4th - 6th Writing, February 6

Lesson:
We spent part of this class period going over the list of sub-topics to include in this report, detailed in last week's blog entry.

We spent most of the time discussing the problems of plagiarism, including unintentional plagiarism, and the need to properly cite our sources, so that we are not using the ideas and information of others without giving them credit.

Thd students will eventually learn complete Modern Language Association (MLA) style parenthetical citation, but for now, we are beginning to learn how to compile a Works Cited page. Since the students are consulting a wide variety of resources, including non-standardized internet sites, they will encounter many variables, almost too many to teach in advance. For this assignment, I will be satisfied with almost any attempt to cite sources. As we work though the next few assignments, the students will improve correctness with practice and application.

A Works Cited page is simply a list of resources consulted and used in the report. Many of us probably learned to call this a bibliography. This will be a separate page from the report itself, with the student's last name and page number in the upper right margin. (If the student's paper is two pages long, the Works Cited will be page three, e.g., Winn 3. If more than one student has the same last name, also include the first initial after the last name.)

~ Center the words Works Cited on the top line (without underline or quotation marks).
~ Alphabetize the list of works cited by the first letter of each entry.
~ Begin each entry with the author's name, last name first. (Smith, John C.)
~ Then give the title of the work. Underline titles of books and magazines; put quotation marks around titles of articles.
~ Then follow with source information such as publisher, place of publication, and date of publication. (Consult handouts for exact guidelines.)
~ Indent all but the first lines of each entry.
~ Double-space the list.

Were my printer working as it should, I would have distributed handouts detailing standard MLA formatting. This will be corrected this week. In the meantime, here are some sites that explain the information:

From Duke University, this page contains links that thoroughly detail almost every possible variation.

This page simply and briefly covers the most common types of sources.

This page is somewhere in between the previous two.

This page is the most simple guide.

Here is a nifty website that actually formats proper citations for you. It provides a variety of styles; choose MLA.


Though this seems complicated (and it can be!), we will be taking it step by step, learning by doing. I am not asking the students to learn the full MLA documentation --- just the basics. I will be happy with author's name and work title, and website address where applicable, for now.


Assignment:
Each student is to complete a final draft of an animal report, including a separate Works Cited page. The body of each report is to be at least a good long paragraph, up to three paragraphs, and should fill at least three-fourths of a page to one and a half pages, double spaced. The Works Cited will be listed alphabetically on a separate page.