2. Type a sentence with cool punctuation (dash or semicolon) here from a favorite novel (fiction), including the page number after the sentence, but before the period. Harry Potter or Finding Forrester or Moby Dick or Hatchet--something you loved reading, and may read again one day. Write about how the sentence's cool punctuation helps the sentence be, well, cool. Also, find and type a deliberate fragment to write about. Use these strategies in your own writing!
Write 300+ words. (Pictured is the brilliant Dr. Mark Van Wienen, who taught me all about citation of sources at Augustana University.)
95 comments:
Taught to us in middle school, citing is either an arduous task or a breeze depending on the student. I, myself, am not confident in my citations that I include in my writings; I most certainly am not a fan of it. I do understand the concept of citing; however, the actual act of citing and the addition of MLA citations in my essays seem near impossible. I do understand (with the help of Easybib.com) how to create a works cited page and what a proper works cited page is to look like. I attempted, in my most recent essay, to complete all my citations in the APA format. Formatting in the APA format seemed to be easier than the MLA, but for all I know, I could have done it completely wrong thinking I was correct the entire time.
Arguably my favorite book of all time, The Catcher in the Rye, has excellent sentences and they are all very interesting (or maybe I may be biased). J.D. Salinger has an exquisite way of writing that is both understandable and complex. Though it is cliché, this book was instantly my favorite after reading it in the eighth grade. One particular sentence, “‘You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?'”(Chapter 9, p. 60), has exquisite use of commas in two out of four sentences (as the other two do not include commas). Without the addition of the commas, the sentences would seem incomplete. A fragment that is present within this books, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye”(Chapter 16, p. 119), is absolutely beautifully written and inspires me to make use of deliberate fragments in my future writings. I always have admired how Salinger presents writing as a fine art and has such a rigmarole way of writing that is completely necessary. The Catcher in the Rye, being Salinger’s best work (in my own opinion), is an amazing novel to read and I also very much enjoy many of his other works including Franny and Zooey.
I have been a frequent user of easybib.com. I get very confused when it comes to the different formats you use when it comes to citing books, websites, and articles. I am not a fan or expert on citing things in MLA format and have to be reminded often on how to do it correctly. I often referred to chapter 18 when we were writing out casual essays due to the examples of each type of information. I have not tried APA, Chicago, or CSE style of formatting. I will consider doing one of the other types in my next essay but I just mastered MLA citation that I wouldn’t want to get confused with the other formatting.
My favorite book of all time is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This book is infamous for Dickens’s writing style and has been studies by many schools, including mine. I read this book sophomore year and the twist and turns still remain in my mind. One of the books most famous lines has very interesting punctuation, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” (Ch 1. Pg1) This is an extraordinary long run-on sentence but has crazy punctuation. The sentence compares a multitude of different things describing the turmoil between two cities. He committed this grammar crime to emphasis the rambling in the cities. “If you hear my voice — I don’t know that it is so, but I hope it is — if you hear in my voice any resemblance to a voice that once was sweet music in your ears, weep for it, weep for it!” (Chapter 6) The punctuation gives the sentence a sort of distressed and trouble aura. This book is my favorite due to its mind blowing twist and turns and I would love to read it again to pick out all the foreshadowing components that I missed the first time.
Citing sources is an overwhelming enterprise but a vital practice. I am rather unconfident with the whole affair: I am poor at making up my mind, so the dozens of potential formatting styles for MLA works-cited entries all seem to swirl together. I suppose it ought to be straightforward enough, as long as one heeds the models from the Purdue Owl and the St. Martin textbook. For me it is just a matter of determining the source’s medium (and sticking with that format).
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is one of my favorite tales--it is the original swashbuckling adventure. Yet lamentably enough, it is often dismissed by literary scholars as nothing more than a children’s story, written for children, with nothing to offer the advanced reader. This is simply untrue. In the following sentence, Stevenson bends all the subtleties of punctuation to his very will: “She [the ship Hispaniola] had swung round to the ebb--her bow was now towards me--the only lights on board were in the cabin; and what I saw was merely a reflection on the fog of the strong rays that flowed from the stern window” (148). Stevenson has employed a pair of dashes to set off an aside to the reader; this addition (“her bow was now towards me”) clarifies “swung round to the ebb,” a sea-phrase that most readers--including myself--do not understand. The author could have easily cut out this bit of sailor jargon in favor of the simplification; but by including it, Stevenson preserves an atmosphere of realism. The reader feels himself immersed in the world of sailing, yet he is given enough explanation to keep from drowning.
The casual, relaxed flow of J.R.R. Tolkien’s immortal classic The Hobbit makes for enjoyable reading. In fact, it hardly feels like reading at all. The narrator progresses with such perfect ease in a conversational tone that the reader soon forgets the words are being drawn from a page at all--the narrator’s informal style makes it seem as if the narrator is actually speaking aloud. The following fragment exemplifies this principle: “Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or eat: it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort” (1). In formal writing, an independent clause invariably precedes a colon, but here the narrator has violated the rule. With good reason! Everyday conversation is rife with sentence fragments. Tolkien is merely sculpting a believable narrator; to do so he has ventured to bend some grammatical rules.
Although extremely important in various forms of writing, citing still appears as a problematic task for me. I am not yet confident in citing but I hope to master this in the near future. At most, I understand the importance of giving credit to the source of my information gathered. However, depending on the type of source I need to give credit to is typically what sends trouble my way. Lost in confusion is where you might find me when having to source things like a website. Book citation come more naturally to me because it seems all of the information needed to give credit are in one general area and I do not have to go on a wild hunt to find what I need. Despite the fact I do struggle with some components of how citing work occurs, I do have an understanding of the format of a works cited page and what the final result should mimic. Chapter 18 of the handbook ( MLA citation) is of a great source to me as a write when I need to give credit to my information. The handbook informs and gives examples of each type of citation whether it is a book, magazine, website, etc. This is a great resource to me as a student because I always have this handbook to look back on when I am struggling or second guessing myself. The only downfall I have found though, is not all of the categories are thoroughly explained. This however, is when Purdue Owl gives me a helping hand. Purdue Owl is yet another wonderful resource offered to help with works cited. Sentence upon sentence is given to help teach and encourage the correct usage of citations. I have not yet tried to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style but I would highly consider this after mastering MLA. Purdue Owl also has a great deal of information on these styles that would help guide me through these formats.
An intriguing book I studied in high school holds many examples of perfected sentences. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens displays a variety of sentences within each page. Such as this example, “There was a ridge of ploughed land, with a plough upon it where it had been left last night when the horses were unyoked; beyond, a quiet coppice-wood, in which many leaves of burning red and golden yellow still remained upon the trees” (Book 1, Chapter 3, p. 25). The use of the semi colon makes the sentence stand out from other repetitive simple sentences. This allows the reader to become more engaged in the work instead of becoming bored with being able to predict the sentence structure. Charles Dickens also chooses to use deliberate fragments within his work of A Tale of Two Cities. When one of the characters are being questioned, the response is “With two companions.” “A gentleman and lady” (Book 2, Chapter 2 p.77). Although this is dialogue, Dickens specifically wrote in such a way to use deliberate fragments. I would assume he has done so to put more emphasis into the conversation to make things better understood for the reader.
Both of these sources are very efficient in showing one how to compose an MLA Citation and give pristine instructions on how to do so. I think I am fairly proficient on citing in an MLA format, but sometimes there could be a multitude of missing information (especially on web sources) which makes it difficult to cite effectively. I understand how to cite; I do not exactly have format memorized but I have a fairly good idea and if given guidance I would be able to cite with no problem. I understand that a works cited page has a centered title, the second line of each source is indented a half-inch, and it is also in alphabetical order. To show comparison, I will use the same book (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) so one would be able to tell the difference. APA Citation style is Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. Book. City, State: Publisher. or otherwise: Rowling, J.K. (2001). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone. London: Bloomsburg Children's. Another unique styling type is Chicago which is as the following: Last, First M. Book Title. City: Publisher, Year of publication. and in terms of J.K. Rowling: Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. London: Bloomsbury Children's, 1997. In Suzanne Collins book, Catching Fire, there are multiple examples of neat sentencing types. One of my favorites read “Their effect on Gale is immediate--the flush on his cheek, the brightness of his gray eyes.” (99) I really like how the dash within the sentence adds a very sudden break to intensify the emotion within Gale’s face. It provides the reader with a very vivid image within their imagination. Deliberate fragments are a very interesting grammar technique in my opinion because you must be good with grammar to be able to correctly write with fragments. One example in Collin’s book is, “In person.” (99) The previous context is, “Nothing! In person. I just heard something.” (99) You can see that the way she used this fragment was to break up the statement to make it fairly more dramatic, which I admire.
Even though the need to be able to cite sources has been evident in school since 6th grade, I still do not think I have learned the ropes of citation; whether it is MLA, APA, or Chicago. I do not fully understand how to cite a source in text or how to cite some sources like movies or websites on my own; therefore, I am not totally confident in my ability to cite sources. The Term Tuesday that was presented to the class a month or so ago did help my understanding. The acronym LiFT and CoPY has been a true benefit and has given me a greater understanding of how to cite a book or other literary work closely related. I do understand how to read a works cited page and how to utilize one. I am currently thinking about trying a new citation style such as APA or CSE style for extra credit. It would be a challenge that is worth attempting; and is more tempting with the prize of extra credit attached to it.
The handbook that was given to us at the beginning of the year has been a fantastic source for looking up information. Chapter 18, especially, is loaded with information over MLA formatting and citation and I have used it to cite sources in my essays. One of my favorite book series is the Harry Potter series. As a child, I read all of the books up to the 6th one as the 7th one had not come out yet. Once it did, I immediately read it from front cover to end within a rather small time-frame. The third book in the series, Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban, has the sentence: “Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione, who opened her bag, took out her new Arithmancy book, and propped it open against the juice jug.” (111). This sentence stuck out to me as it is a compound sentence with one of the subjects having three verbs. That is extremely neat. The deliberate fragment I found in this book is, “And to the Ministry of Magic.” (125). Most deliberate fragments are used for emphasis, and this one listed previously is no different. They are powerful to use when used correctly; and I hope to incorporate this style of sentence into my upcoming essays.
Without the mighty help of easybib.com I am not sure if I would be able to cite a source at all, let alone in perfect MLA format. In the book I found the endless example and different explanations very helpful as someone who does not necessarily understand how to cite properly on my own. Although I fully understand the importance of citing a source to make sure you are not plagiarizing your essay while also having a full amount of relevant facts in it, I do not necessarily fully understand the proper spacing, punctuation and order in which to write your citation. I do however fully understand how to make your work cited page. Your work cited page should be on a completely separate page of its own --not starting in the middle of a page that is half essay, half work cited. Then you should have your page clearly labeled “work cited”. following that all of your work cited should be neatly organized and in alphabetical order with correct and consistent spacing in between citations. All of your MLA citations should also have a hanging indent. For extra credit I would absolutely try to cite a source a different way. Although, I feel like after all this time of people trying to learn and/or teach themselves how to label in MLA format it is going to prove to be a challenge to change how we cite our sources. Although the idea of finally getting used to something and then having it change to something completely different seems all too familiar as a high school student. But for extra credit and as long as it did not affect my grade in a negative way, I would be more than willing to make a fair attempt at trying to cite in APA, chicago, or CSE style. “When I stepped out ,into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house,I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman,and a ride home.” This is a quote from my all time favorite book, The Outsiders. I find this sentence more than intriguing due to the structure. The colon really gives this sentence a cool style and flow to it. Out of context you really do not get a feeling for how great this! this is the first sentence in the book so it really grabs the reader’s attention right away!
2 Knutson
Specifically what I find helpful about both the handbook and the Purdue OWL website is that they have abundance of information and get quite in-depth. For example, The St. Martin’s Handbook provides a large variety of different sources you can cite including, books, periodicals(journals or newspapers), electronic sources, and other online sources. The handbook then goes further and gives specific examples within each category. The handbook also shows an actual students essay in which he uses perfect MLA format in which he uses in-text citations and has a works cited page at the end. The Purdue OWL is also a good source that is useful to have when a person may have a question on how to cite a piece of information. Much like the St. Martin’s Handbook, the Purdue OWL goes into detail on how to cite certain kinds of sources. The Purdue OWL provides a large amount of examples for each source citation.
I feel as though I have a good understanding and am overall pretty confident of how to cite information in my essays. I “get” how to do in-text citations and understand the format of the works cited page. I do not “get” the exact setup of the citations on the works cited page; this meaning if I did not have Easy-Bib I would not be able to organize each individual citation on the works cited page correctly. I would possibly consider trying a different way of citing sources such as APA since some colleges make nursing majors cite using this style.
A favorite book of mine that I read this summer, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, uses a variety of different and cool punctuation marks, including dashes and ellipses. One example of these sentences being “He was hers. To have and hold. Not forever, maybe--not forever, for sure-- and not figuratively, but literally(250).” I find this sentence interesting because of the use of dashes used when Eleanor is describing how Park is finally hers though she knows the relationship will not last, though she hopes it will. A fragment that is used in the book “She had a pair of Vans he liked with strawberries on them and she had a green sharkskin blazer that Park himself would wear if he thought he could get away with it(31).” is used to show Park’s infatuation with Eleanor and how he gets so caught up in her.
I am decently confident with MLA citation; however I feel that I have a large dependency on easybib.com when it does come to citing my sources. I get somewhat nervous when using in-text notation because I am not completely sure I do it one hundred percent correctly. The main thing I find very difficult with works cited pages is that some sources really lack information to be able to cite them correctly. However, the handbook and the link posted on the blog are helpful in showing how to correctly cite sources using the MLA format. If I was taught how to properly use CSE, Chicago, or APA then I would definitely use in it my essays for extra credit. I do understand how a works cited page is suppose to look. “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him (240).” I always hated reading from AR goals to reading assignments in any class. I just never could get myself to fall in love with a book and actually enjoy what I was reading. My experience was very different with Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. I even remember my mom coming into my room on Christmas and telling me that I should do stuff with my newly received presents but I was so captivated in the book that I actually said the words, “Just one more chapter.” I think the reason I liked reading those books so much is before of the way Stephanie Meyer made the reader the main character. The way she wrote made me feel like I was Bella Swan and everything that she encounter I was effected by. “Twilight, again. Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end. (517)” Her deliberate fragments in the previous sentences really cause a dramatic effect that causes emotions to be drawn from the reader.
Ever since middle school, citing our sources was a mandatory task, and to this day it still is. When citing sources, I find myself going to easybib.com. Miraculously, the Modern Language Association (MLA) format is right in front of you at a click of a button. I often ask myself, is that the correct way to cite my sources? When given the correct sources like The St. Martin’s Handbook and Purdue OWL, I find that it gives me a better understanding as to where everything is placed in a citation. Having a template to follow gives me a better understanding as to where everything is placed in a citation. I am confident when citing my sources when I use easybib.com but I know that relying on that website is not the most reliable source sometimes. I know that I am not going to be able to rely on easybib.com during exams. I understand how a works cited page appears. The works cited page does not seem to be the problem for me, it is writing the sources. I would take full advantage of trying to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style for extra credit. After all, practice makes perfect!
One book that I have started to read is Divergent by Veronica Roth. As I am reading through Divergent, I have came across many great punctuated sentences. Roth uses many dashes along with semicolons. One example being, “I set my jaw. I will be the child that stays; I have to do this for my parents. I have to” (47). Another example is, “They come from the bunk next to mine-they belong to a Candor boy, Al, the largest and broadest of all the initiates” (74). Roth writes in such a descriptive that it is easy for me to picture exactly what she is writing.
Citing sources is very important for an essay, so that you do not plagiarize someone else’s work. However, I do not fully understand all of the criteria needed to cite my sources. If I follow my handbook, I am able to understand how my Works Cited page is suppose to look, but I have not fully memorized all of the specific commas, words and periods that you have to include, yet. In my opinion, the handbook and the Purdue Owl magnificently help explain on how to type a works cited page and insert an in-text citation. I refer to these two whenever I need a reminder on how to cite a source correctly. I would also definitely consider the challenging task of citing sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style for extra credit. I would take part in this difficult task as long as it did not dock my grade, otherwise I would not since I am not fully comprehending the most basic citation, which is MLA citation.
