English

What are MLA Citations? 

 ●  MLA stands for “Modern Language Association”
●  A citation is usually used in english essay writing when either quoting or paraphrasing something from a written, published work.
●  Basically a reference
●  It can be in text or on a work cited page (or both!)
 

How do you write an MLA Citation?
● An in-text citation is usually after a direct quote and it will include the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses 

     ○  Example: “This would be a quote” (Johnson 54).
    ○  It has to be in this format, if you make a change then it is not MLA format.
 

What are some resources?
- MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics​ - the basics from Purdue Owl

- EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator - MLA, APA, Chicago citation styles​ - A generator that will make citations for you when you enter in necessary information 

What is an essay?
● A ​short piece of writing that is written on a specific subject 

     ○  Usually gives the​ author’s opinion
    ○  Any length that the author chooses

 What are the types of essays? 

● Narrative Essay 

     ○ Tells a story in someone’s ​point of view

● Descriptive Essay 

     ○ It ​puts a picture of something or someone​ in the reader’s head 

● Expository Essay 

     ○ Explains​ something to the reader 

● Persuasive Essay 

     ○ Goal is to​ get the reader to agree​ to the author’s point of view 

What are the parts of an essay?
● Usually​ all essays have almost the same structure​: 

     ○  Introduction 

• A way to give ​background information and a basic summary​ of what the content of the essay will be 
• “Hooks” ​the reader in/catches their interest so that they will continue to read the essay 

     ○  Body Paragraphs 

          ■ The part where the ​actual story, description, explanation, or persuasion is given to the reader 

     ○ Conclusion 

• A way to ​close out the essay smoothly ​by giving some ​last minute information 
• May​ briefly restate the ideas ​mentioned in the essay 

What is poetry?
● A type of writing ​where attention is given to one’s emotions and feelings through style and rhythm 

What are the types of poetry? 

●  Free verse
    ○  Does ​not​ have a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or musical form
    ○  Literally: WHATEVER! THERE ARE NO RULES!
●  Haiku
     ○  Has a ​5-7-5 syllable rule 

• 5 syllables in the first line 
• 7 syllables in the second line 
• 5 syllables in the third line 

      ○  Always has​ 3 lines
     ○  Usually ​about nature
●  Limerick
     ○  5 line poem
     ○  1 stanza
     ○  Rhyme scheme: A-A-B-B-A 

• 1st, 2nd, 5th lines rhyme 
• 3rd and 4th lines rhyme 

     ○  Usually a ​short tale or description
●  Blank verse
     ○ Written with a precise meter 

           ■ The meter is nearly always​ iambic pentameter (iambic pentameter always has ten syllables per line, and it does not rhyme) 

● Rhymed Poetry 

     ○  Rhyme all the time
    ○  Rhyme scheme varies
         ■ Just have to rhyme in some way 

● Epic 

      ○  Very ​long
     ○  Narratives
     ○  Talk about ​extraordinary adventures and feats of characters
          ■ Example: Odyssey, Iliad, Aniead 

● Narrative
    ○ Tells a story 

          ■ Example: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

● Pastoral 

     ○  About ​rural life, landscapes, and the natural world
    ○  People wrote these poems in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the present day
● Sonnet
    ○  14 line poem
    ○  Usually ​about love
    ○  Have​ internal rhymes within the 14 lines
    ○  Actual rhyme scheme depends on author’s style
● Elegy
    ○  About ​death and loss
    ○  Themes: ​Reflection, Mourning, Loss​ (sometimes about ​redemption and consultation​)
    ○  A ​tribute to something or someone 

● Ode
    ○  Also a​ tribute to someone or something
    ○  The​ subject doesn’t need to be dead 

● Lyric
    ○  Poetry that ​concerns emotion and feelings ● Ballad
    ○  Narrative verse
    ○  Can be​ poetic or musical
    ○  Usually ​follows a pattern of rhymed quatrains
● Villanelle
    ○  19 line poem
    ○  Contains ​5 tercets and a quatrain
    ○  It has a​ specific internal rhyme scheme
    ○  Originally a variation of pastoral, but has evolved to be about ​obsessions and other intense subjects 

● Soliloquy
    ○  Monologue
    ○  In it, the ​character speaks to themselves and express their inner thoughts that the reader might not know otherwise
    ○  Not always poems, but often can be
    ○  Most famous for being poems in the plays of William Shakespeare 

What is analysis? 

●  Understanding or breaking down the meaning of a complex topic
●  In English, the topic could be a story, phrase, or poem
 

How can you analyze a document well?
●  Find the ​author’s purpose
●  Try to find all the ​main ideas
●  Look ​beyond the surface level words​, what is the true meaning of the text?
●  Identify ​figurative language ​and try to break it down
●  Identify ​words you don’t know ​and find out what they mean
●  Try to answer the questions
     ○  Who?
     ○  What?
     ○  When?
     ○  Where?
     ○  How?
     ○  Why? (​mostly​ “why?”)
 

ANNOTATE: A great way to analyze a document is to annotate it.
-  Write down your thoughts in the margins
-  Use the other strategies and write them in the text 

Animal Farm by George Orwell 1984 by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Boy in the Striped Pajamas John Boyne
Night by Ellie Wiesel
The Count to Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Odyssey by Homer
Iliad by Homer
Beowulf
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by ​Stephen Chbosky The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson