Writing Workshop Writing an Academic Essay How to develop a thesis and begin to write from multiple sources

Finding your thesis Think and brainstorm to find a focus/thesis that you want to write on Use your seminar group and discussions to find the thesis/focus for this paper—read the assignment carefully Look for quotations and support for your ideas Keep track of those gems from the texts and mine your seminar papers

Beginning thesis starters: Each main character in our novels or memoir has struggled to find an identity and use a unique voice to represent his/her way of being in the world. Analyze how this works for each one. Immigrants learn new ways of being themselves as they work to retain connections to cultural traditions or incorporate historical realities. Does an individual have to give up being “true to oneself” in order to be responsible to family and cultural traditions?

Introductions Attract Interest Write an introduction so anyone reading the paper could share where you have been to write this paper. The beginning should set the context. Use something to get attention and begin the focus on your thesis idea. Readers will want to read the essay if you make them think or want to read more. An introduction can be one or two paragraphs, but must have a clear thesis section of one or two sentences.

Points in each paragraph need illustration & explanation to make a well developed, coherent essay.  IllustrationExplanations Points

Use the MLA in-text style of citation Signal phrases introduce your source by name or clear reference to the text. Work to smoothly incorporate quotations, summary or paraphrase into your sentences. The quotations should be carefully chosen to support/illustrate the points you are making.

Rules for Documentation- Use MLA for our essay. Put quotation marks around any copied words, phrases, or sentences. Paraphrase and summarize correctly and then document. Acknowledge each source in-text. List sources used on a Works Cited page.

In-Text Documentation When you borrow words, information, or ideas: The goal of in-text documentation is to illustrate a point and show the development of your ideas using the texts for this assignment. Cite in parentheses information reader needs to find the entry in the list of Works Cited. OR Cite part of the information in the text and include a parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Example of quote within a quote: Author and page number in parentheses: In his review John Lee quotes Gish Jen as saying, ‘"I could not have written this story early on in my career in dialect, using that voice, because if I had sent it out, the assumption would have been that I didn't speak English”’(221). NOTE: His name (Lee) is in the sentence so it doesn’t need to appear in the parentheses.

Book Title Used so Author’s name is in the end citation:. In Jasmine the main character relates a similar surprise in the experience of her first American bathroom. She describes her feelings of shock by saying that even “in a place like a madhouse or a prison, where the most hideous crimes took place, the water should be hot, the tiles and porcelain should be clean, without smells, without bugs” (Mukherjee 117).

Writing using several texts and authors:. Make sure you are being clear about which book, character, or author you are using. Use the author’s last name and cite at the end if you use a character or other reference/quote/paraphrase of the text.

Example: Your reference is to the source where you found the information Author’s name cited in-text: In Saez’s article on Garcia’s novel, she uses several examples of other scholars who have talked about the quest for identity undertaken by Pilar in Dreaming in Cuban(130). On Works Cited list: Saez, Elena Machado. “The Global Baggage of Nostalgia in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.” MELUS:30.4 (Winter 2005): JSTOR. Web 30 October 2010.

Example Both author’s name & page # in a parenthetical citation One of the most widely recognized facts about James Joyce “is his ambivalence toward Ireland, of which the hatred was as relentless as the love was unfailing” (Trilling 153).

Multiple Works by an Author With multiple works by the same author, you must indicate the title of the work to which you are referring. Either cite the title, or an abbreviated form, in-text or parenthetically.

Examples Gish Jen in her story writes about Mona’s mother saying “’Your father doesn’t believe in joining the American society”’ (“American Society” 159). Gish Jen in her novel has Mona wear all of the clothes of the late 60s--”ponchos, peasant blouses, leotards, bikini underwear” (Mona 25)

Unknown Authorship If you borrow ideas from a source for which you cannot determine the author: Cite the title in-text and page number parenthetically. Cite the title and page number parenthetically. Consult the OWL Web page for the latest MLA info—and use my handout & the one from our NSCC Library.OWL Web