Download Summer Essay Critique

Summer Work Review
Let’s take a look at what you did
over your summer vacation….
MLA Format
• MLA = Modern Language Association
• Format for how to type papers:
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Milicent Murder
Ms. Thoreson
11 AP English
9 September 2009
Murder 1
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Huh? What’s That Again?
» There is info about MLA format on my web page
through the MHS faculty pages
» Search for “MLA Format” and you can find
information on the web
More on MLA
• MLA guidelines for citations within the
body of the text.
• No footnotes, use endnotes.
• For single author, simply cite page
numbers: (43).
• For multiple sources, use last name and
page number: (Shelly 43).
MLA Format Some More
• Include a works cited page!
• Even if you only use one work, include a
works cited page at the end to show which
book edition you used.
• Information on page 21 of your planner
and on-line about how to do works cited
page.
Context Means Everything!
• Imagine that in each of the following
situations, an individual exclaims, “I like
eggs!”
• Does the egg-loving mean the same thing
in each situation?
• Why does context matter?
“I Like Eggs” – Scene #1
– This lovely lass loves finding eggs!
“I Like Eggs” – Scene #2
• This poor person was driven crazy…too
many summer essays to write??? What
does she mean when she exclaims…”I like
eggs!”
“I Like Eggs” #3
• Lucky Louie has inherited 500 Faberge
Eggs from his rich Russian relatives. He
exclaims: “I Like Eggs!”
This Will Not Be on the Test…
Use of 3rd Person
• In formal essays, stick to 3rd person
• This means, avoiding I or you or our
• But what about when I want to show that it’s my
own opinion
Compare:
“I think Utopia is too controlling and strict”
versus:
“The many aspects of Utopia that control its
citizens and limit their personal freedom make it
a harsh repressive society.”
Punctuation Puzzles
• You are word processing your paper and
you want to refer to a book title. Which of
the following is correct?
• English is Awesome (underline)
• “English is Awesome” (quotations)
• English is Awesome (italics)
• “English is Awesome” (underline +
quotes)
Yes, That’s Right:
• English is Awesome
• When you word process a book title, you
put it in italics.
• When you are writing a paper, not typing it,
you underline book titles because unless
you have freakishly neat handwriting you
cannot make it look like italics.
Tell Me Some More
(this is fascinating!)
• When you put your own title at the start of
a paper, simply write it with capital letters
and no other special punctuation (NO
quotations, italics, bold, etc.)
• Individual essay titles, short story titles,
short poems, newspaper articles and other
short works are in quotation marks
Pesky Pronoun Problems
• Find the grammar crime:
• Someone must have left their pet aardvark
behind because a sad, lonely and
strangely elegant pet is squatting in the
corner of the classroom. Oops, someone
will have to clean up after their pet!
Do You Get a Grammar Star?
•If you identified the problem with those sentences as
the incorrect pronoun (their) then you deserve a
grammar star!
Here’s the problem…
• Unfortunately, English does not have a
singular, gender neutral pronoun.
• So when you need to use a single
pronoun, and the antecedent is gender
neutral (someone, the reader, the
audience member, etc.) you must use:
• he/his
• she/her
• He or she or his or hers
Why all the quotation marks?
• Frankenstein’s “monster” had many truly
“human” characteristics and in many ways
was more “noble” than his creator.
Okay, Just Stop It…
• Use quotation marks when you are quoting
directly from the text.
• Do NOT use quotation marks when you want to
give special emphasis to a word or to show that
you’re using it ironically. Rewrite your sentence
so that your meaning is clear.
• For example: While Frankenstein’s creature
may have looked like a monster, his noble
character often made him seem more human
than his creator.
Wow!!! That Was A Lot!
• Your summer essays are merely a starting
point. Don’t be discouraged if you did not
do as well as you had hoped. Try to learn
from this essay, and as the semester goes
on, you will be amazed at the growth of
your analytical and writing abilities.
• Good Luck!!!
And Finally….
• For sitting through all of this information,
you deserve a funny animal picture….