Day 6: MLA

MLA formatting can be a little tricky for some people, but it doesn't have to be.  For your papers, you need to have at least two outside sources that will be MLA formatted.  You can get sources from the Clemson Library Website here:  http://www.clemson.edu/library
Click on Find Articles on the left, and then click on of the few databases that are in there.  If you're off-campus, you'll just need to put in your campus username and password.


LexisNexis is good for news.  It has magazines and even The New York Times (notice how titles are italicized, the titles of articles go in quotation marks).


The others, particularly Academic Search Premier, are good for more academic articles.  So, you should have no trouble finding sources.  If you're doing a Gatorade ad, for example, search for Gatorade in LexisNexis and get a quotation from some athlete about the product or something to that end.


Aside from sources, essentially, MLA formatting requires a few things, one inch margins all around and in-text Citations that look like this: "Blah blah blah" (Burns 30).   (Note Well: punctuation usually goes inside the quotation marks except when an in-text citation pushes it out like as in the previous example.)  Here is a little checklist I've developed for making sure that I have everything I need.


Always, if you don't know how to do something, you should grow more comfortable with Googling it.  In your future jobs, you need to be able to figure some things out on your own.  Be savvy.  Bosses like savvy.


The Purdue Online Writing Lab, or the OWL, is a great place online to reference MLA formatting.  You don't need to memorize it, you just need to be able to do it.  You're more than welcome to use online MLA formatting websites like Easy Bib, but they won't be able to do everything, and sometimes they even have mistakes that need to be fixed with a close eye.  MLA formatting isn't the most important thing in the world, but it is a chance to follow a very specific format. In your future jobs, there will be some form that you have to follow, that you won't love, but that you'll just have to learn to do.


Here you can find a good Powerpoint that goes over in-text citations that I've put together from lots of places.  The first few examples show quotation marks used incorrectly.  Seriously.  If it helps you, do air quotes when you read "Do Not Eat" on the silica package...

Remember, the FIRST DRAFT of visual rhetoric assignment--at least two pages but more is better for you--is DUE by tonight at midnight... the witching hour!  Good luck with the MLA stuff.  Of course, if you run into trouble, e-mail, but try to figure it out first.  There's also a good MLA section in your DK Handbook (that's really what that handbook is for as well as a grammar reference); also there's a good essay example in Envision in Depth as well; just look in the index for it.

Your Daily Assignment:

• Read "Writing is Easy."  You can download it here.
• Then, write briefly about how your writing process has been so far.  What's is like to write for you?  Where do you have to be?  What helps?  What's your process?  Kant had to have an apple in his desk to write because of the smell.  Of course writing isn't easy, but humor... now that's something worth writing about...
• Make sure your papers are MLA formatted if they aren't already!

Grammar Review:


Its vs. It's

This is not really complicated.  It's is a contraction for "it is."  Its is a possessive pronoun.  It doesn't have an apostrophe because its cousins, his and hers, don't either.  Look at this chart for a really comprehensive breakdown of the third person pronouns.

	Subject	Object	Possessive Adjective	Possessive Pronoun	Reflexive
masculine	He laughed.	I kissed him.	His leg hurts.	This house is his.	He can support himself.
feminine	She laughed.	I kissed her.	Her arm hurts.	This house is hers.	She can support herself.
neuter	It is a very nice house.	I have bought it.	Its yard is big.	That cage is its.[1]	It sells itself.

So, now that you know...


Which one is it?  Apostrophe or no apostrophe?


___ when pirates say, "Thank you."


That dog is sniffing ___ bottom.


That hermaphrodite loves ___ parents.


In case you're wondering about this class, ___ all going very well.






So, now you're never going to mix this one up again.






The Oatmeal also covers this one in this list...