Mla Style Writing

Great Tools

I’ve assigned myself an upbeat column amid the grim assault on Pell Grants and the deafening silence of anyone fighting the cuts. My first point, in policy, is evidence -- more evidence -- that the students whose Pell we are decimating, have intellects we, the people, should be investing in. My second point, constructive I hope, is to offer free-to-cheap ideas to add some learning and inspiration to these students under siege.

I’ll share some classroom tools that brought me through this year. My hope is that in the comments below, readers will share theirs. Reporting our discoveries is evidence of the formidable intellects of students whose Pell Grants Congress is savaging. I’ll be brief per item.

Somewhere in the Academy, erect a statue of the late Diana Hacker. Bronze or marble? Either is fine by me. Her book A Pocket Style Manual (Bedford/St. Martin's) and its companion website make my shortlist for a Nobel Prize. Yes, I teach grammar in college writing, and I make no apologies. English is the second language for many of my students, who are from Colombia, Sudan, Eritrea, the Stans, Vietnam, Cambodia and Ethiopia. I don’t need to make learning more difficult that it’s been for students from the urban high schools around our campuses.

I discovered the Hacker book in my textbook-optimizing quest for low cost, excellence, and portability (without a forklift). My students in College Writing I at Bunker Hill Community College need a sense of possibility as they re-enter college. Too many writing books weigh too much and intimidate even me. The Hacker guide has plain English, concise explanations, examples, and a table of contents in the inside cover that’s a dream for anyone correcting essays. I refer the student to the page in the book, “See Hacker p. 32, ‘Use pronouns with care.’ ”

Best of all, the online exercises (free) provide practice in commas, verb tenses, pronouns, even research questions in 10-question batches. The questions all have two choices. Click the wrong one, and the student receives an explanation. Same with the correct answer. Students don’t have to wait to receive a corrected paper to learn, and I can treat individuals without devoting class time to covering all topics for all students regardless of need. I do explain that I will help them learn grammar by providing this tool; I will not, however, devote College Writing I class time to grammar.

I read a paper this semester where the student displayed clear, original thinking without any punctuation. “I don’t do punctuation. That’s not who I am. I’m more of a freewriter,” he said. He was an adult and proud, back in school after years away. Singling him out in class or giving him marked-up papers might drive him away. I explained that the course (and life) requires punctuation. After class, I showed him a few of the Hacker online comma exercises. “You don’t have to do the essay this week. I want you to do all the punctuation exercises. You can do these anywhere you can log on,” I said. His next paper, two weeks later, came punctuated and in MLA style.

Creating Style Guides for Professional Documents « Precise Edit's Blog

You have a document, and it has special formatting. Perhaps it has heading styles, block quotes, references, and the like. Maybe you need to use APA style or MLA style. Perhaps your document has special chapter titles. Keeping track of these styles—and using them consistently—can be a chore. 

What Is a Style?  

As discussed here, a style is basically the format for a particular type of text. A style sheet will help you keep track of the various text formats in your document, whether it’s a business letter, a technical manual, a dissertation, or a novel. 

The style for a particular type of text can have many attributes. Common attributes include font size and face, text color, indentation, paragraph spacing (space or blank lines before and after the paragraph), line spacing, paragraph spacing, justification (right, left, center, block), capitalization style, and text styling (bold, italics, underlined, superscript, etc.). 

With so many attributes to remember, you may have difficulty applying them consistently. I see this often. A client will have a subheading in bold text, another one in italics, and even a third in bold and underlined. Some paragraphs will have a 0.5-inch first line indent with left justification, and others will have no indent with block justification. 

What Is a Style Guide?  

A style guide is, simply, a written description of the styles used in a particular type of document. A style guide helps the writer know how the document looks, makes sure the writer is consistent, and communicates the style requirements to other writers. 

Clients working on dissertations or graduate papers are generally required to follow an authorized style guide, such as APA style or MLA style. Many trade journals will also have a required style guide to follow. These style guides can be a bit tricky to follow, but they will provide the style guidance some writers need. 

What Is an “Individualized” Style Guide?  

Many of our clients are graduate students. Most use APA style, and we’re experts in APA style, so this is pretty simple. We make sure their documents meet the requirements of whatever style guide they are required to use. Now, here’s where this topic gets interesting. For clients writing on behalf of their companies or organizations, we need to create a style sheet that fits their needs. 

Let’s say you are writing some type of technical document for your organization or company. Perhaps you’re working on a business plan or grant proposal. Maybe you’re writing a policy manual. You aren’t required to follow a published style guide, such as APA or MLA. You get to make up your own. We call this an “individualized style guide.

The essentials of MLA style, a guide to documentation for writers of research papers, with an appendix on APA style

Writing with Style, APA Style for Social Work

The Broadview Guide to Writing

MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing

Writing, Reading, and Research