Writing Workshop
Writing an Academic Essay
Finding your thesis
Think about the assignment and find your
strongest area of interest
Use brainstorming, free writing, clustering,
looping, or cubing to find a focus
Think about what you will need to summarize,
paraphrase or directly quote
Find the best direct quotations & keep track
of those gems from the texts by page #
Beginning thesis examples:
Domination by a government or a colonial power
has a negative impact on indigenous people as
Erdrich show in Love Medicine and Obama in his
memoir, Dream From My Father.
Identity is deeply rooted in family and experiences
for a person as they become adult and formulate a
sense of their voice in the world.
Introductions Attract Interest
Write your introduction so anyone reading the
essay will understand your topic and your thesis
Begin with something that will get the attention or
interest of your readers.
An introduction can be one or two paragraphs, but
must have a clear thesis sentence and set the
context of the discussion in your paper.
Points need illustration &
explanation to make a whole.

Illustration
Points
Explanations
Use the MLA in-text style of
citation
Signal phrases (attributive tags) introduce your
source by name or clear reference to the text or
author the first time they are used in the paper.
Use a clear introduction to begin a direct quote,
summary or paraphrase. MLA form uses in-text
citation as the norm for citing sources
Lead carefully into each use of another source and
explain it completely afterwards.
Rules for Documentation
Put quotation marks around directly
copied words or phrases.
Paraphrase carefully and give a
citation-- summarize sparingly.
Acknowledge each source.
List sources on Works Cited page.
In-Text Documentation
When you borrow words, information, or ideas from
any source in print, on the Web, or produced as a
video or on television.
Cite in parentheses information reader needs to
locate the entry in the list of Works Cited.
OR
Cite part of the information in the text and part in
parentheses at the end of the passage.
Example of quote within a
quote:
Author and page number in
parentheses:
In his review John Lee quotes Gish Jen as
saying, ‘"I could not have written this story
early on in my career in dialect, using that
voice, because if I had sent it out, the
assumption would have been that I didn't
speak English”’(Lee 221).
Author introduced and in
parenthesis after the quote.
Direct Quotation
In his article reprinted in Emerging Voices, Marvin
Magalaner says that "the most pervasive image in
Love Medicine is unquestionable water" (528).
Paraphrase
According to Marvin Magalaner in his critical essay
reprinted in Emerging Voices water is the most
prominent symbol used by Louise Erdrich in Love
Medicine (528).
Paraphrase + Quotation
Paraphrase and Quotation
According to Magalaner, Louise Erdrich
uses water images throughout Love
Medicine and this "concern with water leads
in turn to several associated though
subsidiary motifs involving the relationship
of her characters to water" (528).
.
Multiple Authors
If the source has three or fewer
authors, cite each of their last names.
If there are more than three authors,
cite the last name of first author listed
on the title page plus the abbreviation
et al.
Works from video/television
When referring to a work from a video
or television.
Cite the source material by the way that this
source will be listed on the Works Cited.
Cite even those sections that you summarize
from that source.
Example
In “The English Lesson,” Nicholasa Mohr
describes the immigrants in Mrs. Susan Hamma’s
class in a similar way by saying that they “had
migrated [to America] in search of a better
future…and worked as unskilled laborers (Mohr
25).
.” In “The English Lesson,” immigrants in Mrs.
Susan Hamma’s class “had migrated [to America]
in search of a better future…and worked as
unskilled laborers (Mohr 25).
In-text citation:
Author’s name cited in-text:
LaRay M. Barna says in “Stumbling Blocks
in Intercultural Communication” that “[i]t’s
appropriate at this time to major changes
in the international scene to take a hard
look at some of the reasons for the
disappointing results of the attempts at
communication” (173).
Note: Bracket is used to change something from the
original.
Example of indented longer
quotation
Both author’s name & page # in a
parenthetical citation. {Author was
previously introduced in the paper.}
In talking about identity the nature or nurture discussion
emerges. One definition is:
Inherited influences represent those situations
into which one is born that are experiences in the
home on a daily basis. They may be biological
or environmental. (Root 238)
Unknown Authorship
If you borrow ideas from a source for which
you cannot determine the author:
Cite the title in-text and page number
parenthetically.
Cite the title and page number
parenthetically.
Follow new MLA guidelines for listing Web
sources date of access and name of site.
Additional Resources:
The Owl at Purdue has MLA information
and examples.
Use the North Seattle Library site and
examples from librarians: Elinor Appel and
Aryana Bates
Ask Loft Tutors; help each other in peer
review and class.