Rules of ThumbWrite about literature in the present tense (unless an action occurs in the historical past of the story)

Double-space everything

Introduce all quotations

No more than 10% of your paper should be quoted.

Quote exactly: use ellipses to remove quoted information (. . . ) and brackets to add information [ ].

Inset the quotation if it is over four lines typed (if prose) or over three lines typed (if poetry).

Consult MLA Handbook

Works Cited

Tennyson, Alfred Lord. “Ulysses.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. The Victorian Age. Vol. E. Ed. Carol T. Christ and Catherine Robson. New York: Norton, 2006. 1123-25. Print.Yeats, W. B. “Easter, 1916.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. The Twentieth Century and After. Vol. F. Ed. Jon Stallworthy and Jahan Ramazani. New York: Norton, 2006. 2033-33. Print.

Works Cited

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed. Ian Jack. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2009. Print.Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. David Wright. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1985. Print.

Use page numbers if you are quoting from Chaucer (because line numbers are not provided in your edition).

Quoting Prose

“He was obeyed,” writes Joseph Conrad of the company manager, “yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect” (54). This is, in other words, a typical bureaucrat, someone who is blandly competent but who lacks passion or any ability to stimulate devotion in his employees.

Quoting Prose

At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island. (186)

Now comment on something relevant in the quotation.

Quoting Poetry (1-3 lines)

Reflecting on the “incident” in Baltimore, the speaker

concludes, “Of all the things that have happened

there / That’s all I remember” (11-12).

Quoting Poetry (4 lines or more)

Elizabeth Bishop’s “In the Waiting Room” is rich in

evocative detail:

It was winter. It got dark

early. The waiting room

was full of grown-up people,

arctics and overcoats,

lamps and magazines. (6-10)

The narrator refers to Miss Emily’s “big, squarish frame house” as “an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner 391).

Faulkner remarked that the title “was a salute” to Miss Emily. As he said, “to a woman you would hand a rose” (“Authors” 398).

Ray B. West, Jr. refers to death as “the final sign of the passage of time” (402).

Why the difference in verb tense?

Works Cited

“Authors on their Work: William Faulkner.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 397-98. Print. [note: these entries should all be evenly double-spaced]

Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 391-97. Print.

West Jr., Ray B., “Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily.’ ” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 401-02. Print.

Work Cited

Larkin, Philip. “Church Going.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed.

Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010.

804-05. Print.

Pip characterizes life as “that universal struggle” (Dickens 3).

Work Cited

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Ed. Charlotte Mitchell, London: Penguin, 2003.

Verse quotation beginning in middle of

lineIn a poem on Thomas Hardy, Molly Holden recalls her

encounter with a “young dog fox” one morning:

I remember

he glanced at me in just that way, independent

and unabashed, the handsome sidelong look

that went round and about but never directly

met my eyes, for that would betray his soul.

He was not being sly, only careful. (43-48)

Introduce words and phrases from the poem this way:

The speaker mentions the “crooked hands” of the eagle (1), and he ….

Do not say“The poem says” or “it says”

Use the poet’s name when discussing his intentions or his use of a symbol or motif, etc.

Tennyson depicts the eagle as a rugged and majestic bird.

When to Quote• To lend expert authority

• To provide source material for analysis

• To indicate especially memorable words or phrasing

Don’t Quote:

• Statistical information (“In 1960, 69.3% of the men and 65.9% of the women were married, whereas only 57.1% of men and 54% of women were in marriages in 2003”). Paraphase instead (According to a report by Rutgers University, conducted in 1960, nearly 70% of men and an almost equal number of women were married. More than forty years later, in 2003, only 57% of men were married, and 54% of women).

Always Introduce Quotations

Often it’s best to begin with the quotation

You might prefer to paraphrase

A quotation within the text

A paraphrase of a comment within the

text

Your Last Page Works Cited

Kipnis, Laura. “Against Love.” The Aims of Argument. Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channell. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 532-44.

Smiley, Jane. “Why Marriage?” The Aims of Argument. Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channell. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 532-44.

Waite, Linda J., and Maggie Gallagher. “Happily Ever After?” The Aims of Argument. Ed. Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channell. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. 532-44.

Handling Numbers• Spell out numbers written in one or two

words (“Twenty-four”).

• Represent other numbers by numerals (101).

• In a study of statistical findings, use numerals (101) for numbers that are presented together and that refer to similar things, such as in comparisons or reports of data.

• If the number is the first word of a sentence, then spell it out (“Twenty-four”).

Citations for Statistics

Do the parenthetical citations this way:

e.g. “According to recent demographical information published by Arkansas Tech University, 55% of Tech students were female and 45% male” (“All Students”).

Or . . . (“Freshman”) or whatever.

Magazine Article

Philpotts, Trey. “How to Beat the Rap.” Criminal Justice 6 (23 April 2005): 43-48.

“How to Beat the Rap.” Criminal Justice 6 (23 April 2005): 43-48.

Book

Doe, John. The History of Russellville, Arkansas. Russellville, AR: Arkansas Tech UP, 2004.

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the D’Urbervilles. 1891. Ed. Juliet Grindle and Simon Gatrell. Oxford UP, 2005.

Smith, Mary. The History of Dover, Arkansas. New York: Prentice-Hall, 2005.

Newspaper

Lohr, Steve. “Now Playing: Babes in Cyberspace.” New York Times. 3 Apr.

1998, late ed.: C1+.

Works Cited: Advertisements

Chaucer’s Pilgrims on Works Cited Page

Chaucer's Pilgrims : An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.

Chaucer’s Pilgrims, Works Cited Page

McDonald, Richard B. “A sumonour was ther with us in that place.” Chaucer's Pilgrims : An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. [page numbers]

Works Cited Page

Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Heaney. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. The Middle Ages. Vol. A. Ed. Alfred David and James Simpson. New York: Norton, 2006. 34-100.

McDonald, Richard B. “A sumonour was ther with us in that place.” Chaucer's Pilgrims : An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. [page numbers]

Richardson, Thomas C. “I demed hym som chanoun for to be.” Chaucer's Pilgrims : An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Ed. Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. [page numbers]

In-Text Citations

. . . (McDonald 152).

Richard McDonald says . . . (152).

. . . (Richardson 14)

Thomas Richardson says . . . (14).

Use the critics’ first and last name, the first time you mention them. Then just their last name.

Quoting Prose

Joseph Conrad writes of the company manager, “He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect” (54). This is, in other words, a typical bureaucrat, someone who is blandly competent but who lacks passion or any ability to stimulate devotion in his employees.