Essay on Summer Reading
Let’s take a look at how you did on your first
essay….
How to Cite a Book
Follow MLA guidelines for citations within
the body of the text:
• No footnotes, use endnotes.
• For single author, simply cite page
numbers: (43).
• For multiple sources, use last name and
page number: (Haruf 43).
Let’s chat for a bit about
QUOTES!!!
Context Means Everything!
• Imagine that in each of the following
situations, an individual exclaims, “I like
eggs!”
• Does the egg-loving mean the same thing
in each situation?
• Why does context matter?
“I Like Eggs” – Scene #1
– This lovely lass loves finding eggs!
“I Like Eggs” – Scene #2
• This poor person was driven crazy…too
many summer essays to write??? What
does she mean when she exclaims…”I like
eggs!”
“I Like Eggs” #3
• Lucky Louie has inherited 500 Faberge
Eggs from his rich Russian relatives. He
exclaims: “I Like Eggs!”
So Remember….
• Give background for
quotes
• Tuck in the quote with
your own words
• Use the right amount:
not too few, not too
many!
Use of 3rd Person
• In formal essays,
stick to 3rd person
• This means,
avoiding I, me, my
(1st person)
• Also avoid you, we,
our (2nd person)
Yeah, but what about…
Q. When I want to show that it’s my own
opinion? A. Just state it. Your opinion
matters!
I think community centers were important in
helping Luis Rodriquez leave gang life.
versus
Community centers were crucial in helping
Luis Rodriquez change his life in a positive
direction.
Punctuation Puzzles
• You are word processing your paper and
you want to refer to a book title. Which of
the following is correct?
• English is Awesome (underline)
• “English is Awesome” (quotations)
• English is Awesome (italics)
• “English is Awesome” (underline +
quotes)
Yes, That’s Right:
• English is Awesome
• When you word process a book title, you
put it in italics.
• Now imagine you are writing a paper in
class (not typing it). What do you do?
Yes, that’s right!
You underline book titles because (unless you
have freakishly neat handwriting) you cannot
make it look like italics.
Tell Me Some More
(this is fascinating!)
• When you put your own title at the start of
a paper, simply write it with capital letters
and no other special punctuation (NO
quotations, italics, bold, etc.)
• Individual essay titles, short story titles,
short poems, newspaper articles and other
short works are in quotation marks
This Will Not Be on the Test…
Pesky Pronoun Problems
• Find the grammar crime:
• Someone must have left their pet aardvark
behind because a sad, lonely and
strangely elegant pet is squatting in the
corner of the classroom. Oops, someone
will have to clean up after their pet!
Do You Get a Grammar Star?
•If you identified the problem with those sentences as
the incorrect pronoun (their) then you deserve a
grammar star!
Here’s the problem…
• Unfortunately, English does not have a
singular, gender neutral pronoun.
• So when you need to use a single
pronoun, and the antecedent is gender
neutral (someone, the reader, the
audience member, etc.) you must use:
• he/his
• she/her
• He or she or his or hers
Wow!!! That Was A Lot!
• Your first essay is merely a starting point.
Don’t be discouraged if you did not do as
well as you had hoped. Try to learn from
this essay, and as the semester goes on,
you will be amazed at the growth of your
analytical and writing abilities.
• Good Luck!!!
And Finally….
• For sitting through all of this information,
you deserve a funny animal picture….