My favorite book I read in my high school career would be Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck describes the characters in his books in such remarkable ways. “Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely” (10). Steinbeck writes in such a breathtaking way, it is almost unreal. He creates such imagery with his writings, that you can actually picture what the characters look like perfectly. I enjoy how he writes with colons, semi-colons, and commas. It adds a lot of emphasis to the paragraph. Steinbeck then writes “Oh, sure. I remember. In Weed” (14). I think he writes this because he is putting emphasis on “In Weed” because Lennie is asking George where they are going, and George gets angry so Lennie states that fragment deliberately. Writing these type of essays with direct quotes, indirect quotes, and deliberate fragments add emphasis and makes your writing style unique. It helps me expand my knowledge and further my writing capability.
Bose 7 said…
I learned how to cite my sources in middle school. At this time of trying to retain this critical piece of information, I sadly, forgot how to many of the very important rules of how to do so. The main piece of information I recall from citing is to not plagiarize. That is the extent of my knowledge towards citing sources. I would not say that I am horrible at citing sources but I am not of prestigious strength at doing so either. I use a frequent and very helpful tool, easybib.com. This is an amazing source that I use to help me cite my sources correctly so I do not plagiarize an author’s work. I usually get confused on where to put periods, what gets capitalization, what needs italicized, and where do quotations go. Both resources, our composition textbook and Purdue Owl, are amazing sources that I will use in my present and future essays. What I enjoy about both of these sources is the fact that they give you examples and show you how to use them in your real citation. I am a visual learner so this helps me tremendously!
Instead of having a favorite book, I have a favorite series. My favorite series would be A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I was introduced into these books in middle school and I fell in love. The series consists of thirteen books and they are a challenging read for a middle school child. Mr. Snicket uses broad vocab, which in the long run only helped expand mine. This series is about unfortunate events that three siblings endure through a long journey to discover what has happened to their parents. A quote from the first book of the series, The Bad Beginning, is an excellent example of being realistic even in a children’s book series. “One of the most troublesome things in life is that what you do or do not want has very little to do with what does or does not happen” (Chp. 1 pg.34). This is an example of a chiasmus. It also has amazing parallel structure. “Things you never ask for and don’t always like” (Chp. 1 pg.23). This is a deliberate fragment and it is talking about how life is a restaurant with strange waiters and you do not always get served what you asked for or like. He executed this perfectly. I have read this series two times and plan on reading it again and many times after that.
I think writing in MLA format can be very hard. Through some of our essays and term Tuesday’s it has become easier to do. I found chapter 18 in the handbook to be very helpful especially for in-text citations. These can be very confusing sometimes to cite within your writings. I also found it very helpful that they listed multiple ways a source could possibly be cited. It is common for a source to be other than just one author and in a book. I “get” that all the citations must be alphabetically and must be indented when longer than just one sentence. I find it difficult to cite within text because I want to make sure that I have given enough credit to the original author. I think I have a good understanding on how to accurately cite a works cited page. With more practice I think it will be much easier.
It was just that kind of place, and nearly everyone had heard the story of Tony Stevens, a marine from the Twenty-fourth MEU--Marine Expeditionary Unit--who’d survived nine bombs (82). This sentence came from the story The Lucky One written by Nicholas Sparks. This sentence contains many different types of punctuation from commas to dashes. By adding different types of punctuation it allowed the sentence to be much longer and more dramatic. Beth Green. Or, more accurately, Thibault thought, Elizabeth Green. E (65). There are two deliberate fragments in just these few sentences. The fragments allow the writings to be more dramatic when being read. In this part of the story he just remembering someone very special that he had previously forgotten about. The fragment allows this to be shown in a more dramatic way. I hope to be able to use deliberate fragments in future writings in order to make my writings more interesting to the reader and allow for a better story.
Citing sources has been a topic that has been discussed since middle school but always left open-ended in my opinion. It has been taught that plagiarism is wrong and can come with serious consequences the older you get, but I do not think we have been properly taught how to do so. The acronym LiFT and CoPY has been a beneficial and has given me a better understanding of how to cite a book or other literary work closely related. Reading chapter 18 out of the handout was a must if I was going to properly complete the Casual Essay. It took some time trying to understand how to properly use in text citations and properly citing them. After completely that essay and reading chapter 18 and the Purdue Owl link, I feel like I have a better understanding of how cite sources but not entirely. I feel it will taking more teaching and more practice to understand fully. I also think citing in APA or Chicago style for extra credit is great option that I am seriously going to consider trying; however, I would first like to get a better grasp on citing in MLA format. On the bright side I do understand how a works cited page is supposed to look.
One series I especially enjoyed reading when I was younger was the “Alex Rider” series by Anthony Horowitz. Anthony Horowitz, an exceptional writer, got me hooked on his first book with his figurative language and his use of a variety of different literary devices. In one instance he used a deliberate fragment very effectively. “He was in his twenties. Not english. His looks were Middle Eastern (147).” He used this deliberate fragment to describe the main character, Alex Rider, in a more interesting way. “Had he somehow missed the last two minutes-two precious minutes when he had so few left (218).” This was an example of how he effectively used a dash to make his writing more interesting. He used it within a question emphasizes the importance of the sentence.
Being able to cite sources correctly has never been a skill of mine, because I have always had access to online sites that are able to turn anything into MLA format for me. It is an easy task to go online and copy and paste a URL into an open space, rather than for me to try to understand the concept of it. I understand how to complete the first 4 lines above the title on a online document, with names of the students and teachers, plus the class and the date. These are the things that I am able to understand, but trying to turn a website into MLA formatting is a semi-difficult task. I also understand how a Works Cited page is supposed to look, I just do not have the ability to turn the URLs into MLA formatting without the overly useful help of EasyBib.com. I would try to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style, if I knew how to or if I researched how to cite sources in those formats.
"His gaze jerked to the stairs and his mind suddenly disengaged as total panic seized every bit of him—the gut feeling that life had just robbed Decker of everything he would ever have." This coolly punctuated sentence was written by Amos Decker, a.k.a. David Baldacci, the author of Memory Man. This sentence is brilliantly composed. The way he uses foreshadowing makes the reader feel the panic with him and puts the reader in a confused state as they wonder what is going to happen, and how was he robbed of everything he would ever have. The abilities he has as a writer are completely mind-blowing and he, in my eyes, is the most talented author that someone is able to find. In his book Memory Man, he constantly uses foreshadowing and countless other literary devices, therefore I recommend that you read some of his books.
One of my favorite works cited cite is easybib.com. It lays out the information perfectly and has everything need to make the works cited beautiful. The MLA citation in Chapter 18 is helpful when trying to figure out other ways to cite besides a website. It gives many examples like emails to websites to musical composition to interview. Physical examples help me out greatly when coming to school. Seeing an example of something helps me grasp the concept better. I have never used Purdue OWL. I have seen it before but it does not give an easy lay out like easybib.com does. I am not confident in citing my sources but some confidence is boosted with the help of resources. It is hard to cite certain things nowadays with so many different places to get information from. It is hard to remember how to cite each different citation. I understand how to cite websites, books, surveys. I do not understand how to quite cite a video or legal source. The works Cited page is an easy concept to grasp when you have the right MLA format and the websites cited correctly. I will try to cite sources in APA or chicago in the argumentation essay. I do not know what CSE style is at this point.
One book in particular that I find intriguing and recently started to read is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book was brought to me by my dad and sister that also read it as well. Sometimes in life a book and show you in the right direction and this book does that very well. “Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain-it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”(5). This sentence really get my no-gen thinking about how to be polite and how nowadays everything is different than what is was even 10 years ago. The layout is extremely smooth and the hyphen is used for effect and importance. “Look at it this way: even if some truth exists in your complaints about people, snapping at them over their faults-- or worse, humiliating them--won’t get you very far when it comes to changing their behavior”(7). This has a lot of separating with brief pauses through the sentence giving it some suspense.
Both the handbook and Purdue Owl website are great help in trying to master MLA citation. One point in middle school we began learning how to properly cite websites, books, etc. For someone who has been practicing MLA citation for many years now; I still can not say that I am extremely confident in using it. Many times I find myself taking the easy way out and just using easybib.com. I find making the actual citation on the works cited page, and formatting it to be quit easy. However when it comes to in text citation, I am easily confused. Most of the time it is just as simple as putting the author's last name, or the name of the website; in that form I have no problem. When it comes to adding in more authors or page numbers I tend to get confused on how exactly to cite in the the text. As much as I would love to try for extra credit using APA, Chicago, or CSE style… I need to become more comfortable with the basic MLA style first. I am hoping through this class my citation skills will improve, and I will soon be able to cite everything and anything I please to.
Recently I started to read the book If I Stay by Gayle Forman. With in this book it hold many great examples of sentence stylings. For example “Around the time I was four, I think my parents realized that they were actually doing it--raising a kid--even though they didn't have a ton of money or ‘real” jobs. We had a nice house with cheap rent. I had clothes (even if they were hand-me-downs from my cousins) and I was growing up happy and healthy” (85). By the use of dashes and side notes, she adds more to what the character is addressing. Forman writes amazingly, and allows for readers to really connect with a character. She also uses fragments to help build on the situations. “His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues” (181). For these few reasons(and many more), I highly enjoy reading Forman's work.
Peterson 6
Knowing the importance there is to give proper respect to the source credit, I feel guilt for not wanting to go through the trouble of citing in the correct way. I find difficulty in the variety of ways that are set for each type of source including: books, websites, magazines, and so on. In my dream world I wish each citation was the same, preferably books. I find to cite a book is the easiest one to accomplish, as all the information is laid out for you. While I was writing my causal essay, the MLA chapter 18 was a tremendous help. Before I made a citation I made sure to check the proper way to cite, but yet I still had confusion even though it was set right in front of me. I am not able to cite in the correct without the help of the useful website, Easy Bib—not having that website, well… would become a travesty for me, and my essay. MLA chapter 18 was very helpful to me, and the examples were defiantly the reason on why I thought it to be helpful. I have to learn by seeing it, I can just by being told. The website Pursue Owl, seems to be an encouraging tool, as it gives you sentences on the correct way to cite sources. I have not yet tried to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style and I would like to wait until I have mastered the infamous MLA. I hope to master the MLA formation quickly, as I know I will be using it in the future.
My favorite book is The Hunger Games. I read this book all the way back in the seventh grade—so you can tell this book has left a mark on me. Suzanne Collins wrote a poem,
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.
Here it's safe, here it's warm
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
The final lines are barely audible.
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings
them true
Here is the place where I love you (chapter 18 page 222).
I enjoy how she wrote, it makes you feel things and also makes you see what is going on. It’s a beautiful poem.
Jacobson P.6
Citing sources has always been a complicated factor for me. In my eyes, it has never gotten well explained. When doubting my citing abilities I turn to easybib.com. They lay out citations perfectly and has everything you need to create a flawless citation. MLA citations in chapter 18 are very helpful when wanting a physical example. I always like to physically see things and to always have it with me in school is nice too. I seem to understand the concept better when I see multiple examples and can hold them in my own hands. Chapter 18 provides a lot of examples from emails and websites to interviews and compositions. I have used Purdue Owl a few times in the past. It is helpful but not nearly as helpful as the handbook. My confidence lowers when I have to cite sources and I doubt myself highly. Using resources such as the handbook and easybib.com, does help a lot. I do not understand how to correctly cite a quote within a quote, or legal sources. I do understand how to cite websites, books, and surveys. Citing MLA format can be an easy topic to grasp when used repeatedly and if your resources give you proper examples.
A book that I am currently reading, "Auschwitz and After," is a biography about Charlotte Delbo, a French writer who was sent to Auschwitz for resistance activities against the Nazis. Lamont (author) does a great job of making you perceive just how cold and cruel the SS officers were. "It reappeared in the mud. This leg in the mud. Alice's leg--severed alive--in the mud (41)." This sentence has cool punctuation which helps you perceive just how badly treated the prisoners were and provides deep detail. I love reading this book because it helps me get an insight of the concentration camps, which is something we (students) do not get a lot of.
Wardlow 6
Paging through chapter eighteen I am noticing many different resources that will help me when citing sources. The books shows and explains seventeen different scenarios for citing sources. I never knew that sacred text such as the Bible had a special way to be cited, but it makes sense. Purdue also has many resources about citing sources and I used that website when working on my term Tuesday project. I am pretty comfortable with citing sources since I had to use it in my clausal essay, my term Tuesday project, and now my argumentative essay. I am having plenty of practice doing it, however every once in awhile I will forget how to do the in text citations, but I have many resources to remember how to. I think I will attempt to use a different citing method to step out of my comfort zone. I am very comfortable with MLA format for citing sources so I think it would be in my best interest to broaden my horizon and try something new.
Twenty minutes later, another call from Wikowsky; this time to tell them they had found the truck. This sentence comes from the book The Shack by William P. Young, this sentence can be found on page sixty-one. I really like the structure of this sentence, not only the use of a semicolon, but also how the sentence starts. I like the time at the beginning it sets the time that the event is happening. I also think by stating the time out front that emphasis is added to the fact that this phone call came twenty minutes later. Twenty minute later. Also by adding the semicolon the sentence becomes more dramatic because of the pause in the middle. This sentence is intriguing because it does not flat out say that the truck was found, the writer has pauses and extra words to make the sentence more dramatic.
6 Sadler
Citing sources has always been something that I dreaded. I know how a works cited page is supposed to look (indented lines, alphabetized) but the actual citing itself uncharted territory. In middle school we were not taught how to correctly cite sources. We were handed a sheet of paper that contained the rules of citing and were expected to understand the perplexing information. Therefore, I am not entirely confident citing and make great use of easybib.com. Though, I did find page 18 in the handbook extremely helpful when it came to writing my causal essay. I like how the handbook lays out constant examples of each citation, not just wordy paragraphs. The Purdue OWL website contained lots of information...almost too much for my brain to handle. The website seemed a bit confusing for me, but I will refer back to it if I ever need to cite in APA Format. I know that with study and practice I can master citation--especially with the help of the handbook, Purdue OWL, and easy bib. Being able to cite sources correctly is a vital skill that I will need throughout my life. I will give APA Format a try in my essay, not only for the practice but also for the extra credit.
The most enticing series I have ever read is “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. Though all the books were tremendously written, my favorite one out of the series is “Catching Fire.” The title was properly given because my interest “sparked” at the first page. “Peeta will ask Haymitch to let him go into the arena with me no matter what. For my sake. To protect me (176).” The deliberate fragments in this paragraph give emphasis on the fact that Peeta would do anything to protect Katniss. Her use of deliberate fragments creates eerie, enchanting sentences. Collins gives insight into the characters emotions, which makes for an alluring story. I hope to write like her in my essay.
I think both the handbook and the Purdue Owl do well with providing examples of MLA. They both have various examples of different sources used in the MLA format. I think both of these are equally helpful and unhelpful in aiding the proper use of MLA citing. I am not confident yet in my citing skills. The one thing that I became confused when citing sources was whether I should use quotations or underline the source I used. I became especially perplexed with online sources. Some online websites were articles, yet some were just websites with information. It was hard for me to decipher the little differences that I needed for specific types. The handbook and the Purdue Owl seemed to help slightly yet vary in some online source examples. EasyBib was what helped me immensely when I was working on my essay. So when I really couldn’t figure out how to cite a source, I would just simply plug in the information to EasyBib and it would give me the correct (I hope) MLA citation. I would love to explore the APA style of citing.
One of my favorite childhood authors was Beverly Clearly. One of my favorite books I read of hers was Fifteen. Her books were very relatable and hard for me to set down. At one point in this book she provides a deliberate fragment. “To see that boy again. Yes, but not yet” I think her use of this fragment helps you step into the mind of the main character and she tries to replicate the thoughts as closely to theirs (125). This sentence I enjoyed the grammatical structure of, “Just what career, she did not know—an airline stewardess, or a writer of advertising copy for a big department store, or perhaps a job at the American embassy in Paris—something like the girls in the pages of Mademoiselle, who always managed to be clever about clothes and to be seen in interesting places with men who had crew cuts (176).” I think Clearly wrote this sentence cleverly to fit a lot of information in one sentence without it being a run-on.
