Citation Guidelines

Within your Essay final draft you must do the in-text citation, which includes these basic elements:

• Include the author's last name the first parenthetical citation:
• the first time you use the source, and
• anytime you use multiple sources and go back and forth between cited works

• Use of (p.#) at the end of all cited passages. 

One clarification I want to make is on web sources: you do NOT include the web address. As you see with those on-line sources in the example page on 532, web sources are indicated in other ways.

In-text Citation Examples (the E of PRE): your source material is evidence, not the topic sentence! Therefore, you should NOT start off body paragraphs with evidence. Doing so will be assessed against Organizational categories on the essay rubric.

• In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain outlines various characteristics of what he looks for in those he employs in his kitchen. Among the many qualities, Bourdain emphasizes that his employees must be humble and reliable. The chef believes that a kitchen can only put out a quality product if the staff is able to follow the boss's vision. In fact, Bourdain brashly states that Latin American immigrants are stronger employees than privileged "CIA-educated white boys" simply because of these qualities (56).

• One example where Bourdain expresses his love of ______ is when he writes: "..........." (77).

• In the chapter "Big Foot," Bourdain writes about his admiration for the qualities of one of his former bosses, which includes ...insert qualities... (89-93). 

• Being a reliable person is emphasized by Bourdain when he states, "........." (52).

Some qualities and requirements to notice in the above examples:

• Start off with your thoughts/context, then go into citation...

• Subject matter that source is supporting should be subject of your sentence

• Use a solid verb (writes, states, exclaims, argues..., but NEVER 'says')

• Lead in to your cited passages with your own idea, or at least with context from where the source is coming from. Here are some things you MAY do:

• Use transitional phrases (introductory phrases are good, right!).

• Use the author's name (last name or whole name)/character's name to set up what the author is doing with the quote.

• Contextualize the passage the excerpted passage is from. What is happening, who is involved, and how is that passage relevant to the THEMATIC IDEA?

• Start with the key idea you want the reader to see in the quote as the subject, then attach the quote as a dependent clause (such as the last example above does).

• Page number is placed in the (page#), no matter if summarizing or quoting.

• The end punctuation always comes at the end of the citation, AFTER the ( ). 

• Exception:  If a ! or ? is part of the quote, leave it there and then use a period after the ( ) to indicate end of citation.  

• Ex.:   Bourdain then wrote, "What was he thinking!" (pg.#). 

• The first parenthetical citation you have should include the author's last name IF you don't name the author within your own writing. 

• So, if you didn't introduce Bourdain in your own sentences, you'd have to also write (Bourdain, page #) in the first citation. 

• When you have multiple sources/authors that you are writing on, you will want to get in the habit of using (author's last name, pg #)

Work Cited Pages (Bibliography)

At the end of your essay, you need a page that includes a list of all sources used in the essay. There is a great model of what a Work Cited page looks like on page 532 in Rules for Writers.

• If your essay has only the one cited work and you have space left over, I am okay with you including the Work Cited page right after the essay ends (saves a tree or two!). Just make sure to:
• Give some space between final essay sentence and your label of Work Cited
• Center the term Work Cited
• Have a space or two between Work Cited and the end citation.

You will also need to consult page 526 to check all of the basic formatting requirements of this page, including:

1. Alphabetizing your list by author's last name, or whatever information (editor, book title) your particular source lists first
2. Single spacing individual citations
3. Indenting the second line on of any end citations that go past first line

General Guidelines for MLA works cited

• There is a list of types of sources (pages 490-523) and how to write an end citation for different types of source material. Use these pages to identify your type of source, or use a reliable on-line citation guide, such as Diana Hacker's MLA guide.

Work Cited citation that connects to the above example in-text citation:

Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential. Updated ed. New York: Harper, 2007. Print. 

• In both in-text citation and in Work Cited page, the author's name is key. The reader can easily find your end citation when you do your job as the writer. This is important because:

1. Citation rules allow readers to find your sources so they can do their own reading/research
2. The in-text citation strategies allow for your essay to cleanly point to sources without distracting from the essay's own ideas. 

Literary Elements: Setting & Characterization

Authors craft worlds, similar to ours, in in the physical setting there is a chance for us to interpret a set of norms and beliefs held by characters. In each place, larger cultural points of view can be looked at as a common "worldview."  Within that worldview, each character has their own mindset--just as we do in our real world.  To find thematic understanding of what is being said about a place, you have to analyze the connections between people and place. Here are a following ways to start:

• How does an author portray the place? Does the narrator seem to like/dislike the place? 

