Prepared by writing tutor Rebecca Bourke
(Core '03, CAS '05, SED '07)
This list of Frequently
Asked Questions is intended to supplement writing guidelines handed
out or covered in class. Please keep in mind that professors may
have their own preferences on some of these matters, and it is
always best to ask.
Citations and
MLA Format
Q: What is the correct way to do a MLA
citation?
The form of your MLA in-paragraph citation
will vary depending on whether your source is a book, a poem,
a play, or the Bible. Likewise, the citation for your bibliography
will be different depending on how many authors your source
had, whether your source had an editor or translator, whether
your source was an article in a journal or online, and other
factors.
For more specific guidelines, check your
writing handbook.
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Q: How do I integrate my
quotations into my paragraphs?
Integrate your quotation into your body
paragraph in one of three ways.
A) introducing it with a signal phrase,
which has a verb of communication, such as "says," "writes,"
"implies," or "argues." The verb should be followed by a comma
and lead directly into the quotation.
e.g.: Odysseus says, "I want to go home"
(23).
B) blending a part of the quotation into
the sentence,
e.g.: Homer calls this event "terrible"
(23) .
C) introducing it with an independent clause
and a colon.
e.g.: Homer's epic similes sometimes contain
bird imagery: "They cried out, shrilling cries, pulsing sharper
than birds of prey-eagles, vultures with hooked claws-when
farmers plunder their nest of young too young to fly" (23).
Notice that there are no commas or periods
before the last quotation mark. There is always a period after
the parentheses.
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Q: What if the quotation
I want to use is a question? Do I keep the question mark? Does
a period follow the parenthetical citation, or is there no punctuation
before the next sentence?
If the quotation you want to use is a question
or an exclamation, then the question mark or exclamation mark
precedes the final quotation mark, and a period follows the
parenthesis to indicate that the parenthetical citation is connected
to the preceding sentence, e.g.: Penelope asked, "When is he
coming home?" (23).
If your quotation was originally an indicative
sentence, but you want to put it into a question, leave out
the period before the final quotation mark, and put a question
mark after your final quotation mark, and follow with the parenthetical
citation and a period, e.g.: Why did Telemachos want "to punish
the suitors"? (23).
Q: When do I have to put my quotations
in a block format?
Use the blockquote format for more than
four typed lines of prose or more than three of poetry. Double-space
long quotations and indent the entire quotation ten spaces or
one inch. Do not use quotation marks. Do not leave an additional
line space before or after the quotation. Note: Place the final
period before the parenthetical citation. This is different
from the style used for quotations in the body of your text.
When citing fewer than five lines of poetry,
use backslashes to indicate line breaks. Leave spaces before
and after the slashes.
Q: How do I do my in-paragraph citations?
Here are basic rules for parenthetical citations.
Again, please keep in mind that some
professors may want you to do your citations differently and
it is best to double check if you have any doubts.
- Book: (page number), e.g.: (1)
- Poem: (start line - end line), e.g.:
(2 - 3)
- Poem divided into books: (Book number.start
line - end line): e.g. (5.1 - 4)
- Play: (act.scene.start line - end line),
e.g.: (3.4.60 - 79) (40a.12)
- Bible: (Book name verse:start chapter
- end chapter): e.g. (Gen. 1:2 - 3) (40a.13)
Notice that the
book name is not italicized and should be abbreviated.
You can search for the standard abbreviations for books of the
Bible online.
For texts translated from Greek, such as
the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Thucydides, you have more
than one option. You may only be required to give the page number
of the edition you are using. For longer works, you could give
the book number or chapter number. A more complicated method
of citation is to use the numbers that appear in the margin
by following the formula (Dialogue name book number.start marginal
number - end marginal number) e.g.: (Republic II.357a - 383c).
Ask your professor which citation style he or she prefers.
If you mention the name of the author of
the work in your sentence, it is unnecessary to put the author's
name again in the parenthetical citation as in (Milton I.1).
You do not have to add in any commas after
an author's name, "p"s for "page number," or "l"s for "line
number" in these examples.
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Q: Should I do anything
different for my MLA citations if I am discussing two authors
or two works?