Chapter 18 of the St. Martin's Handbook begins with a brief explanation of MLA style as well as a reference to sections further in the chapter that contain helpful resources. Following the short introduction, Chapter 18 proceeds to detail individual parts of an MLA manuscript and proper formatting relevant to each, including margins, spacing, page numbers, headings, visuals, long quotations, and in-text citations. Section 18b of the chapter lists several types of in-text citations from a citation with an author named in a signal phrase to a citation from an electronic or nonprint source; how to properly cite each--as well as many, many more literary works--is exemplified later in Section 18d. Section 18d has proved most helpful to me as a student for the fact that when citing sources for my essays, necessary information is often difficult to locate and a definitive list of source types reassures me of my selection. Alongside formatting and sourcing guidelines, the handbook features a sample essay exhibiting fantastic strategies and clever tips to employ in future essays. As for the Purdue OWL, the opening page supplies a small explanation of the web-tool’s purpose; on the left side of the page is a toolbar with a search box and several tabs linked to different resource pages pertaining to MLA format, APA format, job search writing, subject-specific writing, research and citation, etc. Unlike Chapter 18, the Purdue OWL allows the viewer to look into other areas relevant to essay writing as a general area, rather than just specific MLA guidelines. Personally, I prefer Chapter 18 because of its layout and my knowledge for tying outside information into my works; it is the differentiation of sources that I struggle with, and Chapter 18 is a lovely asset to be able to access for that reason; I cannot see myself using any other formatting style regularly, so I would like to stick with MLA format.
A novel I recently began reading, “The Darkest Minds” by Alexandra Bracken, employs divergent punctuation and deliberate fragments back-to-back to fabricate a riveting, suspenseful introduction. This entrancing text reads, “Someone’s hands were shaking my shoulders; I heard someone say my name--Ruby--but I was too far gone to respond. Gone, gone, gone, sinking until there was nothing, like the earth had swallowed me up in a single, deep breath. Then darkness. And silence.” (2). Both literary techniques work in harmony to construct the air of a broken thought process by literally breaking up the sentence structure. This strategy effectively pulls the reader into the narrator’s position and brings life to the story.
6 Nelson
I find easybib.com a useful resource for citing my sources in MLA format. While it is much easier to use an automatic citing website, it is easy to remember how to cite a source using the acronym: LiFT and CoPY. In general, I would say that I am not fully confident in my citing skills without a second opinion on if I did it right. In text citation are a different thing though. There are many different ways to do it depending on what way you approach it so I tend to always keep my referencing in my essay to the minimum even though I have potential to do more. I understand how a works cited pages looks when it is in MLA format because I have seen it frequently. I did do a past essay in APA format and the citing was surprising like MLA. Because of the good experience I had with writing the two different formats of essays in the past, I would be willing to also try CSE and Chicago styles. I would especially do it for extra credit. However, I would most definitely utilize the St. Martin’s Handbook for the citation and maybe even a website.
A favorite book of mine is “Princess Academy” by Shannon Hale. I feel that Hale has an elegant way of writing in this book and does an excellent job with describing emotions and settings. One quote from the book I think shows her talent is: “At their feet, the curly fronds poking up in Britta’s garden were greener than the mountain grass, greener than the needles on the small, twisted trees, almost greener than the garden in the painting” (p. 313). The sentence is cool to me because of the use of commas while setting the scene without causing confusion. Within the same book, “I know him” is a deliberate fragment that emphasizes the shock of the character speaking as that is all she can say. The strategies that Hale uses in her novel are what I aim to mimic in my writing in the future.
Citing is an important concept to understand, but can be difficult at first. Specifically, both of these sources are helpful because of the depth of the information they provide. Both of these sources give me all the information I need to cite MLA form correctly. At first, understanding MLA citation was difficult. It was hard to remember how to cite a book versus an article online. In text citation was hard to learn at first as well because there are so many different types of in-text citations. According to The St. Martin’s Handbook, there are up to seventeen types of in-text citing possible. Now, citing isn’t overly hard for me, but it still can cause me some confusion. I “get” the Works Cited page more than the in-text citations. The in-text citations are harder for me, but with the help of The St. Martin’s Handbook, and the link to Purdue OWL, I am able to conquer the in-text citations. I do understand how the Works Cited page looks. I may attempt to cite my sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style if I feel that I fully understand MLA citation. Hopefully by my last essay, I will be able to cite my sources in those other styles.
Karen Kingsbury is one of my favorite authors. Her book, Oceans Apart, contains many different sentence styles. She also varies her punctuation from sentence to sentence. One sentence, contains cool punctuation and has a deliberate fragment within the excerpt. “‘Not that kind of like, Mommy. You know...did he like her? Like a girlfriend’” (160)? I like it when sentences have breaks just as this one does. The break gives the sentence extra emphasis and makes it more cool to me. The last part of the excerpt, “Like a girlfriend?”, is a deliberate fragment. This fragment emphasizes the young boys interest in knowing about his father. I plan to use Karen Kingsbury’s writing techniques in my own writing.
6 Bender
Purdue OWL is always a fantastic resource with extremely reliable information. I go to this website for any grammatical questions. It is far easier to find information and solutions through an online website rather than the St, Martin's Handbook. Also, the online version can be kept updated so everything is recent and reliable on the Purdue OWL. For example, they show how to cite a tweet in MLA format. Textbooks can be outdated quickly, but unlike online information--like Wikipedia--textbooks can always be trusted for accurate information. In St. Martin’s Handbook, there is full essay examples which is extremely helpful. Looking through this chapter helps me pick out and recognize how, and where, to cite in MLA. I do not think I will ever be truly confident when citing but it just takes practice. I know that I would never be able to cite anything if it were not for easybib.com. This website saved me, and millions of others time and stress. I understand how to set the indent because I had to watch a long youtube video for my Causal essay citations page. I do not understand why easybib.com puts in some information that is not needed. In the books citation examples it also has the URL links in < > but on easybib it does not include them. I know how to add them at the end though. I think I have a good handle on citing but I always get nervous that I will forget a large part of it.
I love a jaw dropping mysteries, and if you are simular to me, you can quickly tell me that the unrivaled mystery author is Agatha Christe. One of her most famous books, “And Then There Were None”, is one of my favorites. She has fantastic grammar and diction, keeping the reader wanting more. One particular sentence, “Nice-looking young lady--but the ordinary kind, not glamorous--no Hollywood touch about her.” (23) is a prime example. She uses not only dashes but also a description that the reader can relate to. Another fantastic example of Agatha’s advance writing skills is in the sentence (or not so complete sentence) is “Long before this evening.” (200). Deliberate fragments shows a upper level, developed writing style that keeps readers on their toes.
Both of these resources are very useful when one is writing a essay that requires citation. I will use both resources as reference points throughout the rest of the semester and possibly in college, depending on what classes I have to take in the future. The book is helpful because it goes in depth on each aspect that is being discussed while also giving a great example. This will be a helpful tool because I will able to compare my work with this to see if I got it correct. The website is helpful because it offers the same key aspects that the book does. It will be very useful to know of both of these because if one forgets their book or does not have access to a computer; the other option will be available for use. I understand how to do MLA citation. However, I would have a lot of trouble when dealing with the other styles. I don’t think I will try because I may get confused can switch around so key aspects of the different kinds.
This quote is from one of J.K. Rowling’s most famous novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. “He stared at it, aghast, unable to take in what he was seeing… the wand that had survived so much…” (349). This quote really stood out to me because it shows you how Harry is feeling as he learns that his wand is unrepairable. Not even magic could fix it. Him and that wand had been through so much and it shows the reader that by the “…” because it is as if Harry couldn’t believe it for himself. This deliberate fragment is when Aberforth is talking to Harry. “Did he now?’ said Aberforth quietly. ‘Nice job, I hope? Pleasant? Easy?” (561). I like this because it is sort and simple but also adds a lot to the writing and context.
Citing sources has been taught to most everyone since middle school. Teachers always told us there were grave consequences to those who plagiarized work and did not cite the source. They really stressed it when we were younger, but they never truly taught us how to properly cite our sources. I am now mildly confident in my ability to cite sources. Before this class I hardly had a clue how to cite a source. A big help was having to work with sources in our causal essay. I used chapter 18 in the handbook to help me get through the causal essay and the effect was my better understanding of how to cite sources.Though I do understand citing sources to an extent I am still a frequent user of easybib.com. This site helps you cite sources quickly and correctly. The site linked in the blog task is similar to chapter 18 in the student handbook. They both cover aspects of MLA formatting and they give examples of ways to format your works cited. MLA format is the most commonly used in writing essays and formal writing. I may use other formatting types if I had an idea that I would use them in the future. I know that I will be using MLA format in the future but not the other formats. Even though it would be good to know the others just in case.
A book that I have read that I enjoy is Fahrenheit 451 by the famous Ray Bradbury.“You're not like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon, last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me talking. Or threaten me. No one has time any more for anyone else. You're one of the few who put up with me. That's why I think it's so strange you're a fireman, it just doesn't seem right for you, somehow”(53). This book uses good punctuation and uses a unique writing style.
1 Finch
I often use Purdue OWL because it has always been invaluable in helping me to cite my sources when doing homework. Additionally, this handy-dandy book is a very convenient source of information regarding citation as well. While Purdue OWL plainly and simply states the format in which your sources should be cited in an easy to understand way, the handbook offers a more detailed explanation of how and why you cite your sources, allowing you to fully grasp the reasoning behind the design. Both of these readily available tools will prove very useful to me as I write essays or other articles of assignments in which the citation of sources is required.
One of my favorite books, The Hobbit, is written by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have read it 3+ times and I plan to read it many more times again. I greatly enjoy and find very amusing Tolkien's style of writing and creative use of punctuation for which he is known for. He has a way of writing that makes his work seem like it is something straight out of the Bible; some very old and wise way of writing. An example of his commonly unique use of punctuation can be seen in this line from one of my favorite chapters in the book, 'Riddles in the Dark: "This is what he had come to find out, for he was not really very hungry at the moment, only curious; otherwise he would have grabbed first and whispered afterwards" (72). This is just one example out of hundreds in which Tolkien's writing appears to be from ages past when it was published. His recurrent use of commas and familiar employment of semi-colons (both of which his works are rich with) make his sentences seem full of wisdom and composure. Tolkien also uses many deliberate fragments, such as, "A very good thing too! Dreadful things had been going on down there" (105). In my writings of essays and other long works, I often try to emulate not his style of writing but the way his writing makes me feel. I want to appear old and wise even though I am the opposite of both of those things.
The handbook is most helpful simply for the fact that it has examples of multiple ways to cite in MLA format. It ranges in options from a book with one author to no author and even multiple authors. It has multiple options for web and to emails or interviews. Purdue OWL is helpful with having a question and answer tab. When I have questions I am able to look under my options below and find an answer. This is extremely helpful versus trying to Google my way to an answer. I am confident in setting up a Works Cited page. I understand the page break. It is easy for me to do the layout and the hanging indent. Fortunately for my next week’s Term Tuesday is mine, and one of the required words I have to teach is how to set up a Works Cited page. The part of citing I do not “get” is putting it into my writing. I am lucky to have a partner for the Argumentation paper and she has helped explain me through the process. I understand now the one must put the period after the parenthesis. One must also introduce the quote, which I learned this Term Tuesday. For my Causal essay I did cite my paper in APA style. This was important for me to try because this is the style engineers use and that is what I plan to achieve in my future. This proved to be a challenge because I could not lean over to my seat mate and ask them a question because they were writing their paper in MLA format. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, you can find a sentence containing a semicolon. Harry had found himself three Chasers: Katie Bell, returned to the team after an excellent trial; a new find called Demelza Robins, who was particularly good at dodging Bludgers; and Ginny Weasley, who had outflown all the competition and scored seventeen goals to boot (224). The use of the semicolon in the previous sentence helps keep the list organized and not to be confused with where the dependent clauses were connected to each noun. A deliberate fragment can also be found in the book. “Ron!” (327). This creates emphasis that Mrs. Weasley is in a furious state and is furious with her son Ron. It creates imagery in the reader’s mind of their mom yelling at them.
As a fairly inexperienced composer, I was only ever aware of citing citations in my essay when I had a teacher standing over my shoulder telling me exact verbatim of what to do. I frequently used Easybib and any other sources to my advantage. The Handbook and the link to purdue OWL are extremely helpful for the upcoming essay. I no longer need, although I probably will use, Easybib because of these tips. The handbook, especially, helps out tremendously with the citation of pretty much every kind in an essay. Not using Easybib and using these resources forces me to learn how to cite all on my own. I do not consider myself a professional at citing by any means, I will continue to frequently use them for pointers. I took a psychology class my junior year with Mrs. Ebright requiring us to pick a single topic and find 8 summaries over that one specific topic using only our brains and the book/website for siting. No Easybib. After we did the small summaries, we made one giant paper (roughly 10 pages) also including in-text citations and an alphabetized works cited page. All the hard work I hated doing then, I realize now it paid off considering I no longer think MLA citation is very difficult to me. The fact I no longer think that is difficult to me, I will definitely consider using APA citation for extra credit to increase my knowledge and make me a better composer.
For my reading choice, I chose Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone. I have read these books multiple times, by choice. I chose the sentence “Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor” (164). This sentence may seem basic to highly educated composers, but I would never think to continue a sentence as long as Rowling did. I would have considered it unnecessary verbiage that could be broken into smaller, not as detailed sentences. I always forget that not every long sentence is a run-on and I need to incorporate it into my future writings.
Also from the same story I chose a deliberate fragment. The fragment from page 184 said “Muggles.” Fragments are intentional and really get a point across. After a long explanation of something, the usage of a deliberate fragment will clear up and extra wording or confusion.
After reading our handbook and some pages from the Purdue OWL I find it helpful that each resource walked the reader through citing articles with many authors, no authors and authors with many different books. I found it helpful that Purdue OWL also talked about updates talked about updates that have been made to MLA format recently. I would say that I am fairly confident in citing, though I readily admit that I am no citing expert. I get the first part of making a citation. I understand the author goes first and the title second with periods separating everything. I do not get the order of the middle part of the citation and what goes in the middle. I do understand what a Works Cited page looks like. I am unsure why but I like the way the hanging indent is different from the first line. I do understand how a Works Cited page looks with the title centered and the citations with their hanging indents. I may do a different style of citing sources in the future, but I do not see myself undertaking this task in the near future. “Nothing about time travel here, just stuff about infinitesimal calculus--never heard of it, how about you?” (Gier 51). In the novel Ruby Red it discusses time travel and in that sentence they are discussing how it could be done. In the sentence I like the use of the dash to separate the talking to their self to addressing the other character with the comma to separate their comment from their question. “And voices”. This fragment in the story is there to set up a setting other fragments are used in the same paragraph which helps to make the reader focus on the setting that is being set up.
Without a doubt, citing sources is one of my weakest points in writing and is something I am not confident in. Although it seems preposterous, I can not seem to comprehend the correct way to cite my sources and how much information must be included is the citation. I do "get" that citations must be in alphabetical order. With the help of easybib.com, I have managed to get through my English courses, but I am not sure how accurate my citing has been. I have never used Purdue OWL before, but it does aid me in the better understanding of citing sources. I was unaware of the different ways to cite my sources such as APA, Chicago, or CSE style. If I were taught how to correctly use these different citations I would use them in my essays for extra credit.
Reading has never been my first choice of a hobby. As much as I wished I loved to read, there have not been many books that stole my attention and made we want to stop reading. The only exception to this was The Mission written by the fabulous, unique author Jason Myers. "Her body changes at the sound of his name, and like that she's holding her head in his hand, her elbow pressed at the bottom of the window (150)." I find this sentence so interesting because it is very emotionally striking as well as descriptive. After reading this sentence you can almost put yourself in Caralie's position at an emotional standpoint.
Hammond pd 7
The internet link to Purdue Online is useful because I enjoy internet websites. I like using the computers resources, such as the command control + f to find specific things in websites or pieces of text. The text book is good because of how much information it has in general. It is by far denser than it looks and has lots of information that comes with examples which I find very useful.The website is arranged well and has a simple yet comprehensive bit of information. I am moderately confident in citing, but sometimes I feel as if that is only because I have the internet and easybib readily available to me. I understand for the most part how things work, it’s just sometime I get confused on the alphabetical ordering of things. I think I could possibly try to cite sources in a nontraditional style, however I would once again be leaning mostly on easybib. “’Where – is – the – Rim – of – Heaven – hidden? Seven words exactly.’
"‘Hmm, not bad,’ growled Sorrel. ‘Sounds kind of funny, though.’
‘I’ve got another one.’ Ben turned the piece of paper around. ‘Seven words again. Where – does – the – Rim – of – Heaven – lie?’ (Funke 178).” This is a passage from one of my favorite books as a child, Dragon Rider. In this chapter, Sorrel, Ben and Firedrake are trying to find the Rim of Heaven. Ben is talking to Sorrel about one of the riddles that the Djinn told them. This passage does well emphasizing both the importance and also the confusion around the riddle that will unlock the pathway to the Rim of Heaven. It uses dashes very well.
