Summer Work Review

Let’s take a look at what you did over your summer vacation….

MLA Format

• MLA = Modern Language Association• Format for how to type papers:

• Milicent Murder Murder 1• Ms. Thoreson• 11 AP English• 9 September 2009

• What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Huh? What’s That Again?

» There is info about MLA format on my web page through the MHS faculty pages

» Search for “MLA Format” and you can find information on the web

More on MLA

• MLA guidelines for citations within the body of the text.

• No footnotes, use endnotes.

• For single author, simply cite page numbers: (43).

• For multiple sources, use last name and page number: (Shelly 43).

MLA Format Some More

• Include a works cited page!

• Even if you only use one work, include a works cited page at the end to show which book edition you used.

• Information on page 21 of your planner and on-line about how to do works cited page.

Context Means Everything!

• Imagine that in each of the following situations, an individual exclaims, “I like eggs!”

• Does the egg-loving mean the same thing in each situation?

• Why does context matter?

“I Like Eggs” – Scene #1

– This lovely lass loves finding eggs!

“I Like Eggs” – Scene #2

• This poor person was driven crazy…too many summer essays to write??? What does she mean when she exclaims…”I like eggs!”

“I Like Eggs” #3

• Lucky Louie has inherited 500 Faberge Eggs from his rich Russian relatives. He exclaims: “I Like Eggs!”

This Will Not Be on the Test…

Use of 3rd Person

• In formal essays, stick to 3rd person • This means, avoiding I or you or our• But what about when I want to show that it’s my

own opinionCompare:“I think Utopia is too controlling and strict”versus:“The many aspects of Utopia that control its

citizens and limit their personal freedom make it a harsh repressive society.”

Punctuation Puzzles

• You are word processing your paper and you want to refer to a book title. Which of the following is correct?

• English is Awesome (underline)

• “English is Awesome” (quotations)

• English is Awesome (italics)

• “English is Awesome” (underline + quotes)

Yes, That’s Right:

• English is Awesome

• When you word process a book title, you put it in italics.

• When you are writing a paper, not typing it, you underline book titles because unless you have freakishly neat handwriting you cannot make it look like italics.

Tell Me Some More(this is fascinating!)

• When you put your own title at the start of a paper, simply write it with capital letters and no other special punctuation (NO quotations, italics, bold, etc.)

• Individual essay titles, short story titles, short poems, newspaper articles and other short works are in quotation marks

Pesky Pronoun Problems

• Find the grammar crime:

• Someone must have left their pet aardvark behind because a sad, lonely and strangely elegant pet is squatting in the corner of the classroom. Oops, someone will have to clean up after their pet!

Do You Get a Grammar Star?

•If you identified the problem with those sentences as the incorrect pronoun (their) then you deserve a grammar star!

Here’s the problem…

• Unfortunately, English does not have a singular, gender neutral pronoun.

• So when you need to use a single pronoun, and the antecedent is gender neutral (someone, the reader, the audience member, etc.) you must use:

• he/his • she/her• He or she or his or hers

Why all the quotation marks?

• Frankenstein’s “monster” had many truly “human” characteristics and in many ways was more “noble” than his creator.

Okay, Just Stop It…

• Use quotation marks when you are quoting directly from the text.

• Do NOT use quotation marks when you want to give special emphasis to a word or to show that you’re using it ironically. Rewrite your sentence so that your meaning is clear.

• For example: While Frankenstein’s creature may have looked like a monster, his noble character often made him seem more human than his creator.

Wow!!! That Was A Lot!

• Your summer essays are merely a starting point. Don’t be discouraged if you did not do as well as you had hoped. Try to learn from this essay, and as the semester goes on, you will be amazed at the growth of your analytical and writing abilities.

• Good Luck!!!

And Finally….

• For sitting through all of this information, you deserve a funny animal picture….