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Format and Grading for Assignments

In General | Heading | Format Details | Citing Sources | Online MLA style guides

These format guidelines pertain to all my classes. Some classes have additional requirements. See class information for those classes to learn more.

In General

Take pride in your work. Improve your credibility as a hard-working conscientious student by making your written work appear neat and clear. Get in the habit of following a standard format for all your papers. SUch neatness and clarity will help you keep your work organized as well.

format example

Heading (top)

Every paper you hand should have a heading. The heading should..

  • Be in the upper left hand side of your paper
  • Be single spaced
  • Include
    • Your name and student number
    • Your course name
    • The name of the assignment
    • The date
  • If multiple drafts are due, then make sure each draft is dated appropriately.

Format Details (top)

  • Margins: You should have one inch margins (2.5 cm) on all sides.
  • Font: The paper should be written in a standard, easy-to-read 12 point font.
  • Staples: Multiple pages should be stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
  • Title: Give your paper an interesting title, even if it is a simple, straight-forward, boring paper (but hopefully it isn't boring).
  • Spacing: You may either double-space your papers or use 1.5 spacing. The length of your paper is more dependent on how many words you use than how many pages.
  • Headers and footers: It's a good idea to get in the habit of using (but not over-using) headers and footers. The footer can be used for footnotes. The header can be used for your name and page number.
  • See MLA sample paper.

Citing Sources (top)

It is important to be able to read others' writing and include others' ideas in your own writing. To do this effectively and honestly, you need to cite your sources. English and modern language departments use the MLA (Modern Language Association) format. Here are a few general points to keep in mind.

There are two parts to citing another source.

  1. In Text. In your text you write about others' ideas by quoting directly, paraphrasing or summarizing what someone else has said. You need to make clear, in your text who said it and give enough information so that readers can find the complete source in your works cited list.
  2. The Works Cited list comes at the end of your paper. Normally, it is a separate page, but it's fine with me if you include it on your last page. This gives the complete information about the source of the information you used. Basically, this included the author's name(s), the title of the article or book, the publication information, the date, and the page numbers. But there are many kinds of sources, so there is a lot of variety. You can always check the handbook or web resources to find out exactly how to cite whatever information you wish to cite.
  • In your text, you should always refer to the name of the writer if you know it.
  • Indicate how this writer is qualified to speak/write about this subject.
  • Always explain how the information from other sources fits with your own ideas.
  • You may wish to paraphrase or summarize quotes that you have written.
  • Only quote if the words are very special, otherwise paraphrasing is often better.
  • Don't make your quotes too long. Only quote what you really need to.
  • If your quote is longer than four lines, block indent the whole quotation.
  • Include author's last name (or the first word(s) in your works cited list so that readers can find the complete source easily. Give a page number whenever you can.
  • Internet information is often very unreliable. This is especially true when you don't know who the author is.

Here is an example of an intext citation refering to a passage from Mosaic 2, Reading .

Stephen Singular, author of "A Memory for All Seasonings," explains that "Conrad began his memory training by trying to memorize the orders for a table of two, then progressed to memorizing larger orders" (142).

Here is an example works cited list. Note the way the passage from Mosaic is formatted. In your paper, the Works Cited list should be double spaced with a hanging indent. (A hanging indent is when the first line starts all the way to the left and each line after is indented--this is the opposite of normal indenting for paragraphs.) For exact format, click here to see a model paper in MLA format.

Works Cited

Lemonick, Michael D., and Dan Cray.. "The Flavor of Memories." Time 169.5 ( 29 Jan. 2007 ): 102-104. Academic Search Premier . EBSCO. [ Soochow University ], [ Taipei ],. 5 May 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN= 23760221&site=ehost-live>.

"Mnemonic." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia . 2 May 2008, 21:03 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 May 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mnemonic& oldid=209776338>.

Singular, Stephen. "A Memory for All Seasonings." Mosaic 2: Reading . Brenda Wegmann and Miki Knezevic. New York : McGraw-Hill, 2007. 138-42.

Plagiarism and Intellectual Honesty Videos : These short, humorous videos come from Rutgers University in the US. Watch them for a quick introduction on both plagiarism and how to avoid it by citing effectively.

On-line MLA Style Guides

There are many on-line resources to help you with your writing. Here are few resources to help you use MLA format for citing sources, both within your paper and at the Works Cited section at the end. There are two ways in which I prefer you NOT follow MLA style.

  1. Don't double-space headings. MLA says you should double-space headings, but I prefer that you single-space them.
  2. The "Works Cited" section of your paper does not need to be a separate page. MLA says you should have a separate page for your Works Cited list, but I think it is fine to just put this at the end of your paper, as long as you follow MLA style in every other way.

Two of the best internet resources for college writers are from Purdue University 's On-line Writing Lab (OWL) , and Diane Hacker's A Writer's Reference . Both these sources contain hundreds of pages of activities and explanations about everything related to writing. There are grammar exercises, special pages for ESL students, style tips, etc.

A Model Paper from A Writer's Reference (in PDF format)
Check this out and download it to your computer. It's a very helpful reference! Annotations in the margins give advice about formatting and documenting papers.

Here are a few more sites for MLA style help .

MLA Citation Style
A brief, clear, color-coded guide to creating MLA style citations (from Long Island University).

Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web
The Modern Language Association's guide to how to cite online sources.

Citing Wikipedia
Learn how to cite Wikipedia articles in multiple citation formats.  Before citing a Wikipedia article, see the Caution on Academic Use of Wikipedia.

Frequently asked questions about MLA style from their official website


Teaching Website for 2015-2016 School Year (Academic Year 104)