The poem The Hollow Men by T.S. Elliot has marvelous examples of fragment usage. Then ending, and perhaps the most famous lines of this poem
“This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper (Elliot V).” The last line of the stanza is a sentence fragment and really drives home the point of that last part of the poem. It is very simple, yet very artful, and although it is grammatically incorrect, Elliot uses it in a moving and tasteful way.
The thing I like the most about the website and the book is that they both have a ton of information that we can use. The book breaks it down into sections such as 'margins and spacing' and 'page numbers' and tells you how to do each individual requirement you need for an MLA citation to be legitimate and successful. I like the website because it is just that: a website. They are easy to read and use and I also enjoy how it gives you other links to further expand your knowledge on this topic. Another reason why I like these resources is because I have troubles citing MLA format. Not so much the format of the page but more specifically the works cited. There are so many punctuations and spaces that you need to remember in order to get it right; luckily, this book and website help with that. In the future I would like to be able to cite other styles such as APA, and Chicago, but first I think I should get comfortable with the style I will most likely be using in college.
"His home, his life—all the solid things. Divorce. A breaking word, an ugly breaking word.
Divorce.
Secrets.
No, not secrets so much as just the Secret" (2).
I love the sentence styles that Gary Paulsen uses in his books, especially Hatchet. I like how he does not use commas frequently but instead uses dashes or single words to add emphasis. We also see in this sentence the use of repetition. This greatly enhances an essay because of the variety. It gets us away from the regular sentence structures that can become boring or over-used at times. We also see a sentence fragment in here as well. This allows the text to be shortened and keeps us away from using any superfluous words or phrases.
Beck 1
Works cited is something that is going to be used throughout my entire life. Well mostly my high school and college career. For some people this can be a breeze to do, and for others it can be a highly treacherous task, that they will never actually learn how to do. For me this is a breeze it is something I am able to complete with no problem. It is nice that these days they have websites that we are now able to use to help us cite these sources. I would consider for extra credit try using sources such as APA, Chicago, or CSE. It would be interesting to use these things in my essay.
“District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety”(Hunger Games). This sentence is really cool because it is saying that starving can be safe. Because would you rather be safe and starving? Or in danger and full? I would prefer the safe and starving, because you eventually will get food soon, hopefully. “May the odds be ever in your favor!”(Hunger Games). This is a use of a fragment. It means so much with just a few words, it makes you think something crazy. The Hunger Games is one of greatest books I have read in a long time. In fact I own all of the books, and I like being able to read them whenever I would like. These books make you think about how things go in other people’s worlds. What struggles you could possibly have to live with. It is a series that keeps you wanting more. As soon are you are done with the first book you want to go straight to the second book. After you finish that you want to go straight to the third book. After that you are finished, there is no other book you can read.
Peltier 1
As I study the handbook and the Purdue OWL I found it very helpful. The book does a fantastic job at explaining and showing how to properly cite in-text citation. To me it is as very confusing topic so this book and website is a very good source too look at to aid me in perfecting my citations to the best of my ability. The part that confuses me the most is knowing when and where to put page numbers and when it is appropriate to do a block quote. I do however find the works cited page to be way easier than doing in-text citations. I would be happily willing to try using APA, Chicago, or CSE in my work because I think it would be a good experience to try something new because who knows maybe I will find it easy. One of my favorite novels is Paper Towns. "It was nice - in the dark and the quiet...and her eyes looking back, like there was something in me worth seeing." What I find cool about this sentence is his use of ellipses. It almost adds a mysterious effect to the sentence that she uses it in because of the pause it adds. Most of his writing is very descriptive and intriguing to the reading because it draws you in. A fragment from this book could be, "Nothing ever happens like you imagine it will." His style of writing really stands out to me because it really draws me in and it is the type of writing that I can relate to my own life. The vocabulary, acts of the characters, and the situations are something that teenagers go through on a daily basis which I love. I would love to incorporate this type of writing into my essay so that readers will be intrigued to read my writing and would be able to relate to it a lot better.
I am pretty well familiar with MLA citation and know somewhat how to correctly cite my sources. Although I know how to correctly cite my sources, I find myself using Easybib.com a decent amount to cite my sources because I find it easier and then I know for sure I am citing one hundred percent correct. When I am citing I can make a small mistake that will make the whole citing incorrect so I tend to use easybib.com to negate that problem. When citing my sources, I run into the same problem quite a few times because the website I am sourcing has a deficiency of information. It lacks important information that might be needed, and also the information on websites is not always for surely true. All high school I have had to cite my sources but I used to just post the source of the website and not any of the other information needed. I thought before learning about MLA citation that, that was all you needed, and I was completely oblivious to all the information was needed when correctly citing. The handbook is a great tool I use to help me cite my sources when I am not using easybib. It helps a great deal and I love using it because when using the handbook, it’s also a for sure that you are citing correctly. “several paper aeroplanes swooped into the lift. Harry stared up at them as they flapped idly around above his head; they were a pale violet color and he could see Ministry of Magic stamped along the edge of their wings. (129).” This sentence is very descriptive and puts a image in my head. I have always been interested in the Harry Potter books, and have read a few of them more than once. The first two books I do not read again because I find them somewhat boring, but the rest I love reading. Throughout middle school these are the books I would use to read for AR reading to get more points, and because I was very entertained reading the series.
While I was analyzing the MLA style in our St. Martin's handbook I thought the directory to MLA style for in-text citation was very useful. It shows you all the different ways to use MLA citation. The handbook with guide my fellow classmates and I to the proper citations that are needed when writing essays. Learning this now will also help me in the future for college and future jobs. The Purdue OWL website showed me how to format the citations. I do not achieve at citing any websites or books. I have always struggled with that. But, I hope to change that and be able to understand how to cite things without having to look it up. I do not understand the order that the citation goes in but I do understand what all has to be included in the citation for books and websites. Easybib has always been a major help when it comes to citing a works cited page for a presentation or an essay. I would be willing to try to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style. But, I can not guarantee that it will all be correct. I hope to be able to learn the various examples of citation very well do that i can use it as often as I can and I can show others how well it applies to essays and help future students in the way these websites helped me.
My favorite book is We All Looked Up by Wallach. “The waitress, a matronly sixty-something with bleached-blond hair and exposed roots, dropped off Andy’s coffee”(139).This sentence shows more than one type of punctuation. It displays commas, apostrophes, and the most unique punctuation is the dash. It occurs more than twice to be more unique. Deliberate fragments occur many times in books and in this book it was hard to find the best ones that I would want to display.
I unfortunately rely on Easybib.com for almost every time I need to cite a source in MLA format. By using Easybib.com, it makes it easier for me to cite correctly. It is sometimes challenging to distinguish the differences between citing books, websites, and articles. In order to help me out, I will look in my St. Martin's Handbook on chapter 18. Within that chapter, it shows me how to correctly cite any of the many options that need to be cited. This is very helpful to me because whenever I am stuck or confused as to what is correct and incorrect, St. Martin’s handbook never seems to fail me. The Purdue OWL link is just as helpful as the handbook is when needing specific information. I would say that I am fairly educated when citing, websites especially. I am for the most part, confident when needing to turn in a paper that needs MLA citing for a requirement. I understand that all of my citations need to be in alphabetical order and for each citation, there needs to be an order that it is required. What I do not understand as much is when putting the information in the order, sometimes the websites or books do not have all of the necessary information, so I will need to search for it myself, or go without. If there is ever an opportunity to receive extra credit for using Chicago, APA, or CSE style, I will try to take advantage of that.
A book that I have read a couple of times and will read even more is 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. I really enjoy this book because it never seems to bore me. A sentence that stood out to me was this… “Coming out from the gate-- a short distance ahead-- was a brilliance that was brighter than the light that surrounded us, utterly luminous” (Chapter 2, page 27). That sentence stood out to me because it was a vibrant, and colorful sentence. It let me create a vivid picture in my head.
Citing is very important in writing. If citing is not done correctly the writer can not use the information legally. The format of the citation is just as important as the citation itself. MLA and APA have different formats but they are equally useful for their specific purposes. The handbook gives specific examples on how to cite, being a very useful tool for those writers trying to compose an essay. The Purdue website gives more of outline and information on how to cite. This being very valuable too, for the information it provides and gives the students an advantaging in their citing abilities even if they do not have prior knowledge on the subject. I am sometimes confident in citing. For example, I am confident on my ability to cite a tearable book, because that has a specific outline and areas you must give credit to. Websites are more shaky because some things may not be on all websites and the citation may look short and unfinished. I do not get the difference in all of the different formats of citing. I could look at a MLA and an APA citation and not notice a difference or be able to tell which is which. This is mostly because my lack of knowledge on the subject. I only cite sources for school papers and projects. I do not use it outside of school. I do understand what a works cited page looks like and the value it brings to the paper. It makes it so much more reputable because it is based off of proven knowledge that has been researched before. In the future of essays I think I would like to try citing in APA format for a challenge. Plus honestly I would have to do just as much research to cite it in MLA. I understand that these different styles of citing mean different things and are used in different situations.
6 Mullet
I like the handbook’s chapter 18 because it has every possible citation rule one could think of. I think it is less used by students in today’s world because we mostly compose essays online. The Purdue OWL is easily accessible and you can search the website instead of flipping pages, skimming for the correct citation rules. Purdue’s OWL is helpful for a quick find as you are trying to finish an essay, but the handbook is helpful when you want to learn and try to memorize MLA format. The book gives examples and something along the lines of a formula to follow. You can put in your information exactly how it fits in the formula they give you. I am confident that I can cite anything that I need, because I can look it up online or in my handbook. There are plenty of resources that I can use to help me find what I need. I do not think that I will try to cite my sources because I do not think I will need to ever format my papers to another style.
One of my favorite books, The Best of Me, uses a lot of cool punctuation, but it is spread out throughout multiple sentences. One of the sentences that use a great set-up with not only punctuation but style; “And that means you'll love and be loved...and in the end, nothing else really matters.” (Page 301). I love when authors do not use simple sentences because I find them very boring. This sentence is great because it uses ellipses and a comma. I use commas a lot in my composing because I feel as though it helps my reader understand what I am saying while I add more detail. I think it livens up the entire composition. The ellipses are something that can be very difficult to use when you do not use them often, but Nicholas Sparks found a way to use them effectively. There is a fragment that stands out to be in the same book; “Or anyone’s advice.” (Page 248). It will not have the same impact if someone reads just this fragment, but it is powerful when you are reading. Fragments are only supposed to be made sense in context, so it is hard to talk about how great it is.
Citing is a very important part of essays that I feel like I understand fairly well. The link and handbook are really good at laying out exactly what is needed in citing, and it gives a clear way to do it. I’m fairly confident in citing, but only when I have an example to compare mine too. I feel as though I am able to cite well, but the ordering and the specific things that are necessary in a work cited page are things that I don’t have memorized, so I need something to compare my work cited to. I will try to cite in APA formatting because I am going to college to be an engineer, and for research papers and whatnot I believe that I will need to cite in APA formatting, so it’d be good to get a head start and try using it now.
An example of a sentence from a book that I love with cool grammer is an example from J.R.R, Tolkien’s The Hobbit. This sentence does a very good job at conveying this book’s wit. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?” I thoroughly enjoy this sentence because it shows the book’s humor, and sets up the inquisitive nature of Gandalf. This sentence shows Gandalf questioning Bilbo’s meaning behind his exclamation of “Good Morning!” The semicolons breaks the sentence up, and makes it very witty and interesting to read.
An example of a deliberate fragment that I enjoy is “Which is why I danced.” It is a simple fragment and conveys its meaning easily. It offers a picture in the reader’s mind, and it can be effective when used right. I will use something similar to this in my essay.
Although writing has always been a strong point of mine, citing sources has not. I have trouble with correctly recording the citations, and find it confusing when trying to include them in an essay. After studying both Chapter 18 in the handbook and the Purdue link, the trick to citing sources has become a little clearer. The handbook was especially helpful when it came to in-text citations. These have always been a hassle for me, and the handbook explained things very well. For example, when citing a source, I can either use a signal phrase or a parenthetical reference. A signal phrase, I learned, include the material and often the author’s name. Parenthetical references, in contrast, direct you to full bibliographic entries in a list of work cited at the end of the text. While both references should be kept fairly short, I found it important in my writing to make sure that they had enough information, lest they be confusing. The handbook also gave me examples of works-cited pages, and that helped ,me very much since I am a visual learner. It helped to envision exactly where to underline and where to not, so I am grateful for the examples. Purdue also write out exactly which steps to take in order to have a flawless worsted page, and their way of explaingit made me feel very confident towards my upcoming research essay. After studying the different techniques, i would definitely be interested in using different formats for extra credit. While reading an intriguing book, “Girl Online”, a book from a girl who uses an alias to rant about her feelings to an online log, a=she describes the awkward situations that come up in her life, such as an of interaction between her and a nervous boy: “She's always on me that I should have a girlfriend--not that you’re my girlfriend.” (pg 68).This sentence made me smile at the shy awkwardness that is present in every teenagers life, especilally a pre-pubescent one.
6 Hoffman
Becoming a frequent user of the website, Easybib.com, I unfortunately am not the greatest of all at citing sources: MLA, Websites, books, etc. I do believe citing properly is a fantastic ability to learn in my lifetime because the classes seem to be more and more revolved around finding things online or siting from a website, book, so on and so forth. Easybib.com and our textbook, St. Martin's Handbook, are both incredible crutches for us students like myself who are uneducated on proper technique of citing properly. I would love to take more time out of my day to figure out how to cite correctly and use the other ways to cite such as, APA, Chicago, or CSE style. More than likely I have heard of these citations but Chicago and CSE style really do seem quite foreign to me and I will have to see how to do these types of citations.
My all time favorite fiction read or not would be the Cirque Du Freak series by Darren Shan. He uses a ton of quotations and humor along with his fiction. In these series it is about a boy and his friend who go to a circus which is called "Cirque Du Freak"(Circus of freaks). They find a vampire there and become extremely intrigued by him and try to become one with him but only Darren is able to, not his friend which leads to lifetime jealousy for his friend. In the 6th book, The Vampire Prince, he has a very funny quotation. "Do you remember... when I beat you... on the bars?" "Of course." I smiled. "You put up... a good fight." (Ch 1, Pg 19). He uses funny humor with a combination of the whole scheme of things with Vampires doing trials to be better than one another.
Polasky 6
Looking through the St. Martin’s Handbook and on Purdue OWL’s website, I found a lot of useful information that can help improve my writing. Specifically the information on MLA style was helpful information that I know I can use on my essays. In the Handbook, they break it down step by step and show examples right underneath the different types of citations. I had no idea there were so many different ways to include an in-text citation or list out your works cited. Also in the handbook, they have different parts underlined in the examples to see what they are talking about specifically. Purdue OWL has a very helpful website as well. They have different tabs organized out well so you can look at specific examples. Both of these tools are great to have. One is easy to access from online while the other you have to carry around for when you need/want it. I understand for the most part how a Work Cited page should look. It becomes confusing however, when you do not have an Author at the beginning. I am not always sure then how to list my sources alphabetically. Easybib is a great tool I like to use when composing an essay to make sure all of my Works Cited are done right. The other type of sources such as APA or Chicago, are not as familiar. I have never worked with these types. MLA is familiar and we have always been taught how to use this style. However, with the St. Martin’s Handbook and Purdue OWL, I feel like I would be able to figure out how to use APA if I were to ever compose a scientific essay.
Girl Online is a novel written by a well known Youtuber. It is a story about a girl who suffers with anxiety. Zoe Sugg, the author, writes great sentences to show how the character feels when she becomes very anxious. “This is making me feel really anxious but I’m hoping that if I can do this --if I can face my fear--then it might make it go away for good.” This sentence has a nice way to break up what she really means. It gives a better insight on what she means or how she feels. The dashes create a natural pause while providing the reader with more information. “And my for nose.” This is a deliberate fragment because the sentences early informed us about what was happening. There was spaghetti sauce all over a girls face and she was saying where it all was.
