When writing about literature, you follow the same basic conventions required of any expository essay. That is, you
--state a thesis in your introduction
--develop that thesis by giving supporting reasons and evidence in the body of the essay
--conclude with a summary of your main points and a restatement of the thesis
--cite and document any quotes.
There are a few conventions in writing about literature of which you should be aware.
- In the introduction to your essay, mention the title of the work and the author's full name:
In "The Tell-tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe presents a narrator who is rational but insane. - The title of a story or poem is set off with quotation marks; the title of a play is underlined or italicized:
story: "The Storm"
poem: "Ballad of Birmingham"
play: Proof or Proof
novel: Feast of Love or Feast of Love - The first time you refer to an author, use his or her full name. Thereafter, use only his or her last name:
In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman paints a portrait of a woman who is losing her mind. In order to make the narrator's disorientation more vivid, Gilman tells the story from the first person point of view. - Note that a comma or period is placed inside the quotation marks; a semicolon or colon is placed after the quotation marks:
In "The Storm," Calixta encounters a former lover.
Kate Chopin is making a controversial point in "The Storm."
Kate Chopin has created an ambiguous ending for "The Storm"; this leaves the interpretation of the story up to the reader.
Not many events occur in "The Storm": a thunderstorm, an affair, and a homecoming are the extent of the plot. - Avoid using wordy or grammatically incorrect opening lines:
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart," he tells a fascinating story.
In this sentence, "he" doesn't refer to anyone; and if you use the author's name, you don't need "he," too. Try it this way:
In "The Tell-tale Heart," Edgar Allan Poe tells a fascinating story.
But there's still a problem: This opening sentence doesn't tell your reader what your essay is about. It's filler, without real content. Get to your point quickly and directly, perhaps like this:
Contrary to popular belief, the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart" is not insane. He is evil. - Unless you have been asked to write a personal essay, avoid using the first person ("I") and the second person ("you") in your essays. Most college essays are supposed to preserve a formal tone, and using "I" and "you" gives the essay too casual a tone. Instead of saying,
I think Poe's narrator is evil, rather than insane, try Poe's narrator is evil, rather than insane. (Note that this makes you sound more authoritative, as well.) And instead of saying If you look closely at Poe's narrator, you will see that he is evil, rather than insane, try A close reading reveals that Poe's narrator is evil, rather than insane.
For information on using MLA format to cite and document correctly, see The Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
Research for your Project
The exact kind of research you need to do will vary depending on the project you select.
In general, research begins with a search for information on your topic and your particular focus. Although you are not allowed to use Wikipedia in your essay, you can read it for ideas and information at this point. Wikipedia is often a good place to start, just to get ideas. But then move on from there to more reliable, professional sources. There are plenty of such resources available to you on the Internet and in the college's books and databases. There are also public libraries. Although they tend not to have much academic research information, they might just have what you are looking for, depending on your topic.
LAHC Library Research
As long as you're registered at LA Harbor College, you have access to a books, magazines, and databases through the Harbor College library. Those databases have tons of articles on all subjects from many periodicals, including professional and scholarly journals. You can access all of these materials from the following link; from there, just follow the directions to log into the system:
Los Angeles Harbor College Library
The most effective way to search for information of all kinds--books, magazine, databases--is to use the "One Search" box at first, to get the broadest search results.
For example: let's say I want to create a museum about old cars, from 1968 back to the beginning.
I would go to the library's main page and type "antique cars" in the "One Search" box. The first search would produce over 7,000 results. Lots of these will be useless, of course, but some may be of help. There's an entry for "The Encycolpedia of Classic Cars," for example, and articles on classic car auctions in various places (that could help with acquisitions). To narrow your results, you can add search words to the other boxes as well. You will probably find many more articles than you need. That's okay--it just gives you lots of choices.
Please feel free to contact me or the librarians if you need help navigating the databases or catalog.
About Wikipedia, SparkNotes, and Databases
DO NOT cite Wikipedia in academic essays. Since it is not edited by reputable experts, it often has errors and isn't reliable. It's okay to use it as a starting point for your own research, but go on and find other sources to verify the information, and cite those in your essay.
Also avoid SparkNotes, ENotes and similar sites. Teachers hate them since they provide only the most superficial analyses. Avoid citing them in academic papers; instead, go find analyses from more reputable academic sources: university and scholarly websites, peer-reviewed journals in library databases, and books.
And if you need help getting started or with a rough draft, please feel free to see me in my office (my office location and hours are posted on the Schedule) or e-mail me at annw708@gmail.com.