2014 Fall
For general help with MLA style formatting, please see the Purdue Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL). In this course we will deviate from strict style in two ways: (a) there will be a citation for each and every quote and (b) the work(s) cited section will not need to start on a new page; please place it after your last paragraph.
Hard-copy (printed) assignments should include the student’s name, course number (hyphen) professor’s last name, assignment number, and date. Please note that for printed assignments the format is always double spaced.
When students are asked to present summaries of materials, guidelines will include:
(1) minimum word counts: word processors such as MS Word can easily report how many words are in a paragraph.
(2) minimum quotation counts: a direct quotation will usually be a complete sentence, always punctuated by quotation marks, and taken from a primary source text (not from summaries or commentaries about the primary source text).
(3) a mandatory citation for each and every direct quote: after the closing quote mark, and before the period, place a citation in parentheses, using the first word of the work cited and any text location information such as page, chapter, paragraph number, section, book, etc.
(4) mandatory works cited: in printed assignments this does not need to be a new page, but it does need to be a new section, usually placed at the end of the last page.
Here is an example of a direct quote, a citation, and a work cited:
“If you make your life with these in your heart, You will find it a success” (Amen-em-apt Ch. 1, 9-10).
Amen-em-apt. “The Instruction of Amen-em-apt.” Trans. Wim van den Dungen, et al. Sofiatopia.org. http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/amen_em_apt.htm
Evaluating Source Materials
Online source materials are inexpensive to access but they must be carefully evaluated for scholarly use.
Primary source text: when writing short summaries of materials, required quotes must come from a textual source that most closely documents the content of the original teaching. In the example above we have quoted from the text that most closely documents the teachings of Amen-em-apt. We have not quoted from any text written about the teachings of Amen-em-apt.
Commentaries, encyclopedias, summaries, introductions, disconnected quotations: especially when working with internet sources we need to evaluate our source materials to make sure that we are not quoting from texts other than primary source materials. Links to Wikipedia and other reference sources will be provided in our course materials, and they should be used to help establish a working relationship to primary texts. Quotations from Wikipedia or these other sources will usually be counted against the overall quality of a short summary.
Scholarly databases: your library has many interesting materials available via database searches, including sources that are termed “secondary literature” because they represent the work of scholars in peer-reviewed journals or academic books. Since this is an introductory course, students will not be required to access or quote these materials, but if a student is feeling very comfortable with the material and would like to expand her understanding, then these sources may be used for supplementary purposes. In any case, when writing a short summary, the minimum quote count must still come from primary source materials.
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