Although writing has always been a strong point of mine, citing sources has not. I have trouble with correctly recording the citations, and find it confusing when trying to include them in an essay. After studying both Chapter 18 in the handbook and the Purdue link, the trick to citing sources has become a little clearer. The handbook was especially helpful when it came to in-text citations. These have always been a hassle for me, and the handbook explained things very well. For example, when citing a source, I can either use a signal phrase or a parenthetical reference. A signal phrase, I learned, include the material and often the author’s name. Parenthetical references, in contrast, direct you to full bibliographic entries in a list of work cited at the end of the text. While both references should be kept fairly short, I found it important in my writing to make sure that they had enough information, lest they be confusing. The handbook also gave me examples of works-cited pages, and that helped ,me very much since I am a visual learner. It helped to envision exactly where to underline and where to not, so I am grateful for the examples. Purdue also write out exactly which steps to take in order to have a flawless worsted page, and their way of explaingit made me feel very confident towards my upcoming research essay. After studying the different techniques, i would definitely be interested in using different formats for extra credit. While reading an intriguing book, “Girl Online”, a book from a girl who uses an alias to rant about her feelings to an online log, a=she describes the awkward situations that come up in her life, such as an of interaction between her and a nervous boy: “She's always on me that I should have a girlfriend--not that you’re my girlfriend.” (pg 68).This sentence made me smile at the shy awkwardness that is present in every teenagers life, especially a pre-pubescent one, and the dash signifies the mistake the boy realized he has made. Following this burst of clumsiness comes the sentence, “Uh, so yeah” (pg 68). his deliberate fragment seizes on the boy’s weird rebuke, making the situation even more awkward, thus more hilarious.
I have grown up using MLA citation, it is what I am used to. However, I do not think I am yet confident in using it. When it comes to in text citations, there are so many different ways, to cite something, depending on what it is you are citing. For example, I have never quoted sacred text, like the Bible, in an essay of mine; so reading through the St. Martin’s Handbook and the Purdue Owl website, I have now been enlightened on how to do that! When it comes to the actual works cited page itself, I had previous knowledge of some things. Like how it needs to be in alphabetical order, works cited should not be underlined, and it should be on a separate page of your essay away from the bulk of the text. I do not yet have memorized how to cite various things like the difference between a book and a website. I have only used an official, correctly sourced, works cited page once this year in composition. I think the more I use it in college for different papers and project, the less I will have to look up the correct way to do and the more I will be able to rely on my own memory. My favorite Charles Dickens novel is, “Great Expectations”. In the very first chapter he uses a good example of parallelism when Pip, the narrator and protagonist says, “A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.” (1) He uses the conjunction, and, many times in the sentence, and he also uses a semi colon when he senses the sentence is beginning to drag on. The sentence is long, but not a run on. It uses fantastic imagery, I can see the man it is describing in my mind. The fact that the description goes on and on and says “and” a lot wears on the audience to give off the impression that the the person being described is also worn out and needs this much long description because of all he has gone through.
Citation is a huge part of language when it comes to writing and reading essays. It prevents writers from getting into serious trouble when it comes to using facts and things that they have learned that are not on their own. We must learn to use citation so we ourselves do not get into trouble when it comes to writing. The student handbook and purdue OWL are incredibly helpful when it comes to citing sources. They directly state what and how to do when it comes to sources. Citing sources is not always an easy topic. You must cite the author, time published and many other factors. Without the use of the handbook or purdue owl many people would not know the very basics of citing sources. For the most part I understand how and when to use sources. EasyBib is a great source to use when either you do not know how to specifically cite a source or when you are just feeling lazy and would not like to do it manually. It really is a great time saver.
Deliberate fragments are also great tools to use in your writing. An example of this would be “but at what cost”. This fragment really helps the reader discover how serious the action that was being performed this fragment is. In one of the highly prestigious Harry Potter books, J.K Rowling uses the deliberate fragment of “A terrible Discovery”. No one knew what the terrible discovery was and it causes the reader to beg and plead to find out what is going on within the book.
Having just learned how to use citations correctly, and the idea was still fresh in my mind, APA would not be that hard to learn. I would definitely be willing to use this different kind of citation if extra credit were to be offered to me in exchange for learning this brand new topic.
Citing is a task that can either be extremely difficult, or an easy A. I believe I am okay at citing, I am not an expert, but I am not a beginner either. Citing is crucial. In 6th grade I failed to cite any sources on my essay about the Olympics, and got an F and detention. The importance of crediting someone else's work is key in writing. I wouldn't want to take the time to research and write an amazing essay, just to have someone copy my work without my discretion or credit. Sites like EasyBib, makes it smooth and easy to cite sources and I use it often. St. Martin's Handbook helps out a lot too, because there are actual essays and helpful examples in the essays themselves. One of my favorite books, 11/22/63, by Stephen King has amazing imagery. Stephen King uses imagery in all his books. “If you ever wanted to change the world,” Al tells Jake, “this is your chance. Save Kennedy, save his brother. Save Martin Luther King. Stop the race riots. Stop Vietnam, maybe. . . . You could save millions of lives.” This sentence is powerful in the book and the turning point of the plot. He does good use of short sentences and periods, and ellipsis. I couldn't find any fragments,it is very hard to comb through a 900 page book. Overall, citations aren't too bad. But I don't think I would write different formats for extra points, it takes more time and I am slow at writing and adding everything into my writing. I believe citations are definitively important in any research essay.
Schwint 1
The student handbook is especially helpful because it has how to cite everything broken down into different categories like books, magazines, and online sources. This makes it easier to find what you need to do based on what type of source that you have. Also, the handbook is very thorough in its explanation about and provide examples that help you to easily understand how to cite the different sources. The Purdue OWL gives an amazing explanation and example of how your whole paper should be formatted to meet the MLA guidelines. It also has an informational section of general guidelines to follow when you are writing a MLA essay. I am confident in citing sources for my essays in MLA. I get how to set up your paper and how to cite websites or book sources. I did not get when it talked about the section headings for MLA essays because I have never put headings into any essay that I have written. I completely understand how a MLA Works Cited page should look I have had plenty of practice citing sources. I would definitely try citing sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style if it was for extra credit. the sentence “Jewelry. Money. Silver. Collectibles.” (pg. 75) is a sentence from the book, Once We Were Brothers, and I love the deliberate use of a bunch of fragments to add emphasis. This book is about a older man who is recounting his memories from the Holocaust. While this book is fiction it uses imagery and cool punctuation like the punctuation in that sentence help to make the story feel as real as possible to the reader. In this sentence the author ,Ronald H. Balson, used fragments and frequent periods to emphasize exactly what the Germans took from the main character. The use of fragments also mixed up the sentences so that the book did not get repetitive and boring.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab has a very concise and clear guide on MLA formatting. I like the numerous tabs on the side of the website page. Each tab spells out every nuance of MLA formatting very well. If I have any questions at all, this website has the answers. I especially like how it gives out details about nearly every nuance. I am not entirely well versed in how to enumerate the different types of sources. I also think the examples are extremely helpful because in the beginning of my composing career I had no idea what any of these should look like. I had heard of MLA before, but I never really had to use them in any other class before. Just seeing the big picture helped a lot. The St. Martin’s handbook has a lot of the same qualities that the Purdue Online Writing Lab has. It has instructions for citing nearly every kind of work. From text books to comic strips it says how to do it and what one looks like. It has seventy three different examples of works along with instructions. The essay example by David Craig is also another great example to look at. All of his citations are perfect and it again shows the big picture. I really think just seeing what these citations look like really helps people see that it really is not that hard to use MLA formatting. In A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, he wrote “And all was black and still, and black and cold, and black and dead, and black.” This sentence makes great use of commas to add emphasis on how black and cold and dead the north is. Charles Dickens wrote "Terrible place--dangerous work--other day--five children--mother--tall lady, eating sandwiches--forgot the arch--crash--knock--children look round--mother's head off--sandwich in her hand--no mouth to put it in--head of a family off--shocking, shocking!" in The Pickwick Papers. This mass of fragments paints a more vivid picture in a more concise manner than the amount of sentences it would take to say the same thing.
Whether it is Easybib.com or using the St. Martin’s Handbook to find the correct format for citations, it is of the utmost importance that credit be given where it is deserved to avoid plagiarism. The hardest part about MLA citation is formatting it correctly, getting all of the information garnered to create the citation can be performed with ease. A works cited page shows that you recognize those who have helped you become more well versed in the topic of research that you are exploring. It also show that you know how to cite your sources which in research papers is important as previously stated, to help avoid plagiarism. Learning how to cite my sources in other styles such as APA, Chicago, or CSE style is definitely worth looking into. Not only will I benefit from the extra credit in my Composition I class, but I also will have expanded my knowledge about citations. Something that I am not confident about MLA citations is the formatting, without the aid of a source I do not have a way of remembering the order in which the citation is made. Although I am confident in how to cite any type of source. “Marley was dead: to begin with.” This sentence taken directly from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this sentences is interesting because of the short style of sentence with a colon directly in the middle. This sentence comes with the powerful statement of how the main antagonist Jacob Marley who was a taskmaster of a store owner had passed away, and following this statement comes “to begin with” this stating that surely this man had passed but that was not the last that we were to hear about/of him. Throughout the book you hear of all the misfortunes that had happened to him in his past, as well as the misfortunes of his worker Bob Cratchit.
Both of these resources, the OWL and our handbook, provided an ample amount of examples to benefit citation and other various writing techniques. The OWL is a gigantic library of other writing tools besides citations that may become helpful to me in the future. On the topic on my own abilities of citing works from books to websites, the only skill I have is using easybib and creating a Bibliography. I am very atrocious at doing in-text citations. I look up how to do apply this tool every time I am required to use it, only to forget it the next day completely. Writing is my weakest academic ability, and I cannot seem to pick up as well as my classmates. This is a fate that I have come to terms with, because I make up with it with my math skills. No I will not cite in anything other than MLA unless I have too. Nope. I will never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, do that. (Series of Unfortunate Events)
Sabrina Simons pd7
Since middle school, we have been taught how to create a works-cited page at the end of our presentations. I remember using Purdue Owl to remember how to make these pages. The inspiring thing about Purdue Owl is that it gives a lot of information, given that it doesn't need to limit itself on space. It even gives an undergraduate sample paper, which will be useful not only for the citation, but as an example of how a college paper will be written when I go to college. The website also gives abbreviations for MLA and other resources to make sure that you understand how to create a works cited page.
The book, however, is a lot easier to read than the website. There is a lot of color and it is formatted well. The bullets really make it easier to focus rather than just looking at a black, white, and orange page, such as the website. It is also easier to find what you are looking for in the book because there is not as much information to flip through. This is where the website starts to lack in speed.
I understand all of citation, even annotated citation as we have done in class. I would absolutely love the challenge of working with a citation other than MLA for extra credit.
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape (687).
This isn't just a sentence, but two sentences (or two deliberate fragments). These two sentences never go without each other in the Harry Potter World, but I will be focusing on the second sentence. This particular quote interests me because of the punctuation and the sentence structure. The fact that he need only use one word to answer the question makes my heart melt. Even though it is only one word, it tells a whole life of chasing after a beautiful girl named Lily, and the heartache of her death. It tells of his life filled with conflict of emotion over Harry. The comma also speaks louder than the words themselves, because it speaks of a world without his one and only love, and a passion to live in a different dimension in which they were together.
His sentence doesn't end with a period, but a comma, signalling that even though he will die, his legacy will go on.
Waldner 7
The handbook offers multiple examples for various ways of citing sources which prove very useful when writing a works cited page. One that I found helpful was how to cite a sacred text because my casual essay contained many references to the Bible. The Purdue OWL link is very helpful in making sure all of your papers meet the specific requirements for a MLA formatted paper. I typically overlook these requirements, and this website provides a checklist for me to go through before turning in my paper. I am confident in my citing skills, as long as I have the handbook with me. I understand how to cite sacred text very well and do not need the book to do this, but I would require the book to cite an electronic source because I do not fully “get” how to cite a website. I understand the basic format of a works cited page, and am able to produce one fulfilling Mr. Christensen’s standards. I would be willing to attempt to try and cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style for extra credit.
In the beginning of chapter 7 in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote:
“So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight -- watching over nothing(pg. 153).” This dash in the sentence makes it cool because it emphasizes the fact that Gatsby is watching over nothing. The nothing represents the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. The fact that he is standing and watching shows that he is putting forth effort and using energy, and the “-- watching over nothing” shows that all his efforts are meaningless, that this is a one sided relationship, and that Daisy is returning no effort.
The last line in the book The Great Gatsby is a fragment poem. The line reads, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This sentence has rhythm, and flows very nicely together. As David showed in his article on hokku.com, if you put the sentence into stanzas, it is obvious that it is a fragmented poem.
“...So we beat on,
Boats against the current,
Borne back ceaselessly
Into the past…”
The way that the sentence flows in your head as you read it is the same way that it flows when you read it in stanzas. This sentence seems as if it should be a part of a much larger poem. The placement of this sentence at the end as a fragmented poem allows the reader to create the rest of the poem on their own by relating the book as a whole to their own life.
David. "THE GREAT GATSBY FRAGMENT." HOKKU. N.p., 22 June 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
https://hokku.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/the-great-gatsby-fragment/
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/frontmatter.html
I found myself looking at an excess of information when I opened up to chapter 18 in "The St. Martin's Handbook", and frankly I was quite befuddled by it all. Even though, I find citing my sources in MLA format not too demanding, I feel as if it is easy to make a mistake when citing. Of course I will use Easybib.com just to get the citation to where it needs to be but there are still some issues that present themselves. For online sources, it is not always clear who published it, when it was published, who the author was, etc. I would still say I am confident whereas when I shall have to be put to the test next year in college I will be able to cite without getting too frustrated. I understand the layout of MLA citation format without any problems but just where to find the authors, contributors, publishing information deems the most pressing to me. Works Cited page is never an issue with me because it is not too hard to alphabetize the sources just to make it flawless. If I were to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style, I may need to be enlightened for a couple hours beforehand just so I can get familiar with what exactly those are.
"Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up--probably somebody lighting a wood-fire-and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames (18)." This sentence is from one of my favorite books and is written by one of the greatest authors and greatest minds to ever walk this Earth. "The Hobbit", by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. The sentence I picked out really caught my eye because it was Bilbo thinking about adventures and how he had no interest on going on one. But the punctuation used by Tolkien is exceptional and the way he uses dashes to explain a flame that was spotted is incredible. "Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things!" (5). This fragment is used when Bilbo is describing what he thinks of adventures to Gandalf and then after saying they are nasty and disturbing, he goes on and says it makes you late for dinner. John R R Tolkien's works could never possibly be forgotten.
Kribell 6
The most helpful thing about both the Purdue OWL and the St. Martin’s Handbook--for me--is the examples that both of them list. Visual examples are truly helpful for me, and the St. Martin’s Handbook even has entire essays that illustrate how to cite sources in MLA format. I did not feel confident in citing at all when we first started this class. The only skill I knew was how to copy and paste a link into easybib.com and get the MLA citation. Teachers have tried to teach me how to use in text citations before but I did not understand it much until we had to compose our causal essays. I also really enjoy having the St. Martin’s Handbook. It honestly has helped me a lot so far and still is. I can not pinpoint exactly what it is that I do not yet understand, it is usually a rare scenario that pops up that I can not figure out. The basics, however, I like to think that I have down pat. I have already cited my causal essay using APA citation. It was extremely simple, I almost enjoy it more than MLA just because of its practicalness. Having the extra credit as a cushion aided me in feeling that I could take the risk to try something new, I am grateful for that.
She felt a tickling in her mind--a feeling similar to the one caused by Stormwings, only faint and far more pleasant--and looked around for its source (163). The dashes in this sentence from the book Wild Magic allow the author to add a descriptive memory to the feeling she is describing. It gives the sentence more depth and meaning, making it cool.
From morning until battle (329). Is a fragment that I found in one of my favorite books. I enjoy it’s simplicity but out of context it does not make much sense.
Schroeder pd 6
I can become confident with citing websites, books, magazines, and other sources if I just review the order that all of the contents go in. It really is easy once you get the hang of it, but I definitely need to refresh myself after it has been a while since the last time I have cited a source. Easybib is something that I also like to use, Easybib is a website that you can plug your URL into and it will cite it, ready to copy and paste onto your own document. I will not try another way to cite, like Chicago style, APA, and CSE (even though I should expand my knowledge and get out of my comfort zone). But I really like MLA format because I know how to not only start the essay and all of the margins etc., but citing sources and my URL’s at the end, in my opinion is the easiest.
A great example of a deliberate fragment is in the book Divergent by Veronica Roth. Right on the first page it says: One choice can transform you. I think this is a great way to intrigue the reader, and to get the reader interested in what they are about to read. It leaves you hanging and you want to now open the book and read. Veronica, in the book Divergent uses really good imagery. I found that this sentence: "Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake.” (pg.47). Her use of quotation marks and the way she explains how they are touching each other really help a reader out. I recommend this book to a friend.
