Essay Writing Handbook
Essay Writing Handbook
English 12
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. MLA Format page 3
2. Essay Structure and Parts page 4
3. Plagiarism page 5
4. Incorporating Sources page 6
5. Types of Quotations page 7
6. Formatting Direct Quotations pages 8-11
7. Title page (Indentifying Information) pages 12-13
8. Works Cited page pages 14-17
9. General Hints and Tips page 18
10. Model Essay pages 19-21
MLA FORMAT
MLA is one of several formatting styles for academic writing. It is used most often in English Literary Analysis. Other formatting styles include: APA and Chicago. This link will take you to a website that provides current and in-depth explanations on how to use each style: . The MLA-specific link is: .
Checklist for formatting a MLA essay:
• Typed and printed on white, 8.5”x 11” paper
• Use 12 point font that is easy to read (Times New Roman or Arial are most popular). Your reader needs to be able to easily determine between text that is and is not italicized.
• The entire essay (including title page and Works Cited page) must be double spaced. Go to Format, Paragraph, Line Spacing, and select Double.
• Italics should be used to indicate the titles of a longer works (novel, play, film, etc.). Example: Hamlet indicates the title of the play; Hamlet indicates the character.
• Quotation marks should be used to indicate the titles of shorter works (short stories, articles, poems, etc.). Example: “Harrison Bergeron” indicates the title of the story; Harrison Bergeron indicates the character.
• Margins should be set at 1” (2.2 cm) on all sides (go to Page Setup to adjust if necessary).
• Use the Tab button on your keyboard to indent for new paragraphs. DO NOT add extra spaces between paragraphs.
• Number pages in the top right-hand corner. Go to Insert, Page Numbers, and select Top of Page and Right.
• Leave only one space after each punctuation mark.
ESSAY STRUCTURE AND PARTS
All essays must have an INTRODUCTION, BODY PARAGRAPHS, and a CONCLUSION.
Introduction:
An introduction should have a general opening statement, introduce your arguments (the content of your essay), and finish with a strong, clear, and direct thesis statement.
If your essay is an analysis of a piece of literature, be sure to clearly name the author and the title in the introduction. Do not assume that your reader knows what you are writing about.
Body Paragraphs:
Body paragraphs are where you elaborate on your thesis (opinion) and provide support for that opinion. In literary analysis, you will draw directly on the text(s) for that support in the form of direct quotations or by paraphrasing examples.
Each body paragraph needs a distinct topic that is addressed by a topic sentence. The subsequent sentences in the paragraph support the topic sentence, which in turn supports the thesis statement. This is where you would incorporate the quotations and examples from the text, then analyze and explain them in detail. Provide your interpretation of the quotation and be sure that it is fully explained and connects to both the topic sentence and to the thesis statement.
You may need to use more than one quotation per body paragraph, depending on the topic and what you are writing about.
Your body paragraphs should be organized in a logical manner that best supports your thesis. They should be ordered in a way that allows the writing to be fluid and coherent, not choppy and disorganized. Each body paragraph should end with a statement that transitions smoothly into the next topic.
Conclusion:
The conclusion should restate the major points of your essay (especially your thesis), but without being repetitive. You want to leave your reader with a clear idea of your opinion and the point of your essay. Give your reader something to think about after he/she has finished reading.
PLAGARISM
From the Council of Writing Program Administrators
Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices
What Is Plagiarism?
Definition: In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.
This definition applies to texts published in print or on-line, to manuscripts, and to the work of other student writers.
Most current discussions of plagiarism fail to distinguish between:
1. submitting someone else’s text as one’s own or attempting to blur the line between one’s own ideas or words and those borrowed from another source, and
2. carelessly or inadequately citing ideas and words borrowed from another source.
Ethical writers make every effort to acknowledge sources fully and appropriately in accordance with the contexts and genres of their writing. A student who attempts (even if clumsily) to identify and credit his or her source, but who misuses a specific citation format or incorrectly uses quotation marks or other forms of identifying material taken from other sources, has not plagiarized. Instead, such a student should be considered to have failed to cite and document sources appropriately.
Students should understand research assignments as opportunities for genuine and rigorous inquiry and learning. Such an understanding involves:
• Assembling and analyzing a set of sources that they have themselves determined are relevant to the issues they are investigating;
• Acknowledging clearly when and how they are drawing on the ideas or phrasings of others;
• Learning the conventions for citing documents and acknowledging sources appropriate to the field they are studying;
• Consulting their instructors when they are unsure about how to acknowledge the contributions of others to their thought and writing.
Council of Writing Program Administrators, January, 2003
INCORPORATING SOURCES INTO YOUR WRITING
Using support from other documents, videos, interviews, etc. can often improve our essays by providing evidence for our opinions, points, and arguments.
