ESL 33B Practice
I. Parallel Structure – use parallel structure to combine the short sentences below. Then write two
paragraphs, one with the sentences in Part A and the other with the sentences in Part B, using your
sentences as the details and adding your own Topic Sentences and Concluding Sentences.
Part A.
1. At the library, you can find reference materials. You can find books. You can find periodical
articles.
2. Reference sources are helpful. They are easy to find. They are easy to read. They are very
reliable.
3. Books are helpful sources. They have a lot of information. They are mostly reliable.
Sometimes they are hard to read.
4. Periodical articles are good sources for up-to-date information. They are easy to find in electronic
databases such as Proquest. They are usually short. They may have some mistakes.
5. The internet seems easy to use. There are lots of websites. The information may be fragmented
and superficial. The information may be unreliable.
Part B.
1. To write the MLA citation for a print source, you need the author’s name. You need the title of the
source. You need the publication information. If the source is an electronic source, you need the date
you accessed the source.
2. To write the citation for an electronic source, you need the same information as a print source. You
also need the date you accessed the source. You need the URL.
3. The title of an article must be written in quotation marks. The title of a book or journal must be
underlined or written in italics.
4. On the Works Cited page, you must remember to indent. You must remember to put the sources in
alphabetical order.
II. Punctuation with titles and quotations: The sentences below include titles for books and articles
as well as quotations and paraphrases, but some of the punctuation and capital letters have been left
out. Your task is to add punctuation, including quotation marks and underlines.
Before you begin this exercise, think a minute: how can you tell the difference between a quotation
and a paraphrase if there is no punctuation?
1. In an la times editorial, uc’s out-of-state fix, the editor says that uc’s plan to admit more out-ofstate students is the best of several possible solutions to the state budget problem.
2. According to an la times editorial, increasing the proportion of students from outside california is,
frankly, the best of a bunch of bad choices.
3. In the way to wealth, an essay from poor richard’s almanac, BF gave a lot of good advice for
becoming wealthy.
4. In 1722, James Franklin was arrested for writing an article in his newspaper, the new england
courant, stating that British customs officials in Boston were cooperating with pirates. (Franklin 9)
5. In 1722, James Franklin was arrested for something he wrote in his newspaper, the new england
courant. But Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography that he could not remember what the
article was about: one of the pieces in our newspaper on some political point which I have now
forgotten, gave offence to the Assembly.
(Franklin 9)
6. In his autobiography, FD wrote about his luck in being sent to Baltimore: I have ever regarded it as
the first plain manifestation of that kind providence which has ever since attended me, and marked my
life with so many favors. (Douglass 36)
7. According to FD, slavery had a bad effect on whites as well as on blacks. Writing about Mrs. Auld,
he says slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me . . . . Under its influence, the tender heart
became stone and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. (Douglass 40)