1. These are both helpful in more completely defining how to cite our sources, which in turn helps us with almost anything else we need, with the help of their respective indexes. I am fairly confident in citing, but I feel like before citing anything I would probably need to review the format of the cites. I get pretty much everything to do with the citing process, but I have a few questions that may be easily answered. I have no problem really finding sources (other than paper sources, for the obvious reason that it is much simpler to find them online), and have no problem searching the sites themselves and finding publication information, authors, dates, and other information necessary. Also, for organizing sources on the Works Cited page, I also cannot recall in what order to put them… If it is alphabetical by author or by title; The book and the Purdue Owl website can be of assistance to me in this case I’m sure. If I have time during an essay to learn APA, Chicago, or CSE style citing, I may try it depending on the time needed to accomplish said citing, and the desperation of myself and the current need of the extra credit for said quarter or semester. For the most part I understand how it looks, but as I said previously I’m unsure of a few things, which I will look up when the time arises for me to cite anything.
2. A great book that I recommend is any book from the Harry Potter Series; throughout my childhood and ever since I have adored Mrs. J. K. Rowling’s style and gusto when writing sentences. Many of her sentences are creative, original, and stick out in my mind, but as this assignment declares me to find a page number, I had to dig deeper into my knowledge of the books, especially the books I can find. The sentence, “Filthy and slopping wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Harry.” shows how elegant Rowling can be in describing Harry’s team’s dedication and care towards Harry, whilst at the same time portraying to the reader exactly what they look like, all the while also setting a general mood for the rest of the paragraph (which is the mood of pleasantness) (Rowling 175). What is cool about this sentence is that it is almost exactly as precise and detailed as every other sentence that she writes! It is cool in the sense that it is stunningly spectacular, not so much as in the sense of diversity, but even then she manages to add diversity by using different literary devices such as deliberate fragments! The fragment “‘What can he do?’” is unique and set apart from the rest mostly by literally being apart from everything else, in its own paragraph, but is also special because it furthers conversations and builds the plot, while displaying the emotions of the individual (Ron) without even using a complete sentence (188)! I cannot wait to be inspired by my idol, J.K. Rowling, in the years to come, to further broaden my illustrative spectrum of composition.
Being able to cite one’s sources is a necessity. Citing my sources has always been a weakness of mine. I still do not think I have learned all the basics of citations. The differences between MLA, APA, and Chicago are quite unknown to me. I struggle with in text citations and am not the best at citing books or websites with unknown authors. The causal essay made me realize the many different types of things to cite and it was overwhelming for me. I hope as this semester progresses and comes to a close, I understand the variations and am confident in citations. I would be proud of myself if I were able to compose my works cited page flawlessly and understand the differences between the citations. When looking at a works cited page, I have a slight understanding about what I am reading and am well at utilizing it. With the wonderful help of easybib.com, citations have become easier for me to complete. St. Martin’s Handbook has also done a fantastic job at showing me examples of citations and explaining difficult concepts that I do not understand. The Purdue OWL provides a large amount of great examples for each source citation. I would most definitely try to attempt to cite my sources in APA or Chicago format for extra credit. A book of mine that I read in middle school, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, uses a variety of different and interesting punctuation marks, including dashes and semicolons. One example of these sentences being “Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it’ll be him (189)”. I find this sentence intriguing because of the use of dashes used. A fragment that is used in the book “This way, Potter (204).” is used to get a simple task and idea across quickly. I like how the author has done this.
After viewing the site provided on the blog about Purdue Owl and how it can help my classmates and I with Citing sources, I realised that it includes many details on how to cite a source and what a works cited page should look like; it also explains how to do other types of works cited like APA. We are not required to use this form of works cited, but if we choose to do so, we are rewarded with extra credit. The reason we obtain extra credit for doing this style is because it is quite harder to learn how to do, and do correctly compared to the MLA style. Luckily, if we look go to this website it explains in great detail on how to become a master at the APA style. Within about ten minimal minutes of your time you can use the APA style in contrast to MLA and be rewarded for taking the time to learn it. In comparison, I browsed through chapter 18 in our handbook given to us which also explains in even greater detail on how to use the MLA citation. With such a handbook in reach for every one of us students, there is no reason that any of us should have difficulty when it comes to making the works cited page. Although the handbook is exceptionally lengthier than Purdue OWL’s explanation, the handbook does not miss a single piece of information about mastering the works cited page. Both are great resources which will make every single students who takes Mr. Christensen’s class perfect the works cited page in all essays they will do in their lives. I myself feel decently confident in making the works cited page perfect, but that is only because I have not fully read the chapter in our handbook or looked it up on Purdue OWL. If I do either one of these I am sure I could master it. In our handbook I understand how to use the MLA style, but what I am not sure on is the APA style of works cited. It appears extremely complex and for now, out of my range, but if I ever decide to take the time to read through the chapter over APA style in my handbook I should be able to do that as well and obtain extra credit. I hope that in the essay we are working on right now I can include the APA style so I will get extra credit on the essay even though I do not really need it.
While browsing through the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone I came across a sentence in which I found to have “cool” punctuation. “There is no good or evil: only power and those too weak to seek it” (243). I thought this sentence was neat because of the use of the colon to explain that there exists no good or evil. Also I could not find many cool fragments in the book, although I did not look very well, but I came across one that I thought was cool. “Not my daughter, you b**ch!” (177). I can assure you I did not just pick this sentence because it had a curse word in it, I admired how J.K. Rowling uses this word here to emphasize the sentence making it seem stronger in a way.
Jacob Meyer Pd.1
The hand book and the website provides excellent tools for citing help. I am not the greatest at properly citing a source. I seek help from easybib.com when I am citing a source. When I Am not able to use easybib.com, I think chapter 18 of the book will be beneficial. The book show different example of different types of sources and gives a little description of each as well. I somehow am able to over complicate the process and make citing harder, even though I have helpful tools. I have only use MLA formatting in my essays so far. I hope to try another type in the near future, one that is commonly used in the science field.
In Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, I found a deliberate fragment: “Stupid!”(247). I though this was funny because it was one of the first pages I turned to and of all of the words that could have been there it was an absurd one like stupid. The main character was in a dilemma and was kind of punishing herself.
I saw another sentence that I thought was pretty cool. “If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were…”(344). It has an ellipsis in it! It allows the reader to trait in thoughts a little bit. It makes you think: wait, they are not dying? The ellipsis adds to the layer of building suspense as Katniss and Peeta are about to partake in the deadly berries. This sentences also provides some foreshadowing. The sentence says “they thought we were”(344). This means the character know something that we do not know. It makes the reader want to continue to read until they know what the character know. I hope to be able to write like the brilliant Suzanne Collins in my next essay.
1. Both the Purdue OWL link and the St. Martin’s handbook are helpful, but there are variations between the formats that can both make the information given easier to understand and make other requirements less clear.
Personally, I prefer the format of the handbook over the link given. I have stated this opinion, because the requirements needed and how to properly format each type of source is explained in concise, yet informational paragraphs. I also appreciate the fact that at the end of the MLA citation chapter that they inserted an entire essay to emulate that has perfect citing of information.
Even though I believe that the St. Martin’s handbook is superior overall, I believe that the Purdue OWL does have its benefits. I may not have been looking hard enough, but I did not see anything in the handbook about the numbering of sections in a writing, or why it was important. The bullets used for describing the requirements needed to not only format your Works Cited page, but your entire essay.
I am fairly confident of my citing skills, but there is always room for improvement. I have a general understanding of what the Works Cited page is supposed to look like, with it being completely separate from the rest of the essay and in alphabetical order, but the order of information needed for a single citation is not yet completely understood.
2. Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein is quite possibly the most beautiful and powerful books that I have ever read. The creature’s longing for companionship and indeed, acceptance from his creator and society as a whole spoke to me. His description of his misery made me weep inside. The creature --being the only one of his kind-- would imagine that there were others that were able to see past his ghastly appearance and know him to be the beautiful being he is, “But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone ¹.” The punctuation of this sentence helps make the flow like a calm river, simultaneously comforting and saddening you, leading to a greater effect on the audience.
Mary W. Shelley, Frankenstein (New York: Scholastic Book Services, 1967) 15.11
P7 Blok
The only way I have been able to cite things is with the use of Easybib.com, and I sometimes think I even do that wrong. I have never understood citations as well as I should and have never tried a format outside of MLA partially because I didn’t know how to do it, and partially because I didn’t know they existed. I didn’t honestly use chapter 18 while writing my causal essay and probably paid the price for it. Now that I look at it I feel like it will be helpful in citing my sources in my essays and help me create a proper works cited page.
My favorite book of all time is The Runner by Carl Deuker. I know it is not a much respected literary work but it is one of my favorites and I just could not put it down. It was the only book that I ever got in trouble for reading in class. The book was written quite well, and I enjoyed it from cover to cover. Deuker does a spectacular job making a story readable and enjoyable. He uses many many different writing techniques. It is full of cool sentences and the sentence that I found to be quite cool was. “It didn’t happen often—every couple of months or so—but once would have been one time too many.” This is a cool sentence because it uses dashes to place emphasis on the displeasure the character is having with the reoccurring event that is taking place. The event that was mentioned was him being stuck in a crappy apartment or on a crappy sailboat with another boy while their fathers drank themselves to heck. The dashes add a pause and make the reader feel the disgust the character has in his voice making it extremely effective and cool.
Both The St. Martin Handbook and The Purdue Owl website are helpful in several ways. When I think about MLA citation the biggest thing which trips me up is the different source materials and how I am supposed to source them. Often times I don’t know how I would cite a source when I see it and I have to use Easybib. Even though it is a great way to cite sources there are times when even Easybib can’t provide adequate citation capabilities. The St. Martin Handbook shows how to cite every source I could think of, and then some more. It really helps when I’m wondering how to cite something. However, I still don’t get the way superscripts are used. I was reading about that, but I don’t understand where you put the explanation on the page. Next, I have to write a sentence which is interesting from a favorite novel. This sentence has interesting punctuation in one of my favorite books, Twilight. “I was half-turned in anticipation; I had to hurriedly correct and dash across the narrow drive, back to the sidewalk” (159). The semicolon used in this sentence helps the two sentences really flow together and makes them seem more like an extension of a thought rather than a new thought added to what Bella was already thinking. I would say that If this sentence had a period instead of a semicolon it would seriously impair the way that the sentences would flow into one another. Seeing this I believe that I can make my writing smoother through the use of semicolons. A deliberate fragment in this exquisite novel, Twilight could be, “More theories?” It is a deliberate fragment used in a conversational way. There is a fascination conversation going on between Bella and Edward, and It makes it more believable to use fragments, since people often talk in fragments since entire thoughts can be sent and perceived using inflection and facial expressions rather than only words. By using fragments it lets the reader fill in the rest themselves and makes the experience of reading the book altogether more enjoyable. Twilight was extremely enjoyable in this way.
7 Ullom
If memory serves, it seems that I recall that citing works was initially taught to us at the Middle School level. However, it also seems that even though that was where I was originally introduced to the topic, it has become quite obvious that I do not remember all of what was taught. Citing works is an important aspect of giving credit where credit is due to other writers. It is noted that whenever I am using someone else’s words, phrase, etc., giving due diligence to the author’s words if of utmost importance. Again, admittedly, this does not come very easy for me. After reviewing Chapter 18 in our student handbook it all begins to come back to my mind. However, without this valuable resource, I would continue to struggle with formatting the proper citation page. Both the Purdue OWL and the MLA examples provided are easy to follow. They simply are not easy for me to retain. Having a written resource is imperative. I will say I prefer the MLA format for works cited. I will continue to use this format and any resources needed to make sure my works cited pages are correct.
My favorite novel is “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. “Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them” (375). Jane Austen uses her commas and semicolons very uniquely. She is able to emphasize words that she wants to make sure the reader is understanding of and yet be descriptive in the process. Those who read her works today may not always understand her due to her reliability on the “old English” language. Even though at times it may be difficult to understand, the love and feeling placed into those particular words on that particular page are felt by each person who read them.
Mixell 7
Citing sources has only recently become a skill of mine that I can truly appreciate. A few years ago, citing was something that simply confused me, and I really never went out of my way to learn how to successfully create a work cited page. On the previous essay, I was really pushed to successfully use in text citations and make a flawless words cited, which has helped me out tremendously. What I struggled most on was the in text citations. No matter how many different examples I looked at, I couldn't really get the "hang" of it. I spend a lot of time studying the correct way to use in text citations and I feel like I did a solid job on it. However, I'm not so sure I could pick out correct in text citations if I were to do it in a quiz environment. When it comes to how a works cited page looks, I think I have a solid understanding of the concept. The book gives multiple explanations on the inner workings of MLA and in-text citations, which is extremely helpful when trying to understand the concept. The website gives great information when trying to study the different types of sources and when you should use them. For example, it explains that one should use APA when citing social sciences. This was something I did not know and I am glad that I explored the website to find out when to use the different citations. If I feel confident when writing using a different way to source my work, I would gladly try to cite my sources in different forms. From A Tale of Two Cities, a sentence I found was "Wo-ho! so-ho then!"(11). The way that the sentences uses dashes allows the reader to more accurately picture the situation going on in the book. The dashes allow the reader to pause when necessary and has an "authentic" feel to it. With this sentence, I feel it also accomplishes the fragment that the blog task asked for with the sentence "so-ho then!" I didn't really see the point in placing fragments in my writing, but after seeing this example, I can certainly see how it benefits the reader by adding fragments to the writing.
Oren 2
Well, if MLA stood for Major League Acrobatics it would probably be a more thrilling topic than Modern Language Association. Do not get me wrong, MLA is a nail-biting topic but it is certainly not the flips and tricks of acrobatics. Chapter 18 of the St. Martin's Handbook makes MLA simpler to understand. The handbook takes the semi-complicated topic of MLA format and makes it understandable for even the most mundane of students. The Purdue OWL, on the other hand, is not a delightful woodland creature but rather a ferocious beast. Simply put, the Purdue OWL is the love child of the owl from "Fox and the Hound" and the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast". Thinking this would be a simple site to navigate I confidently clicked on MLA Style. I was then prompted to select either MLA Overview and Workshop or MLA Formatting and Style Guide. The MLA Overview and Workshop was simple: one page and done. However, the Formatting and Style Guide had 18 different subsections. The moral of this mini rant is that if you make a boring topic even more complicated, it is not enjoyable. I feel fairly confidant in my citing capabilities. I understand why we must cite our sources I just do not enjoy it, but I do know how a works cited page should look. I would probably not venture into APA, even for extra credit. I do not for see myself in a career where I would need to know APA so it is not worth my while to learn it. My cool punctuation sentence comes from the novel "Room" by Emma Donoghue. "'Was I minus one. minus two, minus three--?'" Clearly the dash is the coolest part of this sentence. It shows that the young child, Jack, was cut off mid-sentence by his mother. My deliberate fragment sentence also comes from "Room". "'Out there,' says Ma. 'Outside.'" "Outside" is the deliberate fragment in this section. This is supposed to be a moment of revelation. Young Jack had just turned five and knows nothing beyond the 11 by 11 foot room him and his mom share. In this moment he learns of a world outside of Room where his mother has been captive for seven years.
Studying information about MLA citation, I found the handbook and Purdue OWL to be specifically helpful. I learned that for and in-text citation with two or mor authors with the same last name, that you must include the author's first and last names in a signal phrase or first initial and last name in a parenthetical reference. Purdue OWL taught me that that the use of MLA style can protect writer from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material by other writers. It is reassuring to know how important it is to cite your sources. I am extremely confident in citing my sources due to term Tuesday, Purdue OWL, and the handbook. They offer great insight that I did not know before. I get how to set up a works cited. The part that I do not get yet is all the in-text citations and exactly how to set them up. A works cited page must be on its own page with a title named, works cited. You then sight your sources alphabetically with a hanging indent. For extra credit, I will try my best with citing my sources in APA. APA is used in sciences and I will be involved in that field in the future. “So with the three passengers shut up in the narrow compass of one lumbering old mail-coach; they were mysteries to one another, as complete as if each had been in his own coach and six, or his own coach and sixty, with the breadth of a county between him and the next” (17). This sentence is from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This sentence is outstanding, because of its interesting format. It draws the reader in with its uniqueness and allows for a moment for the reader to take their time. “So-ho then” (11). This fragment is also from A Tale of Two Cities. It is an incredible sentence, because even thought there is few words, it is valuable. It shows the tone at this point in the book.