• Who are the main characters; how are they characterized; what happens to them? How do they view the setting?

Characterization: the intended view an author wants the reader to get about a character...

• Appearance – how you physically describe them; what you emphasize about their looks

• Language – how they talk and what they talk about; accent, dialect, references they make, length of sentences …

• Behavior – define by actions, how they interact with other characters; how they treat themselves 

• Internal & External Thoughts – providing a character’s rationale for actions help shape the reader’s view

HW for 10/9:

Read this MLA In-text Citation Guide, and also review the same topic in Rules for Writers, pages 457-478.

Both the link and the MLA pages in RR essentially give you the same basic structure points for integrating sources. We will review how to use these techniques and also add some logical considerations, on Wednesday.

Midterm Analysis Preparation

Our In-class Midterm, which we will write next week on the day we are in the computer lab, will in some way force you to analyze the setting of Marstal, Denmark, and comment on how it culturally evolves over the years. 

***In Notes: create a vocabulary list of important terms, and define those terms. 'Setting' is one of those terms! Pick other terms from those below, and define as we discuss***


Foundational Questions:

What does culture involve? In what ways can you, the writer, narrow down that largest, broadest term into something manageable to think about and write upon?

What is a worldview? What is a mindset?

What does evolution mean, specifically in regards to Marstal?

How can you analyze Marstal's culture? What are some of the topics covered? 

• Life at sea/economy
• Technological advances
• Wars
• Gender roles
• Religion versus education

Other Relevant Topical Questions and Points to Make in Such a Case:

1. What happens to characters based on their way of life? (This is such an umbrella question that you can come up with many more once you isolate a few answers.)

2. How do the main characters feel about Marstal and what commentary do they make about life there? How does it evolve over time, for the character?  (Understanding and exploring characterization leads to insight into themes about the larger world.)

3. What physical changes in Marstal happen in the 100 years or so? What mindset/worldview changes happen in that time?

4. What doesn't change, physically, about Marstal? What other things don't change--mindsets, norms and beliefs? Specify.

Critical Thinking: Adding Ideas to Your Essay 2

What does your hope to gain/recover symbolize/illustrate about you as a person -- or about people in general? Answer this question in a unified paragraph using the Linking techniques we reviewed in our last classes together. 

1. Brainstorm your idea first
• How is your own personal journey more than just your own.
2. List a few reasons and examples (personal or universal) that first this claim
3. Start with a powerful topic sentence that directly answers the above question:

• Your topic sentence subject needs to be your Essay 2 subject matter--name the thing!
• Your topic sentence needs to use one of these verbs, or one that is relevant from the list of active verbs we reviewed earlier in the semester:
• symbolizes
• represents
• connotes
• confirms
• distinguishes
• defines
• moralizes
• exemplifies
• typifies
• corroborates
• depicts

Homework for Tuesday, 10/7: Investigating Your Essay 2 Draft's Main Idea

Dear Students: I am unable to teach today, so I have set up the following instructions for you to follow to make up for

Here is what you need to do for today and Tuesday's classes:

1. You will need to bring in two drafts of Essay 2: the first is the one you were going to hand in today, and the second draft is the revisions you make based on the workshop questions below. I STRONGLY REQUEST THAT YOU TAKE OUR CLASS TIME FROM TODAY TO WORK ON THAT SECOND DRAFT! DON't WASTE ANOTHER 120 hours in the five days before we see each other next. 


2. E-mail me your Essay 2 thesis statement at christopher.ankney AT montgomerycollege.edu by the end of today, Thursday, 10/2.

3. Make sure you have finished up to the end of "The Breakwater" in We, the Drowned. 

4. Those who have yet to hand me Essay 1's second draft--e-mail me that essay if you want to have any feedback by Tuesday.

5. Those who want me to scan and send them Essay 1's graded essay with feedback, I will do so at your request. If you want me to just summarize your grade and feedback, I will do that, instead, if you request.



WORKSHOP REVISION Questions for Essay 2:

Why do you want what you want? --> Do you answer that question? Where at in the essay do you answer this question? Ask the following and answer as you revise your draft.

• How can you introduce the "why" in the intro? Where have you already done so? How can you improve upon the why? 

• Do you devote one body paragraph to "why" you want to gain or recover? 

• Do you reiterate in some way, in your conclusion, what your "thing" means for you?

Who are you? Where are you from? What is your background? What do we get to know about you as the writer/narrator that matters towards what you hope to attain?

