Exercise Mla 4-2 Mla Documentation In-Text Citations: Fill & Download for Free

Hello everybody,Well, here some of my tips to write a good essay :When taking English courses in high school and college, you'll likely be assigned to write essays. While writing an essay in English may seem overwhelming, it does not have to be. If you give yourself plenty of time to plan out and develop your essay, however, then you will not have to stress about it.Let's divide into Four Parts:Part One of Four:Getting StartedSet aside time to write. You cannot write a quality essay in 10 minutes. It's best to give yourself ample time to write and revise the essay. Try to factor in some time for breaks between drafts as well. If you're approaching a deadline, however, you may need to make the best use of the time you have.AdvertisementSit down and write. While it's important to prepare to write, when it comes down to it, you just have to start putting content on the page. Remember that you can always go back and make improvements later, and that revisions are part of the writing process.Draft a tentative thesis. Your thesis is one of the most important elements of your essay. A thesis statement summarizes the main argument or position of your essay in one sentence. It lets readers know what the essay will attempt to show or prove. Everything in your essay should be connected to your thesis in a straightforward way.Develop your introduction. Once you have a compelling thesis statement, craft the rest of your introduction around it. You can also save this step for after you've drafted the body of your essay if you feel intimidated by the introduction. The best introductions "grab" the reader's attention and make them want to keep reading. Some effective strategies for creating an introduction.Jot down an outline for the remainder of your essay. Outlining involves developing a basic structure for your essay, which can help you stay on track while writing drafts. Look over your notes and invention exercises and think about how you can organize this information in an outline. Think about what information should come first, second, third, etc. You can create a numbered outline using a word processor or just put it on paper.Don’t worry about being too detailed when you create your outline. Just try to get the major ideas on paper.Part Two of Four:Drafting the EssayCollect all of your notes and materials. Before you start to write, gather together all of the notes, books, and other materials that you will need to reference in order to answer the essay prompt effectively. Support is essential for an effective English essay, so do not try to write your essay without these materials. If you have time, read through your notes before you begin.Make sure that you have your outline handy as well. You can build on your outline by expanding on each of the points in the order that they are listed in.Include topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph. Topic sentences signal to readers what a paragraph will discuss. Start each of your paragraphs with a topic sentence so that your instructor will be able to see that your ideas progress in a clear, direct manner. Think of the topic sentence as a way to tell readers what you'll talk about in the rest of the paragraph. You don’t need to summarize the whole paragraph—just provide readers with a taste.For example, in a paragraph that describes Okonkwo’s rise and fall in Things Fall Apart, you might begin with something like: “Okonkwo starts out as a poor young man, but then rises to a position of wealth and status.”Develop your ideas as much as possible. Make sure that you include as many details as possible throughout your essay. Remember that padding (filling in with meaningless text or using extra wordy sentences) is not an effective strategy for writing essays because instructors can see right through it. Your instructor has probably read hundreds of student essays over their career, so they'll know when an essay has been padded. Fill your essays with details that make your essay useful and insightful instead. If you get stuck, some good strategies for developing your ideas include:Returning to the invention stage. This includes exercises such as freewriting, listing, or clustering. You can also revisit your notes and books to see if there's anything you missed or forgot.Visiting your school’s writing lab. You can find a writing lab on most college campuses. They are free to students and can help you improve your writing at any stage in the writing process.Talking to your instructor. Take advantage of your professor's office hours or one-on-one appointments. Meet with them and discuss ways that you can improve your essay before you hand it in.Cite sourcing using MLA style. If you use any sources at all in your essay, then you will need to cite them using the style that your instructor prefers. MLA style is the most common citation format used in English courses, so you will need to know how to use it. Provide in-text citations as well as a works cited page at the MLA style works cited page starts on a new page at the end of the essay. Provide entries for each of the sources that you used. These entries should include the information necessary to allow the reader to find the source with ease. MLA style in-text (also called parenthetical) citations provide readers with the author’s last name the page number for the information. It's necessary to include an in-text citation for any information that you quote, summarize, or paraphrase from a source. It comes right after the sourced