Essay Organization
MLA Formatting
Fandoms
Mediums
Literary Theories
100

This is arguably the most important part of the essay. It provides both purpose and direction for the paper.

The thesis

100

Writers need to know these two identifying factors to create a correct in-text MLA citation.

Author's name and page number

100

This fan behavior involves fans dressing up as their favorite fictional characters.

Cosplay or costume play

100

This medium relies heavily on visuals and realism to evoke emotion in its audience.


Film or television

100

This theorist was argued in favor of reader response while rejecting authorial intent.

Roland Barthes

200

These important parts of an essay are found in body paragraphs. They are quotes, paraphrases, descriptions of visuals texts, anything that is used as proof in an essay.

Evidence

200

When writing an in-text citation, if a source does not have an author, this is used to cite the source instead.

The title of the text

200

This fan activity is a prominent subgenre of fanfic that usually puts two main male characters from a series into a homoerotic relationship.

Slash fiction

200

This medium uses static visuals and minimal text to communicate philosophical ideas for its audience to ponder.

Comics

200

This theory refers to reviewing the representation gender inequities and power structures in a text and the affect of that representation. It examines the portrayal of women and gender roles.

Feminist theory or feminism

300

This sentence often comes at the start of each body paragraph. It provides the central focus for the paragraph.

Topic sentence

300

Most works cited page entries start with this information.

Author's last name

300

This fan behavior happens when dedicate fans fear losing their connection to the text or person they love, so they restrict the inclusion of new members.

Gatekeeping

300

This medium allows the audience a little to a lot of control over the main character, causing the audience to feel more connected or invested in the main character's outcomes.

Video games

300

This theorist is credited for the creation of Marxism, a theory that examines the use of wealth (or lack thereof) and how it affects the social classes of a society.

Karl Marx

400

This part of an essay is immediately placed after the title. It starts the essay, and it is meant to generate the interest of the reader.

Hook

400

In MLA format, the title of books, movies, TV shows, video games, websites, scholarly journals, and any other large text is indicated as such by doing this to the title.

Italicizing

400

This term refers to little videos that fans make from snippets of their favorite television shows or musical artists' performances to admire their idols. 

edits or movie edits

400

This medium uses sound and poetry to evoke emotions in its audience.

Music

400

This theory is often placed in opposition with reader response theory as many people use it to analyze the psychology (via unspoken intentions and desires) of an author or creator and the characters they create. The theory started by building off of the ideas of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Psychoanalytical criticism or psychoanalysis

500

These two types of questions are used to help writers provide both analysis and synthesis in their body paragraphs.

"Why" and "how" questions

500

When writing an in-text MLA citation for a YouTube video, this must be included in the parenthetical at the end of the sentence.

Time stamp

500

These two terms are often placed in opposition of one another. One refers to the collection of a creator's original text, and the other encompasses all of the fandom's created texts including alternate universes of the original text.

Canon and fanon

500

This medium uses written text only, and relies heavily on the audience's imagination to teach its audience something directly or indirectly.

Novels

500

This school of literary theory focuses on the relationship between people and nature.

Ecocriticism