MLA Assignment Literature Focus

PLEASE READ THIS ASSIGNMENT CAREFULLY!! It is explained in grave detail so that there is no question as to what you need to do.  

 Proper citation is a must, and thus far this academic term it is a weak point in every single class. So how can we fix it. Well this exam is designed to really help you fine tune your in-text citation skills.  I make all my students whether they have done it before in my class or not, do this assignment.  You can always learn something new, and good citation skills are always fashionable.

You are to demonstrate your ability to create an in-text parenthetical citation and works cited page.  You are to collect a direct quote from each of the sources listed below, and you are to paraphrase that same quote.   You are to do this same step again using all of the following types of sources.

1. A book (This could be any novel.)
   
   
2. Library database article. <--USE "The IOBE: Conformity and Resistance in Victorian Society"  http://feliciadz.pbworks.com/w/page/148892073/The%20IOBE%3A%20Conformity%20and%20Resistance%20in%20Victorian%20SocietyLinks to an external site. 
   
   
3. Literary Work (Play) <--USE "The Importance of Being EarnestLinks to an external site." from Project Gutenberg (play is linked here) 
   
   
4. Web page –credible/reliable source  <-- USE  Gothic Feminism Webpage from my website:  http://feliciadz.pbworks.com/w/page/47129220/Gothic%20FeminismLinks to an external site. 
   
   
5. A poem from your reading list <-- USE "I wandered lonely as a cloud" by William Wordsworth.  Here is the link. http://feliciadz.pbworks.com/w/page/7467550/I%20wandered%20lonely%20as%20a%20cloud%20by%20William%20WordsworthLinks to an external site. 
   
   

Please use the MLA E02 Lit TEMPLATE (see link for it below this )

So, each of these sources should have an entry in the works cited, an in-text citation, a direct quote, and a paraphrase. This also means proper punctuation is vastly important.

For each quote and paraphrase you must properly introduce the quote/paraphrase by establishing the ethos of the author.  This must be done for EACH and EVERY quote and paraphrase. 

Please use the following handout to help with this endeavor: Introducing Quotes/paraphrases CorrectlyLinks to an external site.

Here are the steps for the  MLA assignment:

1. First bring up the template and fill in your personal details. Make sure you have all your sources handy so you can stay focused.

2. Find the quote you want to use. Remember to pick one that is not to long or to short, and one that you feel comfortable paraphrasing.

3. After you have chosen your quote, start writing the introduction to that quote.

4. Then put the intro in, before the quote and then add the in-text citation. (make sure you close your quotes)

5. Then paraphrase the exact quote. This means put it in your own words. The paraphrase must be able to stand along. If someone pulled it out and read it alone it need to make sense.  EVERY PARAPHRASE MUST HAVE AN IN-TEXT citation.

6. Now add the introduction to the work you are paraphrasing and add the in-text citation.  Check to see if you have properly punctuated everything. :)

7. Now add the Work Cited for this source you just pulled the quote and created the paraphrase from.  You may use https://zbib.org to help.

8. Copy from clip board and paste it in the proper place.

9. Now repeat steps 1-8 for all the other sources.

10. THEN create a Works Cited page for all five sources.  The Works Cited Page must be in MLA format. Works Cited must be double-spaced, hanging indent format, and ALPHABETIZED!!!!!!

11. When you are finished. Please go to the Mid-Term/ Final Module and click on Submit MLA assignment to submit this assignment.

Some helpful hints: Remember: Each quote and paraphrase must be properly introduced. You must establish the ethos of the writer in a non-fiction text, and set the context if using fiction. This means including the book title and  the character being quoted.

Here is a model of what the assignment should look like  (This is a fiction source so notice how context, character and book are mentioned in the introduction to the quote.  I will model  both a fiction and non-fiction book source.  YOU don't have to do both, choose one.

Book (fiction)

Direct quote:

The character ‘Jack’ from Fight Club vividly describes how it feels to be disconnected from life due to lack of sleep he says, “This is how it is with insomnia. Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy. The insomnia distance of everything, you can’t touch anything and nothing can touch you” (Palahniuk 21).

Paraphrase:

 The narrator in Fight Club felt completely disconnected with society due to his insomnia; his life felt like a multiple copy of itself over and over (Palahniuk 21).

Work Cited

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club: a Novel. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.

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Book (non-fiction)

Direct quote: 

Clive Thompson contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and columnist for Wired claims in his new book, "Every new tool shapes the way we think, as well as what we think about. The printed word helped make our cognition linear and abstract, along with vastly enlarging our stores of knowledge. [...] With every innovation, cultural prophets bickered over whether we were facing a technological apocalypse or a utopia" (7).

Paraphrase: 

Acclaimed author Clive Thompson claims in his new book, Smarter Than You Think, How Technology Is Changing Our Mind For The Better,  The tools in which one uses affects the way we envision things in our mind eye and what we envision.  Hard copy texts helped develop our cognition both linearly and abstractly thus increasing knowledge base. Technology always has something new and with each new device the question is every present if it truly beneficial or a hindrance to society (7).

Work Cited:

Thompson, Clive. Smarter Than You Think How Technology Is Changing Our Mind for the Better. 1st ed. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print.

 SO...If I was to create one for the sources I have shown you here, it would look like this, but your Works Cited page will represent ALL five sources.

                                                                    Work Cited

Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club: a Novel. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.

Thompson, Clive. Smarter Than You Think How Technology Is Changing Our Mind for the Better. 1st ed. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print.

Then after you generate all your citations, you will generate ONE  Works Cited page with all the sources  you used.

******So that will be a total of FIVE SOURCES!! *********