Format of Daily Writings / Assignments

Use a Heading
For daily assignments, use a simple heading for your assignments, in the top, left hand corner of the paper (starting on the first line).

Your Name
My Name
Class Name
Date (i.e., 31 August 2006)

This heading will 1) require you to put your name on your paper and 2) get you in the habit of using an MLA heading for assignments (see MLA blog for more info on that).

Spelling and Grammar Always Matter
In the immortalized words of my graduate professor, Dr. Michael Slavkin, “Always spell check a document – Stupid is as stupid does, and nothing says stupid more than somoeneone thut cant spull wright.”

Handwriting, Anyone?
One simple rule exists: if I can’t read it, I won’t grade it. I don’t have age to blame for eyesight problems, but my eyes were never that great for starters. If your handwriting is really that atrocious, you have my permission to type your assignments, or at least skip every other line.

Intro to MLA style

According to Dictionary.com, “it is the style recommended by the Modern Language Association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers. It concerns itself with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources. MLA style has been widely used by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century.”

Other scholarly forms of documentation and referencing exist for writing, such as APA, Chicago, or Turabian, but we will not use these other forms. In English class, you will use the MLA style of documentation in all four years of high school.

In-Text Notation
Hopefully, after reading the entry on plagiarism, you understand a little more about in-text notation. In MLA style, in-text notation includes the author’s last name and page number (if given) for EACH sentence. The only exception would be if two cited sentences appear in your paper, one after the next, the citation is needed ONLY for the second sentence.

Example: “This is the first sentence. This is the second sentence” (Feller 25).

OR “This is the first sentence. This is the second sentence” (Feller).

However, if the two sentences originally came from different sources, they both need citations.

Example: “This is the first sentence” (Feller 25). “This is the second sentence” (Miller 21).

OR “This is the first sentence” (Feller 25). “This is the second sentence” (Miller).

Notice that the citation appears INSIDE the sentence, hence the name “in-text” notation. The period which ends the sentence goes AFTER the citation.

Bibliographies and Works Cited Pages
A bibliography and a works cited page do not include the same information, with one small difference. A bibliography includes ALL references you found, looked at, or read during your research. This does not necessarily mean you used them all to write your paper. A works cited page ONLY includes books you cite within your paper. ALL works cited in your paper MUST have an entry in the works cited page at the end of your paper; ALL works cited entries MUST be cited SOMEWHERE in your paper. You will only complete works cited pages for this class, not bibliographies.

The works cited page should begin a new page after the paper. The format for a works cited page includes writing the words Works Cited, both capitalized, centered, on the first line of the page. The works cited page is double-spaced; nothing has extra spaces. Alphabetize entries by the authors’ last names, or the first word in the entry if no author is given.

You will receive more information about this as it becomes necessary. For extra help, view the Purdue Online Writing Lab’s section on MLA.

Plagiarism

What Is Plagiarism?
“Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s writing without giving proper credit, or perhaps without giving credit at all, to the writer of the original. Whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, it represents a serious academic offense” (McCrimmon 499).

What Plagiarism Is NOT
A misplaced comma is different than swiping a sentence or two (or three or four) from a website and failing to include notation (that last name and page number in parentheses above). You will not receive a failing grade if one quotation mark is missing. However, including no quotation marks when direct quotes exist will earn a failing grade. See notes below on the difference between direct quotes and paraphrasing.

Direct Quotes:
You should never include direct quotes which make up more than 10% of your paper. For example, if your entire paper is made up of quotes, proper credit or not, I will not grade it. In fact, if you’re already past the due date for the assignment, you’ll receive a 0 for the rough draft. Writing is not the ability to organize other people’s direct quotes in some new order which still makes sense. You should only use a direct quote when you can’t possibly think of any other way to say what that person said. These quotes are usually famous for some reason or another.

Example: “These quotes are usually famous for some reason or another” (Feller 25).
I included quote marks around the quote, and an in-text notation, showing the author’s last name and page number (if given).

Example: “These quotes are usually famous for some reason or another” (Feller).
If it was an internet quote or an interview, no page number is necessary.

Paraphrase:
Paraphrasing is much trickier than direct quoting and is usually the culprit for earning students a bad grade on papers. Paraphrasing does not mean taking a direct quote and changing 1-2 words in a string of 14-15 words. That is still plagiarism. Paraphrasing means taking someone else’s idea, digesting it a bit, and regurgitating the same ideas, but in a totally different way.

Example:

the original: “Paraphrasing is much trickier than direct quoting and is usually the culprit for earning students a bad grade on papers” (Feller).

the paraphrased:

WRONG: Paraphrasing is much harder than direct quoting and is sometimes the reason for earning students a bad grade on papers (Feller).

Note: Even though I gave credit to the writer of the original and changed a few words, this is still not enough to be considered a paraphrase. Therefore, this example would be considered plagiarized.

RIGHT: Students often earn low scores on papers because of the difficulty in paraphrasing ideas from direct quotes (Feller).

Note: I still gave credit to the writer of the original, even though I paraphrased. If I had not included the notation – EVEN IF I PARAPHRASED – this could be considered plagiarism. Remember, plagiarism means not giving credit to the writer of the original. YOU MUST GIVE CREDIT!

A Word to the Wise
A short word of advice: just don’t do it. ANY EVIDENCE OF PLAGIARISM INTENTIONAL OR UNINTENTIONAL WILL RESULT IN THE FAILURE OF THE PAPER. This includes using a part of a paper by another person for this or any other course.

I will check your paper and I will catch you if you plagiarize. It will be painful for all parties involved. I will call your parents, and you will earn a bad grade, and you will not like my class any more. So just don’t do it. Thank you.