information, and it includes the author’s last name and page number in parentheses.Work towards a conclusion. The general structure of an essay usually goes from broad to specific. You could visualize this tendency as an upside-down pyramid or as a funnel. By the time you get to your conclusion, it should feel as though the information in your conclusion is inevitable. It's essentially a recap of everything you've spent your whole essay trying to prove. However, there is also potential to use your conclusion for other purposes. You may find that you want to use your conclusion to:Qualify or complicate the information in your essaySuggest a need for further researchSpeculate on how the future will change the current situationAdvertisementPart Three of Four:Revising the EssayGive yourself plenty of time. Leaving your essay to the last minute is not a good idea. Try to allow yourself at least a couple of days to revise your work. It is important to take a one to two day break from your essay after you have completed it. Then you can come back to it and revise with a fresh perspective.Focus on improving the content of your essay first. Some people only focus on the grammar and punctuation when revising an essay, but this is less important than the content of your essay. Answer the essay question in as much detail as possible. Reread the essay question or assignment guidelines and ask: Have I answered the question in a satisfactory way?Do I have a clear thesis? Is my thesis the focus of my essay?Do I include adequate support for my argument? Is there anything else I could add?Is there a logic to my essay? Does one idea follow the next? If not, how might I improve the logic of my essay?Ask a friend to read your essay.Having a friend or classmate take a look at your work can be helpful as well. Someone else may catch simple errors or notice something else that you missed because you have been looking at the document so much. Try swapping essays with a friend from class. You can read and comment on each other’s essays to make sure that both of you have done the best work possible.Make sure that you swap papers at least one day before the paper is due so that you will have time to correct any errors that your friend finds.Read your essay out loud. Reading your essay aloud can help you to catch simple errors that you might not have noticed otherwise. Read your essay out loud slowly and have a pencil nearby (or be prepared to edit on your computer).As you read, correct any errors that you find and make a note of anything that you think could be improved, such as adding more details or clarifying the language.AdvertisementPart Four of Four:Planning Your EssayAnalyze the topic or essay question.Take time to read over the essay question or guidelines and think about what the assignment is asking you to do. You should underline any keywords such as describe, compare, contrast, explain, argue, or propose. You should also underline any central themes or ideas that the assignment asks you to discuss such as freedom, family, defeat, love, etc. Always ask your professor if you don't understand the assignment. It's important to have a clear idea of what they want before you start working on the assignment.Consider your audience. Your instructor is your primary audience for the essay, so you will need to consider your instructor’s needs and expectations before you write. Some basic things that your instructor will need and expect from you may include:A well-detailed answer that satisfies the assignment requirementsA clear and direct piece of writing that is easy to followA polished paper with no minor errors, such as typos or misspellingsThink about what you will need to include. After considering your instructor’s expectations, take some time to think about how you can accomplish these broad goals. Consider what you will need to include in your essay.For example, if you are tasked with writing about a character in a book, then you will need to provide lots of details about that character. This will probably require rereading some passages of your book as well as revisiting your notes from class. To ensure that your paper is easy to follow, you'll need to make sure that there's a logical order to your essay. Do this by creating an outline and checking your work for logic.Start early and give yourself lots of time for revision. Try to complete your first draft about one week before the paper is due.Develop your ideas. Invention exercises can help you to draw out details that you already know, which can give you a great jump start on writing your essay. Some useful invention exercises include: Freewriting. Write as much as you can without stopping. If you can’t think of anything, write “I can’t think of anything to write,” until something comes to mind. After you finish, go over what've written and underline or highlight any useful information for your essay.Listing. Make a list of all of the details and information that are relevant to the essay prompt. After you have listed everything that you can think of, read over it and circle the most important information for your essay.Clustering. Write your topic in the middle of the page, then branch out with other connected ideas. Circle the ideas and connect them to the main one with lines. Keep going until you can't do any more.Research your topic if necessary. If you have been asked to conduct research for your paper, then you will want to do this before you begin drafting as well. Use your library’s databases and other resources to find the best information possible for your paper.