It's a good idea for the sake of clarification
to introduce the name of the author and the text to which you
are referring before your quotation (but not necessarily right
before). If you are using more than one source in your paper,
make sure to point out which author you are currently discussing,
or put the author's name in the parentheses to avoid confusion,
e.g.: (Homer IV.1-2). If you are using more than one work from
one author, make sure to distinguish between the works by introducing
the title in the paragraph or by putting the title in your parenthetical
citations, eg: (Odyssey 1.1) as opposed to (Iliad I.1).
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Q: When I quote
from Shakespeare, do I use slashes like I do in poetry, or do
I quote the lines like prose?
Yes, when quoting from verse, you should
use slashes to denote line breaks. Please put a space before
and after the slash mark, as in " / ". You do not have to do
this when you use blockquotations because you would have the
actual line breaks in your text.
You can tell whether Shakespeare is writing
prose or verse by the printing format in your text. Prose is
justified, and verse is aligned to the left. When quoting from
Shakespeare's prose, you do not need to use slashes.
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Plagiarism and
Crediting Secondary Sources
Q: I'm writing a research paper on Don
Quixote with two critical journal articles. Is it better to introduce
the articles and their authors in my intro paragraph, or wait
until I've established my argument and introduce them in the body
of the essay?
Unless the professor wants otherwise, it
is better to introduce the names and works of the critics the
first time you use their articles. Usually you would bring up
another critic because you are going to use part of his or her
argument, either to dissent or to build off of it, and thereby
to further your own argument. If you are going to use some of
the critics' points in your intro paragraph in this way, then
by all means you can introduce them, but you do not need to
bring up the fact that these critics wrote certain articles
to which you will refer later.
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Q: I'm worried about plagiarism.
I got all of the basic information about Michelangelo's beliefs
in my introduction from reading a variety of books on him and
the Chapel, but I'm not sure what to do about citing sources since
no one sentence is specifically from a book or anything like that.
Here is the most important thing to remember
about plagiarism: It's not just stealing words. It's also stealing
ideas. Even paraphrasing another author's idea constitutes stealing
that idea if you don't give him or her the proper credit; after
a paraphrase, you put the (page number in parentheses) before
the period at the end of your sentence.
This brings up a problem with your introduction
as it stands now. There is no way you could have known what
Michelangelo definitely believed because he died before he could
tell you. Therefore there must be a source for that information-either
some journal where he stated, "I believe...," or the work of
a historian who has done the research and found a text in which
Michelangelo outlines his beliefs. That, or the historian is
drawing this conclusion from his or her interpretation of the
artwork. What is most important in any paper that you write
is for you to look at the primary sources and interpret them
in your one way. You can cite other authors and critics either
to build off of their arguments, or to dissent with them and
thereby strengthen your point.
Of course, you do not need to provide a
citation for information that is in the public domain, such
as the fact that Michelangelo was Italian or his date of birth.
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Q: When citing from a reference,
where is the line drawn between using the article to enhance my
argument and misusing the article? My article on Don Quixote has
some interesting points that I want to use in my paper, but I
don't want to seem like I'm stealing them. How can I appropriately
give credit to the author of the article, but also use his ideas?
If you using a secondary source, you should
be adding onto or disagreeing with the author's point. You may
use another critic's words to add authority to your own argument,
but it is important to develop your own opinions in your paper.
Make sure to cite the material properly, do not put a quotation
into your paper without analyzing it yourself, and do not use
quotations to begin or end a body paragraph.
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Q: When I do research from
source A and they cite author B, can I cite author B from author
A's book and give them both credit in my paper, or do I have to
go straight back to the original source B?
If you want to use B, you should try to
cite the original source. That bibliographical information would
probably be somewhere in A's article or book, since A had to
cite it to use it too.
If you want to analyze A's use of B (to
criticize it, for example), you should cite with the information
from A.
You probably don't want to insert A citing
B because then you end up with citations within citations. Plus,
you would want to come up with your own ideas about B if you
are going to use it.
For more information, check your writing
handbook.
