Lesson 2

The Goal:

Learn more about MLA citation style and what is expected of you as an author of academic research papers. Also, to examine what makes a piece of writing high quality.

*A Special Note About MLA: MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. This association publishes a handbook (with updates every few years) that provides the formatting standards for academic papers. You are required to understand and apply the formatting styles outlined by the MLA for your papers in this course.

This course does not provide you with tutorials or examples of every possible type of source and its corresponding citation. You are expected to be able to use the tools you have to find out how to cite these things yourself. For instance, if you interview your grandfather for a research paper on the Vietnam War, YOU must determine how to cite such a source. You will be held accountable for citing any and all of your sources, regardless of whether your instructor has covered the details of a particular kind of source.

See the page entitled “MLA” for additional resources.

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This quiz can be taken in Blackboard by clicking on ‘MLA Quiz’ in the left hand menu. You must achieve a score of 80% or better in order to pass this course. You can take it as many times as you wish. Although it’s open book, please make sure you’ve read the MLA section  in A Writer’s Reference beforehand.

What to Read:

 

  1. “Storytelling, Narration and the Who Am I Story” by Catherine Ramsdell in  Writing Spaces Vol. 2
  2. Pp. 410-428 in A Writer’s Reference–please note you’re also responsible for Pp. 353-412 for your MLA Quiz
  3. *”A Man Made Cold by the Universe” by Sherry Simpson
  4. *Our class’s rubric
  5. *  “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott

Writing Exercise:

This week, instead of a formal writing exercise, you will be taking a quiz on some of the finer points of MLA citation style.

This quiz can be taken in Blackboard by clicking on “MLA Quiz” in the menu.   You must achieve a score of 80% or better in order to pass this course. You can take it as many times as you wish, but no score less than 80% will be recorded. Although it’s open book, please make sure you’ve read the MLA section  in A Writer’s Reference beforehand.  

Go to the Discussion page and contribute to Discussion #2

 

Submission Checklist:

  • MLA Quiz (20 points – WA 2)
  • 2-paragraph contribution to the Slack  Discussion. (Start at the Discussion  2 Page, then head to Slack) (30 Points)

 

with Megan Bush