MLA Format

Final drafts on your first essays are due Tuesday, Sept. 15. Keep in mind all of the comments that have come your way, whether from your blog comments or on your returned draft. Some people need to fully develop an essay, rather than a paragraph or a page; some need to create and maintain a more specific focus; many people need to look carefully at sentence formation and punctuation. We will focus on those two areas in the next few weeks. Almost everyone needs to make sure his/her paper is handed in correct MLA format.

The Modern Language Association created the format that, in English language arts, we simply refer to as MLA. It is detailed on page 300 in 6th edition of the St. Martin's Handbook. If you have a different edition--no problem, just look in your table of contents for the section on MLA FORMAT. The sample paper is on page 337 in St. Martin's. THERE IS NO TITLE PAGE, BUT THERE IS A SPECIFIC FORMAT IN WHICH THE PAPER MUST BE PRESENTED. Please refer to this as you begin your final draft!

Abbreviations:

WW = Wrong Word -- e.g., soar instead of sore
BW = Better Word -- not necessarily a "bigger" word, but one more exact than "a lot"
TR = Transition -- there may need to be a word or phrase for a smoother transition or "flow"
CS = Comma Splice!! :-/