MLA Style and How to Write an outline for Project 2

FIRST: Some business.

I am finalizing grading for Project #1 on Monday. You should review the comments on the draft to note any writing patterns you want to avoid when you submit Project #2. That is the purpose of comments and feedback, so you can see what you are doing so you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Getting feedback is tough. I will not discuss grades and feedback on Project #1 until at least 24 hours have passed after grades have been released. Then, if you have questions, you should set up a video conference with me. Legally I am not allowed to discuss grades over email because email is not private.

This week you are submitting:

The Outline for P2. which will provide you a roadmap for assembling this paper.
P2 Short Assignment #2: The Annotated Bibliography, which is a huge compilation of the sources you intend to use for this project which includes the appropriate MLA citation and a 150 word annotation for each source. (See Course Policy Sheet/Syllabus for the specific prompt)
Draft #1 of P2 to your Peer Group, where you might be working with new teammates. I am reshuffling some of the groups . You will be filling out another Feedback Sheet in addition to the track changes, and an Evaluation of your teammates.
Also, Tweets, which as many of you have learned is an excellent way of discuss the class and questions you might have.

Next Week: EVERYONE will be contacting me via Google Hangout for Video Conference. Sign up via SignUpGenius. Conferences are only 10 minutes and you need to stick to your allotted time. Missing a conference will result in Two Absences and a Zero grade on your Conference Draft. Before conference, you are required to have revised your Peer Reviewed draft according to their comments and feedback and upload the Conference Draft to Canvas. You must Upload the draft as a Word Doc file by 11:59pm the night before your conference so I can have time to review the draft.

Use your Gmail account to log onto Google Hangout. Then YOU will invite me to chat (bbradleyfsu@gmail.com) at your allotted time.

Now, let's talk about MLA style.

When putting together Project #2, you are REQUIRED to include a Works Cited page in MLA style. An example of this is available on the Purdue Owl and in the Bedford Book of Genres.

You might be tempted to put together your Works Cited page with Easy Bib. Do Not. Easy Bib is consistently WRONG. RefWorks and Zotoro are more accurate, but you can't completely trust these either. My advise is if you are going to use a generator for your sources, go back and double check them to make sure they are correct. Generate but Verify.

Typically MLA citations are:

Last name, First name. "Name of article". Title of website or Journal. Publisher, Date, Page Number

or City it was Published.

How do you know when to Italicize and when to put in quotations?

Think about your sources as either containers or something inside a container. As a Cookie Jar or a Cookie. A container (the Cookie Jar) is in Italics and the things inside the container (the cookies) are in Quotation Marks. An album is a container so it is Italicized, but the songs are inside the container so they are in quotation marks. A television series is a container (Orphan Black) but the individual episodes are within that container ("Endless Forms Most Beautiful"). A Website like your Wix page is a Cookie Jar (Italics) but the About me page is a cookie (Quotation marks). A Peer-Reviewed Journal is a container which should be Italicized. The articles inside the journal are placed in quotation marks. Sometimes when searching for Peer Reviewed sources, you will find a Peer Reviewed article online, but it was originally printed in the Journal. Follow the MLA guidelines for a Journal, not a website. Don't include the webaddress with your citations. The MLA guidelines show it both ways, I prefer not to have them on the Works Cited. However, you can hyperlink your articles when you upload your draft on your Wix site.

How do you cite things in the paragraph?

When you are writing your paper, and you use information from your sources, you MUST cite the information so the reader will know where the information originated. This is when you will use in text citations. Whether you are summarizing, paraphrasing or direct quoting, at the end of the information you add (Author last name page number). It will look like this: (Bradley 5). The parentheses sits outside the quotation marks and before the period.

For example:

"Citations are important" (Bradley 5).

Bradley claims that citations are important (5).

But how do I use all this information I researched?

Review this Prezi which explains Integrating and Documenting sources.

How do you Outline Project #2?

For Project #2 you are compiling data driven by your Research Question. You are expected to present an objective viewpoint. You are not making an argument. You are not taking a side. You are not taking a position on your Research Question. Instead you are expected to present a balanced presentation of the information you researched.

Keep this terminology in mind:

Thesis: The overall purpose of the paper. For P2, this would be your Research Question

Claim: The subpoint of the thesis that the writer will state in a specific paragraph.

Evidence: Date gathered to support the claim.

Warrant: Explanation of why or how the data supports the claim; the underlying assumption that connects your data to your claim.

Backing: Additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant. Counterclaim: A claim that negates or disagrees with the thesis/claim.

Rebuttal: Evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim.

Conclusion: A restatement of the paragraph’s main argument that provides a definitive ending for the point

The basic structure of most essays and research projects is

Make a claim
Provide Evidence for the claim
Warrant the evidence connecting the data to the claim.
Back up the evidence
Present a Counterclaim
Make a rebuttal of that counterclaim
Conclude

Review this video from Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver and note his Claims, Evidence, Warrants, Backing, Counterclaims, Rebuttals and Conclusion.

Oliver's news segments follow a specific template. The jokes are almost always in the Warrants and the Backing where he reacts and explains the data.

Attached is the Outline Guide for Project #2

A few notes, your Counterclaims and Rebuttal claims will be dependent upon the data your find. I cannot provide a strict guideline for how many counterclaims and rebuttals you need in your paper, because it will be different for everyone.

Don't Forget:

Office Hours are from 11am - 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am available then for Video Conferences to discuss all aspects of the class. Go to Make an Appointment on the Class Wix for more details.

DUE BEFORE 11:59pm on TUESDAY 10/17 :

Short Assignment #2 – Annotated Bibliography
Upload P2 Outline to Canvas

This week's Twitter is a TWO PART, which means it is MANDATORY

SHARING. (minimum 10 Tweets). (1.) Compose a tweet announcing your Project #2 topic. [DUE 11:59 pm WEDNESDAY 10/18](2.) Find someone who is writing about the same subject and begin a Twitter discussion on what you've found. If no one is researching the same topic, find another student's topic which interests you. [DUE 11:59 pm SUNDAY 10/22]