yay college?

[edenfalling]

I stuck a bunch of citations into my essay, edited to add a couple more supporting points and thus raise the wordcount, created a little 'works cited' page, uploaded it, and confirmed that yes, I was submitting my assignment for grading. It is not what I consider great writing, but it does answer the topic, and it does so in the correct format: a thesis paragraph, some example paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. (In other words, tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them. *wry*) Next time I will try to bring in some sources beyond the basic course textbooks, if only to give the illusion of more commitment. In truth, I happen to own several topic-relevant books for unrelated reasons. It shouldn't be hard to flick through and find a relevant passage or two.

The only outside book I used this time was my trusty copy of Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide, 8th ed., by James D. Lester, because MLA citations, what even. I have always been grateful to my high school's English department for giving every incoming freshman a copy of that book. I never found it useful as a writing guide, but as a handbook for citation format? INVALUABLE.

Comments

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I'm partial to Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference. That book got me through so many research papers. Also, I definitely prefer APA over MLA formatting.

[edenfalling]

I think MLA and APA are sort of like the PC/Mac of the paper format and citation world -- whichever you first learn renders the other one counter-intuitive for the rest of your life, regardless of which system you think is more logically consistent. *sigh* Or like Library of Congress vs. Dewey decimal, though that one's a little easier to break...

(Metric and imperial measuring systems are different in that I use one for science and one for everyday life, and never the twain shall meet except when I'm doing algebraic conversions. But I can't keep other sets of competing systems in my head without clearly delineated spheres of use. *deeper sigh*)