Historical Research Essay

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Research Essay MLA formatting guidelines:

• In the upper left-hand corner,write your name, teacher name, course, and date
• Center the title underneath this
• Text should be in 12-point font, either Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Ariel font
• Indent the first line of each paragraph
• Double space entire paper (without additional spaces between paragraphs)
• Quotations with over four lines should be indented; do not use quotation marks
• 1" margin on all sides
• For a formal essay, eliminate all 1st-person pronouns (I, me, us, we, our...) and 2nd-person pronouns (you, your...). You may instead use 3rd-person pronouns (he, she, it, one, them, they, their, his, hers, ...) or the name of the person/thing.
  

Embedding quotations:

• Remember, quotations do not have to be in dialogue. Anything you're taking directly from a source and putting into your paper should be in quotation marks
• A quotation should be a part of your sentence, not standing alone
• Quotations should neither begin nor end paragraphs. Your ideas are most important, not another author's.
• Whether directly quoting a source or paraphrasing, you must use parenthetical citation to properly give credit for the information

Examples:

Samuel Johnson says, "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Samuel Johnson believes that only universal ideas please: "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Samuel Johnson believes that "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" (2394).

Give page numbers even if you paraphrase rather than quote directly:

Samuel Johnson believes that only the truest representations of universal human nature constitute great art (2394).

Peer Review Essays

• Switch essays with a partner who also has an essay (Note: if you don't have a complete draft today, you still need to do this, but outside of class)
• Fill out the Peer Review sheet for the essay you look over
• Staple the Peer Review to the essay you read and place it in its owner's folder.
  
• The first draft--peer reviewed--must be in your folder when you turn in the final draft.

Historical Research Essay, Second Draft due Thursday (at end of hour).