In literary analysis, we rely most heavily on evidence from the text we are analyzing, but we can also find support from other authors who have written about the same text or issue. A combination of these two types of resources can help you create a convincing argument because you are not only supporting your interpretation of the text with textual evidence, but you are showing that others have had the same interpretation as you.
When conducting research to find texts to support your essay, be sure to vet the source for credibility.
Tips to help determine credible sources:
• Use research databases, such as EBSCO, where the material has already been evaluated, and even sometimes peer-reviewed.
• Check the bibliography or Works Cited page of the article you wish to use to ensure that it is well-researched.
• Use websites that end in .edu, .org, .gov, which indicate that these are actual websites for particular educational, organizational, or governmental institutions.
• Consider possible biases of the author or medium of publication (some newspapers or magazines have particular agendas).
• Consider the author’s qualifications. Does the author have the credentials and/or education necessary to comment on the subject?
For more information, visit:
TYPES OF QUOTATIONS
Direct Quotations:
Direct quotations are those that quote a section of text word for word. Enclose such quotations in quotation marks to show your reader that these words are not your own. Follow the quotation marks with the author’s last name and the page number(s) in parentheses. Direct quotations may also be referred to as in-text citations.
Indirect Quotations:
Indirect quotations are when you paraphrase or summarize another author’s ideas and incorporate those ideas into your essay. Even though you are not quoting the author word for word, you still need to give that person credit for the idea.
Quotation marks ARE NOT used for indirect quotations, but you will put the author’s name and page number(s) in parentheses at the end of the indirect quotations.
Example:
Direct quotation: In the words of George Washington Carver, “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”
Indirect quotation: George Washington Carver believed that the world takes notice when your everyday actions are done extraordinarily. (Paraphrase of the previous example of a direct quotation).
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Exceptions to using author’s name and page numbers in parentheses:
• If you introduce a quotation, direct or indirect, with the author’s name, you do not need to put the author’s name in the parentheses, only the page number(s).
• If you are using only one source, it is not necessary to put the author’s name in parentheses. The reader can find the author’s name by looking at the single entry on the Works Cited page.
• If no page number is provided, use any other identifying information available, or just the author’s name.
• When quoting from poems use the line numbers, not page numbers.
• When quoting from plays/scripts, use Act, Scene, and Line numbers, not page numbers.
FORMATTING DIRECT QUOTATIONS
Please visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab for more information:
Formatting Short Quotations (less than three lines of verse or four lines of prose)
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.
• For example, when quoting short passages of PROSE, use the following examples:
According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
OR
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
OR
Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?
• When short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash).
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
Long quotations
• For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks.
• Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing.
• Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs.
• Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)
When citing long sections (more than three lines) of poetry, keep formatting as close to the original as possible.
In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We Romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself. (quoted in Shrodes, Finestone, Shugrue 202)
When citing two or more paragraphs, use block quotation format, even if the passage from the paragraphs is less than four lines. Indent the first line of each quoted paragraph an extra quarter inch.
In "American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement," David Russell argues:
Writing has been an issue in American secondary and higher education since papers and examinations came into wide use in the 1870s, eventually driving out formal recitation and oral examination. . . .
From its birth in the late nineteenth century, progressive education has wrestled with the conflict within industrial society between pressure to increase specialization of knowledge and of professional work (upholding disciplinary standards) and pressure to integrate more fully an ever-widerning number of citizes into intellectually meaningful activity within mass society (promoting social equity). . . . (3)
Adding or omitting words in quotations:
If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text.
Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states, "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).
Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of ellipses.
When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a standard three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one or more full lines of poetry, space several periods to about the length of a complete line in the poem:
These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration . . . (22-24, 28-30)
TITLE PAGES/IDENTIFYING INFORMATION
Title pages should be included if the instructor requests one; otherwise, you may put your identifying information in the top left-hand corner and centre the title of your essay. All information MUST be double-spaced.
Example when title page is not requested:
Your first and last name
Course name
Instructor’s name
Due date
Your Essay’s Original Title
Your essay should start here. Make sure the first line of each paragraph is indented.
Jane Smith
English 12
Ms. McKenzie
March 12, 2015
The Road to Heaven
Through the characters in Hamlet, William Shakespeare addresses concerns about the afterlife. His characters are concerned about how their mortal actions will affect their immortal souls. The characters are conflicted with the desire to act on their urges while trying to live a moral life that will lead them to heaven.
The Road To Heaven
Jane Smith
English 12
Ms. McKenzie
March 12, 2015
BASIC RULES FOR WORKS CITED PAGES
Visit for additional information and examples.
• Alphabetize entries according to author’s last name. If no author is given, use the title of the work to start the entry and alphabetize accordingly.
• Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper.
• Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
• Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
• Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent. Go to Format, Paragraph, Indentation, Special, and select Hanging from the drop down menu.
• List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.
Individual Examples
Books:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.
Book with one author:
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.
Book with more than one author:
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000.
Print.
Book with no author:
Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.
Electronic Sources
• Author and/or editor names (if available)
• Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
• Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)
• Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
• Take note of any page numbers (if available).
• Medium of publication.
• Date you accessed the material.
• URL (if required, or for your own personal reference; MLA does not require a URL).
Entire Website:
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
A page on a website:
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.
An article in a Web Magazine:
Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites. A List Apart Mag., 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009.
An article in an online scholarly journal:
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal 6.2 (2008): n. pag. Web. 20 May 2009.
Article in a Magazine:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.
Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print.
Article in a Newspaper:
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01. Print.
Anonymous Articles:
"Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist 26 May 2007: 82. Print.
Article in a Scholarly Journal:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 41-50. Print.
Example of a Works Cited Page
Works Cited
"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.
Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times, 22 May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.
Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim. . Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.
. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print.
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD.
GENERAL HINTS AND TIPS
• Avoid using “I” and “You” in academic writing.
• Avoid using contractions. Use “do not” instead of “don’t”.
• Avoid using slang, unless it is necessary to make your point (ie. Part of a quotation).
• Avoid clichés and colloquialisms.
• Avoid using phrases like, “In this essay…”, “I am going to argue that…”, “My opinion is…”.
• Keep your language clear and simple. While it is good to experiment with language, trying too hard to use big words can have the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of creating an impressive piece, your writing can become muddled, confusing, and unclear. Make sure YOUR voice is clear. Do not try to give your instructor what you think he/she wants to hear.
• Assume your reader knows nothing about your topic. Always clearly indicate what you are discussing (ie. Author and title of work you are analyzing).
• Read your essay out loud during the revising and editing stages. This practice helps identify run-on sentences, awkward phrasing, and other issues with flow and clarity.
• Have someone else proofread your paper. This person can identify problems that you may have missed because you have become too close to your work.
• If typing your essay, print out your rough draft and revise and edit from a hard copy.
• If possible, give yourself some time and space between drafts of your essay. If you can put it away for several hours, or even a few days, do it! This will allow you to come back to it with fresh eyes and you will be able to pick up on errors that you may have missed before.
• Do not look for the longest way to explain something just to increase your word count. Wordy writing is ineffective and distracting. Most instructors are more concerned with the quality of your thoughts than the length of your paper. If you are exploring the topic thoroughly and analyzing your quotations in detail, you should not have an issue reaching your word count.
ESSAY EXAMPLE
Krystal McKenzie
English 12
Ms. McKenzie
November 7, 2014
When Equal No Longer Means Equal
In Animal Farm, George Orwell creates Animalism, a political ideology where all animals are to be considered equals and all men are to be considered enemies. Old Major, a prize pig, encouraged the animals of Manor Farm to overthrow the farmer, Mr. Jones, because humans treat animals unequally by controlling their work loads, food intake, housing, and by consuming without producing. Unfortunately, Old Major dies before his ideology is put into practice. However, the other animals conduct a revolution, oust Mr. Jones, and rename Manor Farm to Animal Farm. With Mr. Jones no longer in command, the animals agree on seven rules, known as the Seven Commandments, which will protect animal equality because equality is the premise on which Animalism is based. Each animal has particular strengths that contribute to farm life; for the pigs, it is their intelligence, rhetoric and literacy skills. Napoleon and Snowball emerge as leaders because of these skills, and Squealer uses his public speaking skills to persuade the other animals that the pigs are always acting in their best interest. The intellectual and leadership roles the pigs assume create a divide between the animals. Two classes develop: an educated political class who create policies and make decisions; and a working class who perform physical labour and abide by the policies and decisions made by their leaders. Thus, the meaning Commandment #7, “All animals are equal” (15), shifts as there cannot be equality when there is a division of classes.
There is an inherent divide between those who have literacy skills and those who do not. During the planning stages of the animals’ rebellion, the pigs taught themselves to read and write without consulting the other animals, automatically establishing their control over the new-found Animal Farm. Not only did the pigs teach themselves to read and write, but they also developed the Seven Commandments, or the laws, of Animal Farm. The other animals readily accept these commandments, “nodded in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at once began to learn the commandments by heart” (16). The power structure that is set during this seemingly positive meeting is subtle but significant. The pigs have immediately ascertained their position as leaders and decision and policy makers, while the other animals have shown their willingness to comply with the pigs’ ideas: not one animal asked a question or made an objection. The reader, who has the critical thinking skills that the animals lack, is already wondering how all animals could possibly be considered equal when there is an obvious class division from the onset of Animalism.
Works Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Toronto: Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1987. Print.
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