Page 56 - El Camino College 2018-2019 Student Planner

MLA Style Overview MLA Style Overview
ENGLISISHH
• Only use quotation marks when citing directly from another source. Do not use them when displaying titles of other written works or to indicate emphasis.
• Proofread thoroughly to ensure proper punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Style and Voice:
Person: This provides critical information about who or what performs the action.
There are three distinct forms:
First Person is the self, either singular (“I exercise”) or plural (“we exercise”).
In English, the singular First Person pronoun “I” is always capitalized. Second Person is the person spoken to (“you exercise”).
In English, the Second Person is always singular.
Third Person is a person not present, either singular (“he exercises”) or \
plural (“they exercise”).
Voice: This indicates whether the subject is performing the action (Active Voice) or receiving the action (Passive Voice). Effective writing should primarily use Active Voice; use Passive Voice sparingly.
EXAMPLES:
Active Voice: “Anthony wrote the essay on Charles Dickens.”
Passive Voice: “The essay on Charles Dickens was written by Anthony.”
Use only third person pronouns (it, he, she, etc.) in your writing.
Avoid use of personal pronouns (I, me, my, you, your, etc.).
Avoid colloquialisms and clichés; write in an elevated, clear, and concise manner. Write out all numbers below 100 in word form. (For example, “five” instead of “5”)
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Citing Sources:
Quotations and Citations:
• Short quotations (taking up four lines or less)
1. Introduce your quotation followed by a comma.
2. Enclose the quotation with quotation marks and insert into your paper.
Eliminate the punctuation mark at the end.
3. Place the parenthetical reference after the quotation with a period following
the closing parenthesis.
EXAMPLE:
Edward Johnson states, “San Diego is my favorite city” (Lipson 2).
• Long quotations (taking up four lines or more)
Do not use quotation marks for long quotations.
1. Follow the introduction of your quotation with a colon. 2. Double-space the quotation.
3. Indent each line of the quotation one inch.