Consistency, is what essay formats seek to provide for readers. Without essay formats, readers may find themselves lost in the style of the author’s text rather than contemplating the ideas and thoughts that the author wants the reader to acknowledge. However, why is it that there are so many different essay formats? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just have one universal essay format? The two most widely used formats, MLA and APA, both have great degree of similarity as well as very distinct differences. Most of the similarities exist due to their effectiveness. On the other hand, the two formats’ distinct differences such as in-text citations or setting aside a whole page for a title, serve to strengthen the clarity of ideas within a field of study the author is trying to convey. Different formats exist due to the specific necessities fields of study require in order to convey their ideas to the reader. MLA, in which this essay has been written, is most commonly used in the study of literature and humanities. This is because of a variety of factors within the format that allow the author to display their information in a fashion that seamlessly flows. APA, unlike MLA, labels when the topic or subject …show more content…
However, the title of “Works Cited” itself isn’t universal for all essay formats. Of course other essay formats allow the author to cite works and information that add value to their work, but the style and format of page varies significantly for many reasons. Firstly, here is an example of an MLA citation,
“Baker, Gladys L., et al. Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States
Department of Agriculture. [Federal Government], 1996.” (Angeli 10)
And an example of an APA citation,
“Hu, Y., Wood, J. F., Smith, V., & Westbrook, N. (2004). Friendships through IM: Examining
The five-paragraph essay is perhaps the only kind of essay many students hear about. Argumentative essays, research papers, and even book reports have a tendency to fall into that formula strictly and allow for little flexibility. This can be a tedious and boring process, as John Warner’s fervent argument insists. However, Kerri Smith demonstrates a stronger argument with her defense of the five-paragraph essay by emphasizing throughout that it is simply a building block for more elaborate essays and by using credible influencers that prove her point effectively.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
Essays are not just the standard five paragraphs and then done style that was taught to students in grade school. The article “The Sixth Paragraph: A Re-Vision of the Essay” by Paul Lynch, explains quiet well how essays are typically taught and why. It is basically because it is easy to grade and even easier to write. Even when talking about writing or giving an example to a person it’s quite typical to start using the five paragraph format. While writing the standard essay the guidelines are quite specific. BE precise, stick to the topic, and stay impersonal. However, the author states that this made her realize that essays can be confining instead of teaching. So instead the author decided to listen to her students and quit focusing on the
APA (American Psychological Association) style is primarily used in the social science disciplines. It is formatted like MLA, and shows many similarities, but is unique in several key points.
The book and movie “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl is about a young man called Billy Weaver who is looking for a bed and breakfast to stay for the night. He comes across a low priced hotel with a peculiar landlady who knows how to make an eerie night for her customers. The book and movie have two key differences and one important similarity. The setting in both the book and movie are different, changing the mood. The resolution is different which gives the reader/viewer an opposing view. Billy’s choice in the beginning of the story and movie gives the same plot. If any of these ideas had been the same between the movie and book, or had been changed, there would be contrasting thoughts from the reader/viewer.
Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.
The strengths in my writing are my organizational skills, grammatical construct, and my work ethic. Organizing an essay is a very natural process for me. I always follow the basic guidelines for the structure of an essay, which state that one must have an introduction, thesis statement, body, conclusion, and a works cited when needed. The “Are Helicopter Parents Entering the No Fly Zone?” essay, “Animal Cloning—How Unethical Is It?” essay, and the “The Clean Water Act—Is it Successfully Reducing Water Pollution?” essay all have a proper introduction, an informative thesis statement, a body, great conclusions, and works cited pages. Formatting the essays is an integral aspect of organizational skills. Each new paragraph is indented, the font is twelve-point Times New Roman, the sentences are double spaced, and the headers are correct.
I am an international student from China and this is my first semester studying at the University of Oklahoma. ENGL 1113 Principles of English Composition is the basic academic writing class for all the students at the OU. According to the First-Year Composition, English 1113 focuses on the language of power in two ways “the power of language” and “the relationship between power and language “( First-Year Composition). English 1113 helped students learn how to use language analyzing and understand reading materials. More than that, English 1113 teach the format of the essay which is MLA. MLA is required by many courses to write essays and reports. We have written three essays in this class Critical literacy Unit paper, Scholarly Discourse Unit
A vignette from The House on Mango Street, "Those Who Don't," by Sandra Cisneros, the poem "My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough," by Stephen Spender, and another poem "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks share many similarities and differences. These three pieces of literature talk about racism and rough children. "Those Who Don't" is about racism and how people think about others without getting to know them. "My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough" explains how a good child wants to be like other children who are bad. "We Real Cool" talks about pool players who are bad. These pieces of literature compare and contrast between figurative language, point of view, and theme.
War has a definite effect on the mentality of a soldier, so much so that many result in insanity during or after the leave of combat. Timothy Findley’s The Wars, portrays the “stupidity, futility and the horror of the terrible losses of the First World War, describing war as an image of the worst that can be within a man” (Anne Nothof Interview). Findley portrays mental aspects as well as physical, that lead to Robert Ross’ demises, specifically, the conditions of war, overall aspect of war taking someone’s life and the feeling of loneliness and silence.
The three essays, "Thank God For The Atom Bomb" by Paul Fussel, "Democracy" by Carl Becker, and "Chief Seattle: Letter to President Pierce, 1855" are three different rhetorical modes of writing that exposits theoretical, personal reasoning on the realities of certain controversial historical topics. The main focus of the essays are in proving a steadfast view of an ambiguous subject through sarcastic criticism of opposing ideas and by applying clever use of irony; the authors’ sentiments vary from imperialistic to anti-imperialistic, and from attesting to detesting a past event."Thank God For The Atom Bomb" is a straightforward imperialistic literature which analyzes cause and effect to justify the use of the Atomic bomb during World War 2. The author continuously criticizes the evil of the Japanese in an attempt to convince the reader why the "Japs" deserved what they got. He sites a Japanese pilot saying, "All Japanese must become soldiers and die for the Emperor" to prove his point that the general mentality of the enemy was just that –"implacable, treacherous, barbaric"(p460), and savage. He consistently acknowledges his up-close experience with the war to inform the reader that he has sufficient basis for his analysis. But to reinforce his authenticity that his view is not just possessed by himself, he borrows many statements and examples used by others who share his ideas.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1999.
In todays era the Internet plays a major role in the way we interact with everyone around us. In the article “Isolated by the Internet” Clifford Stoll claims that the Internet is changing the way people interact face to face and affecting our relationship with those that surround us. Stoll goes on to explain that there are two types of relationship ties that form from using the Internet. . These connections are affected through using the Internet one being the deep social ties and another being the weak ties. Weak ties are connections that are easily breakable require no contact and are based off very little effort.
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
Over the last century, information technology, such as the Internet, has brought our society forward and helps us get through life more efficiently and conveniently. In addition, it helps making global communication easier and faster as compared to hand-written mails that may take days if not weeks to reach its intended recipient. However, with such luxury and convenience, there is a debate whether the way we currently interact with fellow human beings with the help of technology is good or bad to our personal relationships. The Internet has increased the amount of communication globally, yet ironically the very technology that helps us increase our communication hinders our ability to socialize effectively in real life and create a healthy interpersonal relationship.