The Spokesman-Review [Spokane, WA] 26 Sep Web. 16 Oct Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins, Print. "Remembering the Loma Prieta Earthquake." redcross.org. The American National Red Cross, Web. 18 Oct menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/ ?vgnextoid= VgnVCM f0870aRCRD. “Satire.” Wikipedia.org. Wikimedia, 18 Oct Web. 20 Oct Stoker, Bram. Dracula Ed. John Paul Riquelme. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, Print. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray New York: Harper & Row, Print.

COMING SOON…  This unit of instruction is followed by another exercise, titled “How to Avoid Plagiarism: a.k.a., How to Cite According to MLA.”  This exercise emphasizes exactness in quotations, use of quotation marks, paraphrasing, and in-text citations.  It builds on what the students have already discovered about integrating and citing sources and helps them finesse their techniques.

 Full class session, with overlap.  Changed it into a week-long exercise with expanded instruction on integrating quotations, evaluating websites, etc.  Too much instructor, not enough student?  Instructor had to do the “online” sources, so now I solicit student volunteers to bring in their own laptops. They use them for the development part, and I call up their websites at the Instructor podium for the demo part.  Instructor also led the “evaluation” part of each Team’s presentation; expanded length of exercise provides time for students to be more involved in peer-to-peer discussion and questioning.  Location within the course: earlier than mid-semester?  Moved it to about 1/3 of the way into the course, after students have had some research practice and now have a writing assignment that requires 1-2 outside sources. LESSONS LEARNED (so far…)

Immediate, drastic results! (again)