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Common Problems
in Forming a Thesis
AMBIGUITY OR LACK OF PRECISION
IN LANGUAGE
Q: Basically, I have the idea of this
thesis statement already approved by my professor. I just want
to be sure the wording is understandable:
"Despite his deep religious convictions,
Donne seems to hold upon a superficial reading of his poetry,
it soon becomes clear that his faith is of a unique sort. In his
mind, he has no problem reconciling his liberal sexuality with
his belief in God."
The problem with the wording I see is "his
faith is of a unique sort." This is a rather ambiguous way to
put your argument. Instead, you would want to say explicitly
what is implied, namely that his faith differs from a more mainstream
or Church-sanctioned belief because he incorporates sexuality
into his understanding of God. I think the easiest way to reword
this thesis is to cut out the "his faith..." part and then combine
the two sentences into one.
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GENERALIZATIONS
Q: In a paper that discusses love, I would
like to avoid using personal experiences. However, if I form them
into general statements of possibility, and expand them into emotions
that most people may have had, then is it ok to address the reader
in a more informal way? For example, is it ok to say something
along the lines of "We must consider," or "Most of us have probably
felt..." ?
"We must consider" and "Most of us have
probably felt..." are both first person constructions, so it
would be better to rewrite them. If you really want to use phrases
like these, you could say "one must consider" or "many have
probably felt" and thereby avoid getting points off for first
person. Just make sure that you use your general statements
as part of your analysis of the actual texts, and make sure
you are working with the texts more than you are talking in
general about love. Also, keep in mind that you should always
qualify general statements such as these, since most people
have different opinions of and experiences with love.
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NO CLEAR ARGUMENT
Q: I am writing a research paper and the
question is: "What is love? Discuss its function and representation
in King Lear." My thesis as of right now is: "Love exists in three
forms in King Lear: sexual love, loyalty, and selfishness (self-love)."
Is this specific enough?
In general, when writing a thesis statement,
you want to make sure that the statement itself is something
that you can argue. The more argumentative you are in your thesis
statement, the better; that way, you can spend the rest of the
paper proving something instead of summarizing the text. Remember
that whatever statement you come up with may not have a clear
answer at first. That is why you need to analyze the text carefully
and incorporate passages from it to substantiate and illustrate
your argument.
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NO CLEAR COMPARISON
Q: How can I improve the following thesis
for my comparison paper?
"The poetry of John Donne and Petrarch
tackle different aspects of love. Donne includes the body and
the mind in writing of strong, seemingly real love. Even though
Petrarch's love seems to be an overexcited crush in which he never
meets the object of his affection, it reveals emotions that are
just as human to us as Donne's."
The problem is that it is not clear how
you intend to compare the two poets from the way in which your
thesis is worded. First you have to make the comparison clear,
and then you can make an argument about it. From the last part
of your sentence, I can see that generally you want to say that
although Donne's and Petrarch's approaches to love seem to be
different, they are in fact equal in some way. You should use
an adjective that is more clear than "human." Are they equally
strong? Equally valid forms of love? Equally mature? Equally
false? Equally self-obsessed?
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General Questions
Q: I have been having difficulty adapting
to my teacher, even far into the semester, since we've only had
two papers so far, and we just got the second back. Thus, I want
to know some universals that I can use regardless of the teacher.
For example, are contractions okay to use? Is it appropriate to
use "I" in a paper?
Firstly, if you are concerned about getting
your second paper back late in the semester and you need more
time to write your third, you should e-mail your professor,
explain the situation, and ask if an extension would be possible.
Many professors are also often happy to read through a rough
draft before a paper is due and give some comments. Always remember
that instead of suffering in silence, tell your professors your
concerns; they will be very willing to work something out with
you.
In general, avoid using the first person
("I" and "we"), contractions, and colloquialisms. All of these
things will make your paper more informal, which is not what
you want. While some professors may be lax on these issues,
most are not; therefore, if you never do these things, you will
never get points taken off for them.
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Grammar Pitfalls
As far as grammar, these are the most common
weaknesses we see in the tutoring sessions:
- run-on sentences
- misuse of commas
- misuse of semi-colons
- misplaced and dangling modifiers
- split infinitives
- active and passive voice
You can find strategies for recognizing
and correcting these grammatical problems in your writing handbook.
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