Editing for MLA Citation Style

Whenever you use ideas 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.

All credits begin with an in-text citation that names the source and page number (if there is one). The simplest in-text citation gives the source in the sentence itself.

If the sentence doesn't give readers enough information to find the correct work-cited entry, provide the last name of the author in parentheses before the end punctuation. If the source has no author, use the first significant word(s) of the title, in italics for longer works or quotation marks for shorter works.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The beginning first needs to grab the reader's attention. Then it introduces the topic and provides background leading up to your opinion statement. To get started with your beginning paragraph, you can experiment with different lead-writing strategies.

1. Present a startling statistic.

   According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 10 Americans had a mood disorder last year, and 21 percent will experience one during their lifetimes.

2. Open with an engaging quotation.

   “I try not to worry about the future—so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time.” 
   ― Tom Wilson, American Cartoonist

3. Create an interesting scenario.

   Imagine that your life had a movie soundtrack. Now imagine that it was the nerve-racking soundtrack to a suspenseful movie. That's what anxiety and depression feel like.

4. Focus on causes.

   Adrenaline is great for fight-or-flight situations, when you need to energize muscles and put nerves on high alert. Adrenaline is less great when there's no threat, but you feel jittery and paranoid anyway, all the time.

Prewriting to Think About Problems

Problems are everywhere in life. You can start to think about problems by considering any aspect of life, from food to families to fun, and think about the problems that can come up in those areas. Start by consulting the Basics of Life List. This list contains all of the essentials of life—general subject areas. Pick one or two subjects that interest you. Then list problems that relate to that subject. You can click on any of these subject areas to find more resources related to it.

One student selected the subject "Personality" to write about and created a cluster to explore pain points with personality. Afterward, the student chose to write about his own struggles with anxiety, depression, and seasonal affective disorder, and the solutions he has found to help him manage his mood states.

Reading a Problem-Solution Essay

You notice a problem and analyze it. You brainstorm solutions and try one. That's the problem-solving process in a nutshell. It's also the outline of a problem-solution essay: introduce and analyze a problem, propose and explain a solution, and argue why it is the best course of action. Below, you'll see how one student built such an essay.

Reading a Student Model

Read the following problem-solution essay and respond to the reading afterward. In the beginning paragraph, the student grabs the reader's attention and delivers the opinion statement. The first middle paragraphs analyze the problem, and the later middle paragraphs propose, explain, and argue for a specific solution. The ending paragraph sums up the proposed solution and encourages the reader to help enact it. Click on the side notes to study the features of this essay.

Warm-Up for Problem-Solution Writing

When you search for a job, you'll see that employers seek "self-starters" who are "goal-oriented" and "collaborative team members," people who thrive in a "dynamic workplace environment" and take on "diverse challenges." Employers seek problem solvers.

That's a secret to success not just on the job but in life itself: Be the solution person instead of the problem person. The world is filled with problems and with people who love to focus on them. Become one of those rare people who loves to devise solutions—fixing problems and improving life for everyone.

In this unit, you will write an essay that closely analyzes a problem in your community, proposes a specific solution, and argues to convince the reader that it will work. As you develop your essay, you will use the problem-solving process.

What Is the Problem-Solving Process?

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The problem-solving process is a series of steps that carries a person from knowing little about a problem to creating a satisfying solution. This process switches back and forth between critical and creative thinking, following steps like these:

1. Analyze the problem, exploring causes and effects (critical thinking).
2. Brainstorm solutions—ways to remove or reduce causes and effects (creative thinking).
3. Evaluate possible solutions and choose the best one (critical thinking).
4. Create a plan for implementing the solution (creative thinking).
5. Apply the plan, evaluating each part (critical thinking).
6. Revise, refine, and perfect the solution (creative thinking).

You'll use the problem-solving process right along with the writing process as you create your essay. In fact, they are related. The writing process is one version of the problem-solving process—the steps that take you from knowing little about your topic to having an effective final essay. The lessons in this unit will guide you through both processes. You can get started by thinking about the problems all around you.

Thinking About Problems

"Problem" is a big word. It can refer to something as simple as a hang-nail and something as complex as the national debt. One way to start thinking about problems, big and small, is to focus on "pain points." A pain point is simply something that causes you discomfort. It could be a squeaky desk in second hour. It could be the fact that your best friend is moving to Tucson. Both are problems that need effective solutions.