FOLLOW AND UPVOTE10 tricks to get excellence in studying1. Take Good NotesGood note-taking is the nuts and bolts of good study. If you doit well, you’ll set yourself up for success, and the cleanlyorganized collection of lecture notes, labs, readings, images, andmaps will be the envy of your classmates.When you study, your notes should bring to mind the entiresequence of ideas presented in class. Organize your notes into anoutline form. This will help to clarify your thoughts about atopic, and will have the added benefit of facilitating study whenyou have to prepare for an exam. If you notice parts of a lectureor presentation missing from your notes, consult your textbook andask other students or your instructor for help to fill in thegaps.Here are some strategies to assist you in developing goodnotes:Prepare to write good notes (review notes and assignedreading from the previous class)Keep your notes from each class together or have anotebook for each classGet the main ideas (often, the lecturer will summarizethe takeaway points)Ask clarifying questionsEmploy a note-taking system to helporganize your notesThere are many software toolsavailable to help you with note-taking, and study in general. Checkout our Find an App to Do itsection to beginbuilding a toolkit.If you struggle to get your notes together during a lecture,consider recording each session so that you can review it later tofind the parts you’ve missed in your notes. Or consider one ofthese tools to help you get it all down:Livescribe smartpen, a tool that captureseverything you hear and write.Dragon NaturallySpeaking converts speechinto text.2. Choose Your Best Time &PlaceAre you a morning person or a night owl? Your study time shouldbe whenever you are most alert (afternoons are usually the time ofleast alertness). Find a comfortable place to study, and equip thisspace with the materials you need for study before you begin.Getting up to search for items essential to yourprogresswill breakyour concentration, and waste study time.If you’re in for the longhaul, be sure to pack a snack and a drink!Ideally you should choose a quiet place to study with:Adequate table spaceA comfortable seatGood lightingFew distractionsIf a quiet place is not readilyavailable, then listen to music such as classical or jazz on a lowvolume to help to block out conversation and other disruptivenoises. Music has the added benefit of keeping you moreattentive.Avoid making your bed your study place; it is very tempting tonap3. Plan Your Study TimeSet goals or objectives for your study time (identify whatmaterialyou want to cover). Break the material you hope to coverinto smallchunks so that your overall goal doesn’t seemoverwhelming. Do the hardest work when you’re feeling mostattentive. Save the easier bits for when you’re fatigued.Goal-setting will help you to:Track your progress, so that you know what you’ve already studiedIdentifyareas yet to studyHighlight those areas requiring further studyAlso, learn the general concepts ofa study topic before trying to understand the details of it. Thiswill help you to know, early on, whether you’ve set aside enoughtime to learn the material, and will clarify what tasks need to beaccomplished immediately and which ones need to wait for later.Here are some other tips for planning effective use of yourtime:Have an agenda for each study period: be specificregarding the task that you hope to accomplish during eachplanned study period.Make a list of study tasks, and include some time towork on major assignments.Prioritize tasks and assign each task an estimatedtime-to-completion.Using your task list and a copy of your timetable,decide when you will do each task.Plan to do priority tasks when you have the mostenergy,and good concentration.Split large chunks of study time between tasks, so thatin four hours, for example, you spend one hour each on fourdifferent tasks, rather than ploughing through a four-hoursession on just one.4. Review RegularlyMake studying a habit. Add study time to your schedule, and lookto spend about 30 minutes going over the content of your notes fromeach class.By studying every day, the material you are trying tolearn will stay in your long-term memory, and will be easier torecall later on. Research has shown that reviewing new materialwithin 24 hours of hearing it increases your retention of thatmaterial by about 60%. Think about how this will grease the wheelsof your exam preparation!The best time to reviewnew material is right after class whenit’s still fresh in your memory. Not only does this help to makeitstick, it also helps you to identify concepts or material thatyou’ll need additional time to grasp. Knowing your areas ofstrength and weakness can help guide your study preparations.If you need to, take some time before each class for review sothat you can be prepared to address with your instructor anyquestions you may have.5. Use a Strategy That Works for YouWe all have multiple ways of conceptualizing, recalling andcommunicating information. Using more than one method to understand or remember information can help youtackle difficult concepts more effectively.However, a common idea is that each person has a preferredapproach to learning called a learning style. Mostcommonly recognized are the following styles:Visual/ Spatial: This islearning by seeing—using images, and spatialrelationships.Aural/ Auditory-Musical:This islearning by hearing—using sound, voice, andmusic.Physical/ Kinesthetic:This islearning by doing—using bodies, hands, andtouch.