• Do you describe yourself? What could you add to your identity that matters--how do you think the world sees you?

"Girl"

• Do you describe where you are from? What types of things symbolize the type of life you have lived to this day? 

• Who lives in your neighborhood? What do the houses look like? What size of the place? 
• "The House on Mango Street"

• Do you describe the life you want? What types of things do you see in that life? 

Editing/Drafting: Linking Strategies and more

You have two basic grammatical choices when going from one sentence to the next sentence:

1. Start the second sentence by repeating the subject of the first sentence, or

2. Start the second sentence by making the object of the first sentence the subject of the second sentence.

--------

Below is an example of the above techniques that expand on the idea of "borrowing words" to strengthen our transitions. The following techniques emphasize linking our ideas from sentence to sentence using the key words (subject or object) from the previous sentence. Additionally, these techniques should be combined with other strategies, such as using synonymous language to avoid repetition or monotony as the paragraph develops.

Besides creating more coherent (understandable) transitions, these techniques will also help naturally develop an idea from the first sentence to the last within a paragraph.

When we practice these techniques, we must also consider and work towards structuring our body paragraph using our PRE (Point, Reason, Example) formula. Below is one example of how to use PRE with the linking techniques:

Point | Topic Sentence: Anthony Bourdain learns very early in his cooking career that cockiness only gets a person so far in life.

Reasons:  

1. Fellow workers do not appreciate the attitude that one is better than others.
2. Cockiness can cause one to become too confident in their skills and cause them to do a poor job.
3. Someone or something will humble a man when he becomes too cocky.

Supporting Example:

1. Tyrone at Mario's
2. Chef Bernard at CIA 

Okay...we have our PRE. Now, we must work on the following two sentence-to-sentence techniques for strong coherence.

Borrowing Words From Previous Sentences

1. Repeat the subject of one sentence as the subject of the next sentence! However, to show some variety and skill:

• If the subject is the author of a source you are explaining, rotate between their whole name and their last name.  

• For example:  Anthony Bourdain learns.... Bourdain realizes...

• Or, use an adjective or brief phrase that helps develop the subject further.  

• For example: Anthony Bourdain learns.... The overconfident Bourdain realizes...

• Or, create a brief introductory phrase using a synonym (word or phrase) that characterizes your subject and gives good context, followed by the appropriate pronoun:

• For example:  Anthony Bourdain learns.... As a novice cook, he realizes...

Let's  see how a young writer might put this "repeat the subject" technique into play:

        Anthony Bourdain learns very early in his cooking career that cockiness only gets a person so far in life (topic sentence).  Bourdain realizes that his fellow workers do not appreciate the attitude that one is better than others (reason 1).  The overconfident Bourdain also realizes that cockiness can cause one to become too confident in their skills and cause them to do a poor job (reason 2). As a novice cook, he finds out someone or something will humble a man when he becomes too cocky (reason 3).

• Another technique to note: each sentence's main verb is a synonym of the topic sentence's main verb. (Why does this make sense?)

• Also, note that we have yet to introduce our supporting examples that are specific experiences Bourdain learned from two early chapters in his life.

2. Turn the object from one sentence into the subject of the very next sentence. 

• This technique is good to use when transitioning between a reason and an example. You may have to revise the object a bit to make the transitions sound good:  

•  For example: 

• Bourdain realizes that his fellow workers do not appreciate the attitude that one is better than others.  
• (So "fellow workers" will start the next sentence...)

• One fellow worker that dislikes Bourdain's cockiness is Tyrone, the head cook at Mario's where Bourdain spends his second summer learning to cook. 
• (So "Tyrone" will start the next sentence...)

• Tyrone shows his cooking scars to a whiny Bourdain to make the point that one cannot be cocky in the kitchen and cry for burn cream (pg. #).  
• (So "his cooking scars" may be the subject of the next sentence...)

The two general techniques will help you:

• Build coherency by staying on topic

• Build vocabulary as you decide on different synonyms to use

• Further pay attention to those basic parts of speech: subject, verb, and object. 

Lastly (deep breath...),  use these techniques in revising & editing all essays:

The above writing techniques can be used at any stage of of the essay writing process. Sure, it helps to practice writing this way from the first draft. However, it's also a good way to go back through and re-write your essays to help clear up coherency issues.

• Look for places where you start a sentence with a pronoun, especially one that may be too broad and lack a reference (It, This, That, Those, These...). Replace such sentences in your essay with one that uses the above techniques.

• Look for places where you have poor transitions ("trans." might be marked on a draft critique).