MLA Format
MLA in-text citations often include the author and this in paratheses.
Page number
Commas and periods go here when a sentence includes a quote without an in-text citation.
Within the quotes
A long sentence in which two or more independent clauses follow each other with no punctuation between them.
run-on sentence or fused sentence
The "X" is the "TEXAS" acronym for paragraph organization stands for this.
Examples (evidence)
"If I am right, then schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study."
Gerald Graff, "Hidden Intellectualism"
MLA works cited pages are formatted with this kind of indentation.
Hanging indents
This type of punctuation is occasionally used to indicate that a part of the quote has been omitted.
Ellipses
A clause that can stand on its own as a complete sentence (two of these clauses can be connected by a semicolon).
One of the four strategies for creating a compelling hook that we discussed in class.
John Ciardi, "Another School Year—What For?"
Students can go to the MLA section of this textbook for answers to citation questions.
Little Seagull
Writers indicate a quote within a quote by using this instead of traditional quotation marks (")
Single quotes
A sentence that contains two independent clauses connected by a comma without any conjunction (this is something to avoid)
Comma splice
If writers don't have a clear one of these "mini thesis statements" in each paragraph, the essay may become hard to follow.
Topic sentence
"The smartphone brought about a planetary rewiring of human interaction. As smartphones became common, they transformed peer relationships, family relationships and the texture of daily life for everyone — even those who don’t own a phone or don’t have an Instagram account."
Johnathan Haidt and Jean Twenge, "This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap"
This Latin phrase, meaning "and others," is used in MLA when there are more than two authors.
et al.
An example of a source title that is written in quotation marks
articles, poems, chapters, essays, short stories, songs, etc.
A sentence that is missing a subject or a verb or begins with a subordinating conjunction so that it can't stand on its own as an independent clause.
sentence fragment
An example of something that is often included in the conclusion.
"On my Twitter feed, strangers rant. Instagram feels like a beautiful day at the beach with the theme song to “Jaws” in the background. Facebook is like a phone book to me, something I need in the house but don’t use often."
Hannah Sung, "The Last Place Left Online for Real Conversation"
This is included in MLA in-text citations when a source has no author.
The title of the source.
An example of a source title that is written in italics, not quotation marks.
book titles, scholarly journal titles, newspaper or magazine titles, plays, films, albums, etc.
The difference between a run-on (fused) sentence and a comma splice.
a comma
Fill in the blank from this statement on the rubric (in the "5" section for paragraph organization): "Paragraphs are focused, ____, supported by substantial and concrete supporting detail, and led by a controlling argument."
"In this so-called attention economy, we can feel overwhelmed by the amount of content we
see while often failing to recognize that what we do see is but a tiny, highly curated fraction of
the information on a platform."
Nora Kenworthy and Mark Igra, "Crowdfunding Isn't Enough in a Crisis"