(Other learning styles are:Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/ Mathematical, Social/ Interpersonal, andSolitary/ Intrapersonal.)There are numerous quizzes that will help you todiscover your own preference if you haven’t yet done this yourself.You can learn to harness this style, and use it tohelp you study.6. Quiz Yourself and YourFriendsDon’t wait for an exam to test your knowledge – test yourselffirst. Make mock test questions, and try to answer them correctly.Or get a friend, group, or family member to quiz you on keyconcepts or offer to help other students with their work. It’s agreat way to know what you’ve learned and to find out what youstill need to learn. It will also help improve your memoryrecall.Have a look at these apps to get you started:StudyBlue (free): Allows you to create flashcardsusing your mobile device.Encore Study Platform ($): This app generatesportable quizzes from online flashcard sets.7. Get RealWhenever possible, apply new knowledge to real life. Practicewhat you’re learning. If you can find a volunteer placement or ajob task that allows you to exercise new learning or new skills,you will understand them more fully.8. Study With FriendsA study group is a group of students dedicated tolearning. A study group or even a study“buddy” adds an interactiveelement to study that promotes deeper learning. We often will avoidgroup study because of the common belief that it is moreadvantageous to studyin an isolated environment. This might be truefor rote learning, but a collaborative approach issuperior for a fuller understanding of a subject.Work with people that motivate and inspire you, and who aregenuinely helpful (look for those that are alert andfocused in class). An ideal group size is 3 or 4people.Some advantages of a study group are that it:Offers a forum for discussion, teaching, conversation,idea-sharingChallenges your ideas, promotes critical thinking andcreativityHelps to keep you focussedConnect with your fellow studentsand professors online, ormake sure that you and your group haveexchanged contact details so you can reach each other.9. Take Care of YourselfYou’ll study better if you’re feeling well. In short, do asyou’ve perhaps been told all your life: eat well, drink plenty ofwater, get adequate sleep, and exercise regularly!Eat well.Food can help to fuel your studies or can make you fatigue early into your study time. Toomuch sugar or caffeine, for instance, can interfere withconcentration. Try these foods to help your brain running at fullpower:Proteins (fish, eggs, meat, and dairy)Fruits and vegetablesNuts and seeds (peanut butter included!)Try peanut butter and appletogether— it’s delicious, nutritious, and not too fancy!Drink Water.Water is essential to brainfunction. The physiology of the brain requires waterfor proper neurotransmission, and dehydration can adversely affectcognitive function. When you feel thirsty, there has been perhapsas much as 10% cognitive decline, and who knows what you’re capableof with that extra 10%?! Stay on top of your game, and drinkup!Sleep.Students tend to sacrifice sleep, in pursuit of their studies. However, ability toconcentrate, and memory recall are much improved with sleep, and asleep-deprived person who is unable to focus is equally unable tolearn efficiently.Exercise.Physical activity hasmany benefits for your body. Not only is exercise good for overallphysical health, it also enhancescognitive function by increasingblood flow to the brain. This results in increased neurotransmitterlevels, new cell growth, and improved oxygen and nutrient delivery,which, in turn, results in improved memory processes, ability tomultitask, and plan. Make it part of your study regimen!Exercise also has these benefits, amongothers:relieves stressboosts moodimproves self-esteem (it provides opportunity forself-mastery, and self-control)refreshes and clears the mindimproves sleepFind a pair of sneakers. Put on yourdance shoes. Walk. Swim. Get out there!10. Find an App to Do itThere are loads (loads!!) of software apps available to assistyou in your academic pursuits. Ask for recommendations from friendsand teachers/lecturers, and check to see whether the app you longfor is available for your specific device. Some apps are free, butsome will have a price tag attached. Have a look at these optionsto start:Evernote(free) is a cloud-basednote-taking system that allows students (and teachers) toshare and search their notes on any device. This system hasvarious other educational uses as well. Inparticular, you can upload your study material (all ofit—text, audio, photo, video) into an online account, sothat you’re study resources are always handy.NoteMesh(free) isdesigned to helpstudents build a single, rich source of lecture notes.Scriblink (free) is a tool to assistcollaboration; it allows notes to be shared inreal-time.iStudiezPro ($)is Mac-specific. It keepstrack of your deadlines, schedule, grades (and more!). Plugin your class schedule, and go!Droid Scan Pro ($) turns your mobiledevice into a portable document scanner. It will alsocombine scans into a PDF. This is a great tool for use inlibrary research, and note-sharing.EasyBib ($) generates citations in MLA,APA and Chicago style. Enter the book’s title or scan thebar code, and there you have it. The app also lets youexport and email the bibliographies to yourself. This willsave you a lifetime of formatting on your term papers.