I have below here a grouping of beginning arguments done by former students. They are not perfect but they can allow you some window/insight into the process.

Sample Arguments

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VIDEO LECTURE:

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MLA FORMATTING FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

Here are some things I saw while looking at your Argument, Part 1 submitted on Monday. I want to discuss them a bit.

1.Punctuation in quotations goes after the citation, not before.

2. Use of Direct Quotations

This simply means I want to make sure that when you are writing your paragraphs you should and need to be directly quoting from source material both your graphic novel and external sources.

3. Citing Quotations, Paraphrasing, and Summaries

Whether you are directly quoting, paraphrasing, and/or summarizing the works of others in your work, you need to cite that work. That means providing an in-text citation.

See Point 5 for further details below.

Failing to do this could lead to one being accused of Plagiarism.

4. Integration of Quotations

Taking another look at the “Citing Short Quotations 1” above under Point 1, you must when putting a quotation in your paper lead to and introduce it, as well as integrate it with your own words in a sentence. See this example again from McCloud:

5. In-text Citations

Basic rules of in-text citation in MLA 8th edition are as follows:

1. Source has an author -> use the author’s last name. 

Example: Kenneth Burke – (Burke).

2. Source has TWO authors -> use both author’s last names. 

Example: Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (author and artist of All-Star Superman graphic novel) – (Morrison and Quitely).

3. Source has THREE or MORE authors -> use last name of the first author and then write “et al.” for the rest. 

Example: J. Moore, Rob Johnson, and Michael Thomas – (Moore et al.).

4. Source has NO AUTHOR -> use the title of the work, usually an online article or anonymous post on a website, or television show. 

Example: “Statistics on Global Warming in the Americas” – (“Statistics on Global Warming”). 

**Note, I am and you are allowed to shorten the title some for the in-text citation.

5. There is no author or title and it is an online source -> Cite the name of the website in italics. 

Example: (cnn.com).

6. Source is a movie or television show -> Movie would just have the title of the movie in italics. 

Example: An Inconvenient Truth – (An Inconvenient Truth). Television show would be the title of the episode. 

Example: “Valentine’s Day.” The Office – (“Valentine’s Day”).

I have some detailed discussion at the following link HERE.

6. Block Quotation rules

With short quotations, one’s under 3 lines typed, the rule is to integrate into your own prose.

Example: According to Kenneth Burke, “humans are symbol using animals” (3).

A. You integrate with your own words, 

B. You use quotation marks to distinguish your words from their words,

C. You don’t put punctuation at the end of the quotation, but only after the citation that follows to draw distinction and make sure it is clearly connected to your quotation.

Block Quotations are different ->

Read this for class on Wednesday

https://youtu.be/9Dh2nmHs210

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This is building on a previous example we looked at in class in the post “MLA Formatting – Integrating Quotations”.

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EXERCISE

Integrating a Quotation Example

SAMPLE

Integration Quotation Sample

If you want to reduce the basic structure to creating an argument, you could reduce it to this structure:

Topic Sentence

Statement / Claim

Evidence / Example

(Citation of Evidence, whether summarized or quoted)

Explanation / Transition

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Topic Sentence: a sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph in which occurs.

Statement / Claim: expression of material information that builds upon the topic sentence and/or sets up your eventual example.

Evidence / Example: usually taken from some source aimed at supporting your statement/claim and ideally in support of your larger thesis.

(Citation for any Summary, Paraphrasing, and/or Quoting of material)

Explanation: Following your use of source to support larger claim or statement, usually aims to explain and connect quotation to larger overall argument expressed in thesis.

Transition: When finished explaining and moving on to a new paragraph, should help move the conversation/argument forward into a topic of conversation.

From this basic structure you can set up, integrate research information, and explain it, connecting it back to your thesis statement.

I did an example here, color coded to match structure above:

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THESIS

Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples relates the story of the parents Alana and Marko who despite their terrible circumstances do all they can to be good parents in how they seek to protect, care for, and love their child even though the circumstances in which they raise Hazel.

ARGUMENT

A second example of Alana and Marko showing good parenting was when they discussed what to name their new baby girl after they took their first look at her. They were deliberate about her name representing who and what type of person they wanted her to become and see her grow up to become. They already knew that Hazel’s future and current lifestyle set alongside with their past; she would not have a “normal” or boring life (Vaughan and Staples). The choice of her name was a declaration of her being and an expression of what kind of future they wanted for her. This ties into the article, “6 A’s of Good Parenting,” when the author states that “When we affirm a child’s feelings, it gives them a sense of authenticity” (Merril). So, by choosing a name other than “Pico,” which has a negative name to Marko or “Beatrice,” which Alana thought was too “girly,” the parents tried to give their new baby a sense of her authenticity by naming her Hazel. This served as a compromise and demonstrated another way that both Alana and Marko are doing the best, they can be good parents while on the run.

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HELPFUL HANDOUTS

(from University of N. Carolina Writing Center)

1. Arguments

2. Evidence

3. Reading to Write

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DUE: Wednesday, March 30 via MOODLE

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What goes in it

1. A Summary of your graphic novel (you can take and expand the summary from Report 1)
2. Any terminology or definitions that is needed to follow what is presented in the thesis.

EXAMPLE

This is an example of what you need to submit for Writing Workshop 2 relates to Writing Workshop 1

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EQUALS

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VIDEO WALKTHROUGH