The St. Martin’s Handbook provides almost every, if not every way to cite your sources possible. The options range from citing work in anthology to articles in a newspaper. Although I may never need to use these strategies, they are always available when necessary. The Purdue OWL was also a great site containing information on how to cite your sources properly in MLA format. This helpful website provides the basic guidelines when citing, such as in-text citations and citing a work by multiple authors. With the help of easybib.com, I feel like I am gaining confidence in my capability to cite in MLA style. But without its aid, I am not completely familiar of what certain punctuation goes where while citing, along with the order of information. The overall big picture of what a works cited page is supposed to look like is clear to me. Indentations and order do not seem to confuse or trick me. The one thought that comes to mind when I hear “works cited” is that I need to alphabetize the sources according to the author’s last name.
I found a sentence from a favorite childhood book of mine. The book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The sentence read, “One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and--pop!--out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar” (3). This structure gives the reader a better idea of how the caterpillar came out of its egg. A deliberate fragment was also found in this book and it reads, “One ice cream cone” (9). This sentence was the first of many stating the amount of food the caterpillar has eaten. Using a deliberate fragment for each of the items it ate gave more emphasis and focus on the specific items listed.
Creating a citation may be easy for some, but it could be rocket science to another. And, well, I am no engineer. I admit to you that I am a frequent user of easybib.com and if given the challenge would not be able to cite a website, book, magazine, newspaper, or interview properly without a reference. I do “get” that the citations all need to be in an alphabetical order by the authors last name and that if the citation is long enough to go onto a second line that it needs to receive a hanging indent. However I do not “get” exactly what information I need to put into the citation and have almost no clue on what order the information goes in. I may, in the case of extra credit, make an attempt on APA, Chicago, or CSE style. And I stress the word attempt.
One of my personal favorite fiction books I have read would have to be John Grisham’s The Client. If you have not read it, which I would be surprised if you have not, I suggest it with the highest of honors. “Reggie will do anything to protect her client—even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom… or cost them both their lives” (570).
The dash gives more to the sentence. It takes a simple sentence and adds to the overall feeling of it. Giving the sentence depth and meaning. The ellipsis adds for an extreme dramatic effect, giving the reader an idea and then immediately twisting it. “Somebody was in there! Chink! Chink! Chink! Somebody was hiding in there with the lights off, and he was digging!” (514). When reading a story, you never stop and notice the literature devices. Looking through a mystery crime novel was one of the last places I expected to find an example of onomatopoeia.
After studying chapter eighteen in the St. Martin’s Handbook over MLA citation, I have learned about many sources I never even considered using for a formal essay. Examples of these sources are: music compositions, movies, live performances, and podcasts. The Purdue OWL has a very extensive group of documents that cover a large variety of how to formulate the whole document in the MLA format. A concept that I had never been introduced to before is putting a formal essay into labeled(by number and topic) sections. This can help guide the reader through the writer’s thought process and the organization of the essay’s entirety.
When I cite different types of works in my essay, I find it to be a fairly easy process. Embedding quotes, introducing the author, and stating what page and author the quote is from is a straightforward concept that I do not find to be much of a challenge. However, if it was not for the website, easybib.com, I would have a difficult time creating the works cited page. It is hard to memorize how it should be listed. The only thing I can usually remember is that the works cited page must be in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. I may attempt to use a different citation style for extra credit and to learn a new style.
A novel I thoroughly enjoyed reading in my younger years was Little Women. It was a very bold book for it’s time because one of it’s main characters is an independent woman who chooses writing over love. This book a mostly dialogue and so it does not have much for “cool” punctuation. However, the dialogue engages the reader and makes them feel like the are a part of the story. “‘Do you speak French, dear?’ asked Mrs. Carrol, her hand on Amy’s” (page 160). When the author, Louisa May Alcott, uses this format it creates a mood of realism. This book is set in a time period and place where all those who were white and well off spoke very precisely and always correctly, so fragments are almost impossible to find in this novel. The most incomplete sentence I could spot was “‘Not much’” (page 28). Not having fragments is a very high bar to be set to, and is a goal in my writing.
Although I know the importance of Citations, it has always been an obvious problem for me as a writer. The handbook's chapter 18 on MLA citation and the Purdue OWL website do a great job of informing me of the different citations that I can use for all the different types of sentences. I especially enjoy in the handbook’s chapter 18 the use of it being in an actual story. It helped me fully understand the different ways to cite different stories. Before the causal essay I did not have the slightest idea on how to cite correctly, but improved my skills greatly with looking at The handbook’s chapter 18 for help throughout the causal essay. I am still not extremely confident in my citing ability, but am bettering myself day by day by taking Composition 101. I admit to only relying on easybib before composition, but now find myself containing the basic understanding to do it on my own. For extra credit I would try my best to cite sources in APA, Chicago, or CSE style. Although, I do need to finalize my understanding on MLA format first. I understand the basic tasks of how to cite and the looks of a Works Cited page, but sometimes get confused with all the little things you must do with it. It is the little things like where to put the period after or before the parenthesis or whether to underlined or italicized. I know these are simple tasks to fulfill, and will be easily achieved with time and work, but it gets quite irritating looking it up every time I forget.
“The Hunger Games “by Suzanne Collins is one of my favorite books. A book in which I have read twice, and would be happy to read again. “District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety (6).” This sentence in the beginning is fairly simple, but gives you a great amount of perspective of district 12 and starts out the book with a bang. After reading the punctuation in the Hunger Games, I have noticed how Suzanne Collin’s sentences are quite simple, but carry a great amount of emotion and passion are in each sentence. That is what makes her a fantastic writer and author. “Eleven! Effie Trinket lets out a squeal, and everybody is slapping me on the back and cheering and congratulating me. But it doesn’t seem real (36).” There must be a mistake. How…how could that happen?” I ask Haymitch.” There are numerous fragments when looking at these few sentences in this book. by just saying “Eleven!” and “How...how could that happen?” allows the reader to see the emphasis in the book to add more suspense and excitement through each sentence. I hope to add as much passion into my essays as Suzanne Collin does in her novels.
In the past, when the author of a source was not given, I would to completely avoid citing the source. That was, in every way, very disrespectful of me. Chapter eighteen in the handbook gives an abundance of great examples of MLA citations and a circumstance each might be used for. One of the examples I personally liked showed exactly what to do in the case of an unknown author. It demonstrates a very simple, easy way to not be a plagiarist. For people who would rather use the internet instead of a book, there is Purdue OWL. On this cite there are hundreds of pointers on MLA format. I appreciated that the website uses screenshots of how a citation should look in a Google document. I am a visual learner, so it is quite a relief when there are familiar pictures along with directions. After researching the book pages and the link, it is easy to say that with them, I can learn to cite anything. However, there are so many types of citations and rules to citing that it seems a little overwhelming. I am sure that with more practice I will be more comfortable with the format.
This is a sentence I found neat in The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman:"Her head snapped this way and that--there was a flutter of black wings, a shiver of white--and the little black thing fell to the tarred roof of the cabin at Lyra's feet...(136)." I do plan on reading this book again, because the first time I read it, I was an 8th grader. If I remember right, the book look me 5 months to finish, and it is only the first one. I hope that when I read it again, I will better understand the plot and the extremely complex yet poetic character of Philip Pullman's writing. There is also a ton of dialog in the book, therefore there are many sentence fragments. Some fragments are used because they sound more natural when spoken, but deliberate fragments such as "So frightened(308)." emphasizes that Lyra, the main character was nearly petrified.
Rasmussen 7
The handbook is more helpful with visual examples for MLA formatting, while the Purdue OWL website gives you the example and more options on how to cite sources. The visual examples in the handbook gave me a picture to look at and try to copy the formatting. That is how I prefer to learn, through looking and memorizing with a picture and trying to see the image on the page in my head while I try to write or cite. The Purdue OWL website on the other hand helps open your eyes to more than one type of ways to cite your sources. Purdue OWL gives you examples of APA style and Chicago Manual of Style. With my current citing abilities I am not too confident in my work. When I write my Works Cited pages, I seem to mess up on the punctuation and order. The things I seem to be good at though when it comes to working on my Works Cited page is the content that is needed in the cited sources, but I can never seem to get the order of the content correct. When it comes to understanding the works cited page, I get how to read it and go through it, I just cannot make it properly all the time without going for help from a citing website. The part that I do get when I cite sources is the part of putting the sources into my document to reference the cited source on the Works Cited page. I also understand how the Works Cited page is organized and looks in general, with the words “Works Cited” on the top of the page then the sources underneath in alphabetical order. If it came to trying different types of works cited pages for extra credit, I think I would like to try them just to get a feel for other styles and types. It could also give me an easier way to remember ways to cite my sources in MLA.
I was looking through a Harry Potter book and just happened to stop on this sentence, 'Don't put your wand there, boy!' roared Moody. 'What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!'(page 48). In this sentence I like how J.K. Rowling used the emphasis of exclamation points inside of her quotes and also used the word “buttocks”, a word never normally used, to lighten up the mood of the book for a little while.
For myself citing is pretty easy, with the help from easybib.com of course. If I were told I would not be able to use it I would not be as confident in my citing. It has been a long time since I had to do my own, that I would have to look up examples on how to do it. The only works citied I use is MLA format, I did not realize how many different types of citing there are. Now knowing about the others I could change the way I cite my sources. I will definitely try to use different types to earn extra credit in my writing and to get better and more fluent in citing. In the Nicholas Sparks book The Longest Ride he says, “Sophia told them about some of the antics that went on at the sorority house- including the fact that the pluming had to be replaced because too many girls were bulimic, which corroded the pipes- and Luke told a few stories about some of the more colorful events on tour, one of which included a friend- who went nameless- and a woman he picked up at the bar who turned out to be . . . not quite what he imagined (214).” This sentence is quite incredible; it puts numerous thoughts into one sentence. It also uses dashes and periods to help the sentence keep going and make sense. He also had a deliberate fragment that makes his book flow nicely, “Because we’re different (150).” He did this so we would know as readers what Sophia was thinking and it added to the next sentence he started. Reading through his book makes me realize how much more I could be doing in my essays. It also shows me how to make different ways of writing sentences also.
When it comes to writing the essays in this class, the part I usually have some trouble with is the works cited page. This and the conclusion seem to take forever to finish till the end of the essay. Until I took this class, I never knew the correct way to create an MLA heading at the top of your paper. What is helpful about both the handbook and the Purdue website is the side comments within the text. If I needed to find out how to cite a interview, all I had to do was find the interview section, labeled by a number. Along with finding out on the template essay, there are personal paragraphs within the chapter, further explaining how to write the MLA citation and its importance. What is so great about the Purdue website, the sidebar of the website shows all forms of citations from paper books to periodicals. If you need more information about MLA like the frequently asked questions, posters, and helpful powerpoint presentations. Throughout these past few essays, I have gotten very comfortable with writing MLA format and citations. Once you start typing several of the citations, it gets easier. Just like anything you need to practice to make perfect. I understand that the longer the citation, the nicer and more educated it looks. I also understand that it is otherwise known as plagiarism if you do not supply the original writer with it’s information. A work cited page always has indents that look similar and they are short fragments split up by commas and colons.
From The Hunger Games, i enjoy the sentence “Because when he sings… even the birds stop to listen.” What I think about this sentence, is the emotion behind it. It shows the reader how peaceful the sound is, even the birds would stop their peacefulness to listen to something even more beautiful. The ellipses adds emphasis and passion to the sentence and the senses to the appeal the reader.
Before this class started, I went into it thinking that the class was going to be easy because I thought I was a pretty good writer. I was quite wrong by assuming that. I did not think the class was this in depth about writing. How much effort it is to type a good paper. Since I came to the realization about this class, and how difficult it would be, I then discovered the handbook. The handbook has helped me a number of times when I am not sure what the requirements are. Especially when it comes to siting a source. Also an in text citation. Chapter 18 teaches me how to correctly site sources in my paper. Not only has the handbook helped me, but also the site easybib.com. When typing an essay they do take up much of my time. In order to type an excellent essay, I have to spend a lot of time on it. Easybib.com allows me to site my sources in a timely fashion so I can continue on composing my essay.
“Curiosity is not a sin; but we should exercise caution with our curiosity… yes, indeed 239.” This quote from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire demonstrates to me
an example of cool punctuation. The reason for this is the … after curiosity. I believe it is cool because it makes me feel like he came to a realization of what he just said is true. “We enter a world that’s entirely our own 37.” This sentence from the Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire is an example of deliberate fragment. You do not know what the sentence is trying to say unless you know what is said in front of it. Before that sentence in the book it says “In dreams,” Now that I have that information the sentence makes sense. These types of sentences can give your paper a more dramatic feel to them, which can interest the reader even more.
I greatly enjoy having The St. Martin’s Handbook to use for a resource as I write my essays. It plays an extremely vital role in helping me cite the essays that I write. The student essay that Daniel Craig wrote was a big help in the process of writing my causal essay and will be a big help as Isaiah and I are working on our argumentative essay. I always learn better by example so the example essay is a big help. Just like in The St. Martin’s Handbook I enjoy the examples on the Purdue OWL website. It helps me a lot when after every header has an example to follow that visually shows exactly what the point was talking about. Using these sources helps me feel more confident as I go about writing my essays. I believe I understand in text notation the most because it has been something that my prior english teachers have stressed about learning how to do it. However, I feel like I lean too much on sources such as Easybib for doing my works cited pages. As convenient as those sources are for working on works cited entries, they do all of the work for you. Never have I had to actually make my own works cited entry. However I do have a fairly good idea as to how the works cited pages are supposed to look, double spaced with hanging indents and alphabetized. Going off the fact that MLA citation is still fairly new to me I will probably avoid trying to use APA or any other methods in the attempt to first perfect my MLA citation.
Undoubtedly my favorite author, Gary Paulsen, uses a lot of dashes in his novels. He uses these dashes to add more description inside the sentence itself. These sentences help the reader understand more about what is happening in the sentence. An example of this is in his book Hatchet. “He tried throwing the spear but he was not good enough and not fast enough--the birds could fly amazingly fast, get up fast” (197). I greatly enjoy the use of dashes in his novels because not only do they add on to the sentence, but they are also something different. Instead of using a comma or a semicolon he uses dashes to mix up his writing a little bit. In Gary Paulsen’s novels he also uses deliberate fragmentation. He uses these to add emphasis to a phrase in either the proceeding or preceding sentence. “Always hungry. I am always hungry…” (126). In this instance he is using always hungry to emphasis that he was actually always hungry. When Mr. Paulsen uses these fragments throughout the novel that is when you know there is supposed to be emphasis on the word or phrase. He uses these fragments for great effect and he uses them to a great ability, which is one of the reasons I believe he is so great.
Ellie Klumpp Pd.2
From the first time I was taught and tried to cite my works I have found it very time consuming but nevertheless credit should be given where credit is deserved, thus this task is extremely important to avoid pallgersim. I would in no way call myself a expert at citing, I rely on Easy Bib more than I would like to admit, I wish it would come easier to me where I could accomplish citing on my own but the Easy Bib website is convent, fast and gets the job done. This is especially helpful when citing many books or websites like we use in our essays. I am most definitely more comfortable with citing in MLA format because I Know what it is suppose to look like, it is more common, and it has become the format that has been hammered into our heads for years.
One of the more recent books I have read, Dear John, has been one of my favorite books to read so far. I really enjoy how the author, Nicholas Sparks uses punctuation and sentence style to create certain feelings and emotion. It can also simply make the book for interesting to read with the use of them. I found a particular sentence that uses dashes well to make you think what the character in the book is thinking, “It wasn’t a large place—about the same size as my dad’s—but the floor plan is more open, which made it seem larger.” (Page 19) During this scene of the book she is going through a very big move into a friend’s house, which she is not particularly fond of and this sentence helps, you feel her reluctance. Dear John is one of Spark’s best selling book not only for the plot but his writing style keeps readers interested without them barely noticing it.
Nador 7
Honestly, citing sources is not my area of expertise. I am not very fond of it, and could forget about it as easily as any important deadlines for school. I am really glad that we can use easybib.com to set up our “Works Cited” page after our essays, so I have it the easier way. I know I should know how to and be confident in citing my sources of information, therefore I want to learn about it. Page 18 of the handbook and the Purdue Owl are very useful, not only because they help us avoid plagiarism, but they also explain and provide background information, so that I know what is going on. I get that cited sources need to be alphabetized and all the information as far as date, location, author (whose last name goes first) need to be given credit for. I do not really understand the order of the information and the punctuation and formatting in the sources, but I am planning on taking a more thorough look in the near future.
My favorite writer is the fantastic George Orwell; his first classic I got to read was Animal Farm, which was one of the few books that intrigued me and made me think. That is the reason why I chose to quote and bring examples from that book.
