Skip to Main Content

Bullock - Comp 1301 & 1302

Other Important Readings and Materials

Sample MLA Works Cited Entries 

Please open the attached file to find samples of MLA-style Works Cited entries for various types of sources: a book, a personal interview, a website, a video, and a journal article found in an electronic database. 

These types of Works Cited entries go in the Works Cited list at the end of a researched document you have written, to tell your reader exactly how to gain access to any particular source you have quoted from or otherwise used information from. They work in tandem with parenthetical citations after each quote, citations which normally give just the author or title, plus a page number if there is one. 

In regards to the analytical report due in this class, if you have found your source using either the Science and Technology database or the 'Super Search' database, then you will use the last sample entry as a model for your own Works Cited entry. If you use search option three, a Google-type Internet search, then the website entry, the third one, will be your model. 

Reverse Indenting 

Attached as a file is a screen image showing how to reverse indent. This is showing an older version of MS Word. But the only real difference in the newer versions is how you can go about making the ruler visible, which is necessary before you can do anything else. 

In older versions of Word in which the toolbar looks like it does in the image in the attached file, in the upper right corner below the toolbar, there is a toggle button that appears when you hover over that spot with your mouse. It will say something like "Show Ruler." If the ruler (the horizontal line with the numbers and hashmarks, like an actual ruler) is not visible, clicking on "Show Ruler" in that spot is how you make it visible. 

In newer versions of Word, to make the ruler visible when it is not, instead of the above, you change toolbars. Go to the View toolbar, find the box that says Ruler, and check it. The ruler will appear. Actually, this option exists on the older versions also. But in the newer versions, this is the only option I know of to make the ruler visible. 

Once it is visible, use the instructions in the attached file image to set the ruler to reverse indent. 

Reverse (Hanging) Indent

Five Steps of Quoting 

Attached, you will find a file explaining in some detail the five steps for effectively including a direct quote in your writing. This is the same file that was given to you in the third quiz (on quoting) and then again in the partial draft for the Reader-Response essay. 

Read the details, but in brief, here are those five steps for clearly including a direct quote in your own writing: 

  1. A transition sentence is often needed to make sure the specific point of the quote is mentioned, so the quote does not appear to the reader as if it came out of nowhere, suddenly discussing something new. 
  2. After the transition sentence comes the sentence that will include the quote, but it must begin with a lead-in, some words of yours that signal the shift from your voice to the voice of the person being quoted. 
  3. In that same sentence, after the lead-in comes the quote itself, which must begin and end with double quotation marks. 
  4. Still in that same sentence, after the closing quotation marks comes a space, then the parenthetical citation of the source, then a period. 
  5. In a third sentence, after these four things above, you must warrant the quote, meaning you tell the reader what it means. 

To read more detailed explanation plus samples, just open the attached file. 

Definitions

Technical Writing

According to The Society of Technical Communicators:

Technical communication is a broad field and includes any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:

  • Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations.
  • Communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites.
  • Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is or even if technology is used to create or distribute that communication.

Business Writing

Business writing is the day-to-day professional writing that most of us will do in some capacity for the rest of our work lives. It follows all of the same principles of technical writing though it is generally a less intensive writing form.

By honing skills as a Business/Technical writer in this course, you will become a more effective and concise communicator who always has the reader in mind. 

Some examples of Technical and Business writing:

  • Proposals
  • Memos
  • Emails
  • Newsletters
  • Reports
  • Resumes
  • Product Descriptions
  • Procedures
  • How-To's
journal writing by Shelby Bullock

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, content in these research guides is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.