Editing In-Text Citations for MLA Style

Whenever you use ideas or direct quotations from others, you need to credit the source. You do so to show who originated an idea, to avoid plagiarism, and to allow readers to explore the same materials in their own research.

All credits begin with an in-text citation that names the source and page number (if there is one) and refers to a complete entry on the works-cited page. The simplest citation names the title and author in the text and provides the page number in parentheses after the borrowed material, before the period.

Revising to Elaborate Details

Your research paper should be more than just a list of details: First of all . . . Second of all . . . Thirdly . . . Fourthly . . . . Instead, you should elaborate ideas. You can do so by introducing a concept, looking more carefully at it, defining the terms you are using, giving examples, telling an anecdote, providing historical context, and so on. Note how each of these types of details further "unpacks" the concept, allowing readers to understand it more fully.

In the following paragraph from "The Mind Behind Middle-earth," note how the topic sentences introduce two main points, and the writer explores each point separately, using a variety of details to unfold the picture for the reader. Click on the callouts to view each part.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

If you're having trouble deciding how to start, you can experiment with different strategies for catching your reader's interest. (If you'd rather just plunge in to writing your middle paragraphs, go ahead, and circle back to this step later.) Your lead sentence will begin your first paragraph and help to introduce your thesis statement.

Reading a Literary Research Paper

Before you start work on your own literary research paper, you should read a paper created by another student. As you read, note how the writer analyzes his topic with a breadth of ideas and a depth of details. He draws evidence from multiple sources, including the fiction and nonfiction of the author as well as historical references. He also connects the literature to larger thematic questions about life itself. Click on the side notes to study these features.

Reading a Student Model

This research paper explores the meaning of the term fantasy, specifically in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The overall structure includes a beginning paragraph, multiple body paragraphs, an ending paragraph, and a works-cited page. The writer uses source citations as well as historical context and discussions of theme in the analysis.

Warm-Up for Literary Research

Imagine that you needed to find out about the homework assignment for a class you missed. Where would you go for the information? Would you trust what you overheard from two strangers in the hall? Would you trust what a friend says who also missed the class? Would you trust the word of an A-student that you don't like? How about your teacher's class page (if it is regularly updated)?

Obviously, information is only as good as its source. Every day, you sift through dozens of sources: You remember what you heard from your instructors in different classes, what you saw on SnapChat, what you read on Google News, what you heard at the lunch table. You draw all of those different pieces of information together to make a single, mostly consistent "story" for your day.

A literary research paper does the same thing, drawing information from a variety of sources about one or more pieces of literature. By assembling the information and tracking the sources, you create a consistent story to help your reader understand the literature.

What Is a Literary Research Paper?

© Thoughtful Learning 2018

A literary research paper is a response to literature that analyzes one or more literary works by drawing on a variety of sources. An effective research paper uses evidence to create new insights about the literature. It also cites sources so that interested readers can explore the same ideas and make up their own minds.

Every reliable article on the Internet and in the news is a thoroughly researched, correct, accurate, and up-to-date account of some event or topic. We rely on research to sift real news from fake news, fact from fiction. Indeed, our very concept of reality is only as good as the information we choose to accept. That's why research is now more important than ever. This unit will help you create effective research about literature, and you can start by thinking about reliable and unreliable sources.

Thinking About Sources of Information

Some people are trustworthy sources of information, and others are not. You can trust a friend more than an enemy. You can trust a well-informed person more than an ignorant one. You can trust someone who is involved in a situation more than someone who is not involved. Trustworthiness comes in many forms. A chart like the one that follows can help you rate the trustworthiness of a specific person about a specific topic.

Editing to Combine and Punctuate Sentences

When you combine sentences to create better flow, you need to make sure the sentences still have correct punctuation. You can join two sentences (independent clauses) together, but you need to use both a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). You can also use just a semicolon.

Leaving out the coordinating conjunction creates an error called a comma splice. Leaving out both the comma and the conjunction creates an error called a run-on sentence.

You can also combine two sentences using a subordinating conjunction (although, because, when, since, after, etc.). When the conjunction starts the sentence, place a comma after the clause. When the conjunction comes in the middle of the sentence, you usually don't need to set off the clause with a comma.