They put it about that the animals on the Manor Farm (they insisted on calling it the Manor Farm; they would not tolerate the name "Animal Farm") were perpetually fighting among themselves and were also rapidly starving to death.
This sentence is cool, because it is long, but the way it is punctuated makes it easily understandable and language-wise well-fitting into the style of Orwell’s writing.
“Four legs good, two legs bad!" In this particular deliberate fragment, Orwell emphasizes the message by oversimplifying the sentence, thus making it a fragment.
When I viewed the two different sources, I noted that they both offered in-depth examples on how to cite sources. In relation, I feel that I am more or less confident in my citing abilities as long as I can use a citing website or have other examples handy to look at. One website that I prefer to use quite often is EasyBib due to the fact that there is very minimal work involved and the website does most of the work for you. There are some cases where there are some websites that actually have their site already sited and you only have to copy and paste into your essay. There is not a whole lot that I get about citations. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I would be very lost without thoroughly looking over the rules or having examples handy to look at. For the most part, I do understand what a works cited page should look like. By this I mean that it should be in a listed form with each citation separated so that they do not run together. One book that I can remember reading was Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and in the first chapter at one point said, “A harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh , but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory” (1). What makes this sentence really awesome in itself is the extensive use of personification and imagery to describe a single ray of light in a room. Another sentence that was a deliberate fragment that I can remember reading was in the book Tucket’s Ride by Gary Paulsen. “There. He heard a thump, then a scream” (4). When Paulsen uses the deliberate fragment, he is drawing attention to this specific moment so that the reader understands to pay attention to what is about to happen.
The student handbook and link to Purdue Owl are both very helpful sources that explain and show significant examples as to how one can create an MLA citation. After the multiple essays I have written, or typed, most of them consisted of MLA format, therefore enhancing my skills in that profession of citation. I believe that MLA citation is what I am best at. Although I do not have the memory well put together when trying to place the information for the citation correctly. You think I would have that down by now, but I certainly do not. If I am given the format and told what information I need, I am able to easily acquire that information and put it in the places I was told to do so. At the top of my head, I can tell you that the title “works cited” is to be centered. Also there is to be a “hanging indent” in each source listed on your works cited page. And I cannot forget that they are to be in alphabetical order. I have always been able to remember those three things. Using one of my personal favorite novels, “A Walk to Remember” by Nicholas Sparks, I will show examples APA and Chicago citation. APA Citation consists the order of Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial. Book. City, State: Publisher. Sparks, Nicholas (2000). A Walk to Remember. New York, NY: Warner Books. That was an example of APA citation. Now I will show you Chicago citation as it goes Last name, First name, Middle Initial. Book title. City: Publisher, year of publication. Sparks, Nicholas. A Walk to Remember. New York: Warner Books, 2000. In Jodi Picoult’s book, Nineteen Minutes, there are various, eye catching sentence structures. A favorite sentence of mine from the book is “His effect on me is indescribable—the skip in my heartbeat, the butterflies in my stomach, the weightlessness of my body.” (34). I thoroughly enjoy the use of words, and the dash placed in the sentence adds a dramatic break to intensify the emotion that the character in the novel is overwhelmed with.
2 Laycock
I was first introduced to MLA early in my writing career as Mrs. Feyereisen taught me how to do it the best she could when I was a seventh grader at Brandon Valley Middle School. Back then, it was just a difficult, troublesome task that I did not understand too well. All of this changed when I learned of a lovely website called easybib.com. Easybib.com is an website that, as you feed the correct information into their system, will cite a source for you. These sites can range anywhere from another website, a book, or even an e-mail. Ever since I came across easybib.com, I have become a much better at citing my sources for the essays I have to complete. I am just starting to confidently cite any source I need to. I am on the brink of mastering MLA format citing; the only problem I have is I sometimes struggle finding the information from the website I used to help my essay, such as the publisher and the author. Most of the time, they can be found. It just takes some digging throughout the website in order to find it. I fully understand how a Works Cited page should look. I have never tried to cite a source using APA, Chicago, or CSE style, however; I would not be against trying it in an upcoming essay if extra credit was offered. I would like to fully understand MLA before advancing onward to any other version.
My favorite series of novels is The Hunger Games series. My favorite of the three books is the second one, Catching Fire. Suzanne Collins uses a spectacular job using deliberate fragments, but there are a few sentences I will never forget. In this part of the book, Katniss is talking with Gale, deciding whether or not they should leave their district. She hugs Gale, "Over his shoulder, I see my mother and Prim clutching each other in the doorway. We run. They die(179)." These few sentences speak to me because of the strong use of deliberate fragments that Suzanne Collins uses. It shows how Katniss matures throughout the book and thinks of others first: her family. I do not think I would have remembered this if it were not for the deliberate fragments.
Klumpp 1
I first learned about MLA citation in middle school. We learned a "watered down" version on how to cite things through the website Easy Bib for the most part. As a middle schooler, I tried to understand how to cite things correctly, but always ended up using easy bib instead. Now that I am in high school, I have a much better understanding of how and why we cite certain things. I do feel like I could use more instruction on citing thought instead of relying on a website. I have never tried using Chicago, APA, or CSE style but would be more than willing to attempt if extra credit was at stake! I believe that citing sources is extremely important because we should always give credit where credit is due. I would be extremely offended if someone used my work and did not give me the credit I deserved. I found our text book extremely helpful in citing all my essays so far.
I am currently re-reading the "Hunger Games" series and I am currently on Catching Fire, which is the 2nd book in the series. In this part of the book, Katniss and Gale are arguing about an uprising. "Stop it! You don't know what you're saying. The Peacekeepers outside of Twelve, they're not like Darius or even Cray! The lives of district people-they mean less than nothing to them! I say (100)." I love this sentence because this such an intense part of the book and I enjoyed her use of a dash for dramatic effect. Suzanne Collins is an extremely talented and interesting author. She uses a ton of deliberate fragments and dashes throughout the entire series. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for an intense read!
Komatsubara 7
It may seem as if I was lazy and did not bother to read the material if I write this, but in general I “understand” most things about MLA format. I have very few questions on how it works (for now). I would have hoped to understand how MLA became a standard in American English, that is pretty much the only question mark left in my head.
p.72 (He wondered again for whom he was writing the diary.) For the future, for the past--an age that might be imaginary. (And in front of him there lay not death but annihilation.)
p. 121 (You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words.) But not a bit of it! (We’re destroying words--scores of them, hundreds of them, every day.)
Both from 1984, a charnel yet mysteriously attractive story. Occasionally I wonder how this dramatic yet fictitious story can be more accepted than real life destruction of our atmosphere. Apart from that, I realize George Orwell’s sentences in the story each contain a deep message--no matter how brief.
Dashes are extending the emphasis to a dimension beyond simple fear. With the dash in the former sentence, I sense the message that there is (still not was) danger of absolute annihilation of individual freedom and the misery it would bring. Exemplified as a world where even the simplest natural urge of recording personal thoughts are a heavy crime. Attempts to control everything brings prosperity to the hearts and minds of absolutely nobody. Orwell has no doubt done a wonderful job at alarming all humankind of such a future.
I assume most everyone realizes that sometimes the strongest messages are the shortest ones. Here Syme, a character who is a lexicographer, explains in (what I assume is) a jovial tone how vocabulary that can be linked to rebellion is in the process of deletion from speakers’ memories. Whether concept comes first or vocabulary comes first in thought process in still in debate between psychologists in real life, but in 1984 the latter is assumed. It shows the terror of brainwashing from bottom up by eliminating unorthodox concepts against the oligarchy.
I feel fairly conffident citing sources. I had a hard time finding how to create in-text citations using websites as sources but after finding and studying how to do it in the textbook, I am more confident in citing my sources correctly. The punctuation is what I need to learn still. Off the top of my head it is comma comma semicolon semicolon comma comma, but I am not confident about this at all. I remember from the Term Tuesday presentation about citations the pneumonic device Lift and Copy, which stands for Last name, First name, Title, City, Publisher, and year, followed by the medium of the source. That is incredibly helpful to me to remember the order of citing sources. I need to learn and study how to do block quotes. I had Noah help me last time I needed a block quote. On my last essay I neglected to alphabetize my sources cited, but I will strive to not repeat this mistake on my next essay.
"Ah," Nearly Headless Nick waved an elegant hand, "a matter of no importance. . . . It's not as though I really wanted to join. . . . Thought I'd apply, but apparently I 'don't fulfill requirements' -". This is an excerpt from a Harry Potter Novel. This is part of a dialogue between Harry Potter and a ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. This is a great sentence. It has quotation marks and dialogue, which I have trouble organizing sometimes, such as when to use commas and periods and where to put these punctuation marks in relation to the quotation marks. Capitalization is also something that I am unsure of when using quotations.
This quote also uses an ellipsis to show the character trailing off while talking. The use of the ellipsis in this sentence helps me picture how the character was talking much more effectively than had Rowling not used the ellipsis.
1 Kunkel
I found chapter 18 in the St. Martins handbook helpful for the most part. When first looking at the pages inside it can feel overwhelming. There is no simple way to cite and how a citation looks can depend on where it comes from. When first looking through chapter eighteen I found that a good place to start was to look at the numbered list of all elements of an MLA citation in the correct order. The page number of the description of every part is listed which I found helpful. Also, I thoroughly appreciated the excessive amount of examples riddled throughout. If i wanted to know how to cite an unknown author, for example, not only does it tell me how to do it, but it gives you a correct example. Navigating Purdue OWL was less straight forward then the handbook requiring you to click on multiple links to navigate to what you want. I found the dropbox on the left side of the screen to look for the specific rules you need at a glance. I found the full page examples helpful also. I feel like my citing needs more help. I am not confident on making a citation on my own without checking carefully on the rules of each part. I am not totally adept to recognizing when different rules apply. For example, what makes an article different than an online source that also has an article.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling says "There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest (381). This is a cool sentence because it uses vivid imagery. On top of that there are great examples of alliteration and rhyme. On the same page, Rowling uses the fragment "too late". That is an especially powerful fragment because it carries much emotion in just two words.
What is specifically helpful with using the handbook and the website given to us is that they give a good picture example of how citing should be used. I learn more and better with seeing examples done for me and being able to look at what they did step for step. Especially with the handbook it gives you a lot of examples to look at how they did it and also word for word on how they cited the writings. I am decently confident with my citing skills but I am definitely not 100 percent there with how to cite different sources. I understand how it should look when you cite and how to get it to look correct on your works cited page. I do not completely understand the difference between citing books, online articles, and different small quotes from a person. I am still working on learning this for my essays and using the handbook has really helped me with that. The works cited page is probably the easiest of everything for me to understand. We watched a video on it in class that dumbed it down even more for everyone. I understand all the rules that go along with it like alphabetizing it and also how it should look like the spacing, font, layout, etc. Harry Potter has always been a must see and must read for me. I enjoy how J. K. Rowling writes the Harry Potter series and the sentence styles she uses. I sentence I am using is from one of my favorite books of hers, The Sorcerer's Stone. There is no good or evil: only power and those too weak to seek it (153). I like the sentence structure she used here because it makes the sentence interesting with the semicolon and also how she used different words to rhyme together.
The Purdue Owl I personally like to use more because it is more accessible then the Student Handbook we receive. It is online and not as cumbersome as carrying a book in your backpack everywhere because it is already stuffed full of other stuff you absolutely need for school. Also the Purdue is much easier to navigate. You do not have to look up the index or table of contents to find the exact page that can help you. You just click on the MLA format style guide and it gives you a litany of things example and different links to show you exactly what you need to do and how to do. The Handbook does as well it is just not as efficient and user friendly. I do like how the Handbook does give great examples for each almost every type of source you would need to source in your paper. Ever. It also gives an accurate description of how they did their citation. I just wish it was easier to use. Like an online copy maybe? I am pretty confident as a writer in citing certain things in my essay. I get how to do novels and websites. Everything I rely pretty heavily on easybib. Which does it for me so I do not know exactly how much I know. I do have pretty good grasp on the works cited page as a whole. I do not think I would because I think MLA has been ingrained into my minds so much that APA or Chicago styles would seem very foreign. I would like to try it however it is used at the college level. Also I think we should have different essays be written in different styles throughout the year so we know how to do all styles so we can go off to college and whatever style they throw at us we can take it and run with it and not get bogged down trying to learn it ourselves. I also think all styles should be taught in the Honor English leading up to Comp 1. My sentence for cool punctuation comes my favorite childhood novel: Charlotte’s Web. “He wanted a friend--someone who would play with him” (27). The punctuation that makes this sentence cool is the dash. The dash shows how desperate he wanted to have a friend. Anyone would do for Wilbur the pig. He was really lonely.The deliberate fragment also comes from Charlotte’s Web. “Oh, honestly!” (27) This fragment comes at the end of long quote by Wilbur and it shows that he truly believes he is lonely and friendless.
There are several things that are especially helpful on the Purdue OWL website and in the handbook. Both of these sources give specific instructions to guide you through exactly how the MLA citations is supposed to be. Also, each has a works cited page example with the correct way to cite and format everything to help more if there is any confusion. I would say that I am fairly confident on citing and formatting correctly the works cited page. I mostly understand how to cite everything and format correctly and if there is something I do not comprehend then I can look it up in one of these places. There is not much I do not understand because these sources explain the correct format quite explicitly, but one thing I have not mastered is how to do the hanging indent. When I had to do a works cited page for the casual essay, I realized I had completely forgotten how to do a hanging indent. In general, though, I understand how a works cited page is supposed to look. Also, I think in one of my future essays I might try the APA style of works cited to gain more knowledge of different formatting styles and, of course, for extra credit as well.
A Tale of Two Cities--one of my favorite books of all time--has countless complex sentences that make readers think at a deeper level. Dickens constantly captivates readers with his wit and spellbinding sentence styles. In this sentence Charles Dickens definitely writes with cool punctuation, “Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a nightcap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees--BLOOD.” In this sentence Dickens uses several different punctuation styles to spice up his writing. First of all he uses commas to describe in more vivid detail the scene and what is happening. Second, he uses a semicolon so he can add on to his sentence. Lastly, he uses a dash with one word after it to describe what the writing on the wall looks like. Along with his sophisticated sentence styles, Dickens also uses deliberate fragments in his writing to make it more compelling. In his book, a conversation takes place in which he uses several deliberate fragments. He uses, “‘Two French gentlemen’ and ‘Like these in shape and size?’” as deliberate fragments here to keep the reader enthralled with his book.
When it comes to using MLA Citations, at first I was rather confused, yes the book and website clarify what you use it for and how to use it, but it was never anything I was required to use in any of my past schools or classes. MLA is rather a better source of writing down of where you got information and where it was found and such. Until this last week, I am now rather confident in writing citations in MLA formatting. What I really did not get was just how to find the right information and in what order it was required to be in. The thing that I understood was mainly, well... nothing until now. I do now also understand how a Works Cited page is supposed to look like. I will most likely not cite anything in APA, Chicago, or CSE style mainly just because of the fact that I have now just got myself to under stand MLA citations in it's entirety. It would most likely take me that much longer to understand those than it did to understand the simple MLA formatting of citations.
Having to choose the book that I have brought myself to read multiple times is the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. One of my favorite quotes being, ""Excellent! I cried. "Elementary." said he.". Yes, it is a random sentence.. but, when a British man cries out something like, "Elementary" it tends to spark my attention.
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1983). Watson and Holmes in "The Crooked Man". (pg.412)
The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) is a fantastic website that can be used for learning about any type of problem a student may have when writing. If a student has a question about MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association) citations, then this website is the prime source for that student to gain their required information without awkwardly asking a teacher while simultaneously sounding like they have no idea what they are doing. The user-friendly format of the Purdue OWL greatly increases the efficiency of the research needed to be done to find exactly what one is looking for. The tabs along the left side of the website make discovering the needed information exponentially easier for the average neophyte to use. The APA and MLA tabs are crucial to any high school or college student who needs assistance in creating a citation.
Chapter 18 in my handbook is also immensely crucial to my understanding of citations. The book contains nearly all of the same information as the Purdue OWL, however, it is not nearly as convenient as the Purdue OWL because it is a book. Everyone knows that the internet is easier to obtain access to than a book, simply because the internet is almost everywhere in present times.
As to what exactly I “get” and do not “get,” that is hard to say. How should I know what I know and do not know? I am not sure how to answer that, but I will try my best. I am only able to recollect a few pieces of information regarding citations. I know for certain that titles of novels, books, and magazines need to be italicized in citations. I also know that the author of the work is placed after the title and before the date published. As to what I do not know, well, I just do not know!
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