Formal Writing and MLA
For more information visit Grand River Collegiate Institute LIBRARY WEBSITE … “STYLE GUIDEs – Diana Hacker MLA”
REMINDERS
RULES FOR GOOD COPIES
Agreement: The subject and verb must agree in
number (singular or plural) and person (1st, 2nd,
3rd). Example: THEIR requires PLURAL PRONOUNS
…Batters swing their bats through the transverse
plane.
A. Use standard (8 1/2" x 11") sheets with 1"
margins.
B. Assignments have a title page (6 items):
(centred, in middle of page):
The Right Handed Volleyball
Float Serve
Taylor Samagh
PSE 4UI - Kinesiology
Mrs. Leavy
Grand River C.I.
September 21, 20 _ _
C. The Title Page, Table of Contents and Works Cited
pages are not numbered.
D. Numbers are written in words unless two words are
required (three, three hundred, 301).
Awkward: Is your word choice poor, or your
sentence construction clumsy?
Fragment: The sentence is incomplete.
Run On Sentence: Is your sentence too long?
Check the use of the word "and".
** Use Gender Neutral Language: Do not use
“he” or “she”
** Write in the Third Person. Do not use “I , we,
our, you, etc.”.
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
A. Cite the author's last name and the page
number(s) in parentheses.
Marlow compares civilization to "a running
blaze on a plain... a flash of lightning in the
clouds" (Conrad 7).
B. When using the author's last name in your
sentence, place only the page number(s) in
parentheses.
Conrad uses the character Marlow to
compare civilization to "a running blaze on a
plain... a flash of lightning in the clouds" (7).
C. When citing from an interview use the person’s
last name. If there is more than one source with
the same last name, give the initial as well.
Runners should always complete a set of assisted
stretches before competing in a race (Smith).
D. When citing from the internet, you do not need
to give para or page numbers. Include the first
item that appears in the Work Cited entry (e.g.
author name, website name etc.)
WORKS CITED PAGE
The details of the citations appear on a separate
Works Cited page in alphabetical order. Note
that second (and additional lines within each
individual citing) is indented three to five spaces.
EXAMPLES are as follows:
BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables.
Toronto: Bantam Books, 1984.
MAGAZINE / JOURNAL
Johnson, P. Janine, and Karen E. Pearce.
"Parenting Effectively." Macleans (November
2006): 845-855.
DAILY NEWSPAPER
Baxter, James. "Leafs Favoured to Win Cup." The Toronto
Star 16 Mar. 1942: A1.
INTERNET World Wide Web
Author. "Title of item." [Online] Title of Website,
Available: (date); Web; date(posted) of document
or download.
FILM
Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. With Harrison Ford
and Carrie Fischer. Universal, 1977.
PERSONAL INTERVIEW
Gretzky, Wayne. Personal Interview. Retired National
League Hockey Player. 13 Jan. 2011.
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
United States. Federal Trade Commission. Shopping By
Phone. Washington, 2010.
KINESIOLOGY COURSE NOTES
PSE 4UI Kinesiology Course Notes 2013-14. Grand River
Collegiate Institute. Instructor: Lori Leavy. Kitchener,
Ontario.
Use (PSE 4UI) when citing this source in your paper. Add
(PSE 4UI Biomechanics 27) if quoting directly from pg. 27
CITING IMAGES AND FIGURES
Below the figure, provide the following:
a) a figure number (e.g. Fig. 1.)
b) a title and/or caption for your figure
c) appropriate source information
Example:
Fig. 2. Harry Potter and Voldemort’s final battle scene in
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
“Show 166”; MuggleCast; MuggleNet.com, 19 Dec.
2008; Web; 27 Dec. 2008.
** No citation for images is required in the Works Cited page if
referenced as above underneath the image.
Rewriting Sentences to be Both Grammatically Correct and Gender-Neutral
Rewriting the following sentence to get rid of “their”
It is my belief that people must have their basic needs met before they can put energy into
environmental issues.
Use the passive verb form:
It is my belief that a person's basic needs must be met before energy is put into
environmental issues.
Use “one” instead of “he or she”:
It is my belief that one must have one's basic needs met before putting energy into
environmental issues.
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~writingcenter/
Let’s Practice!
Convert the following sentences using proper grammar and language;
1. The player should flex his knees to approximately 45 degrees.
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2. The batter horizontally flexes their shoulders then flexes her elbows.
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3. Jenny received eighty-seven percent on her skill analysis because she wrote it following
the proper guidelines.
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