MLA Handbook Research Articles

Aren’t Research Questions and Hypotheses Indispensable for Literature Research, too?

Many English literature researchers in India commonly operate under the assumption that they lack a specific research methodology exclusive to literature studies, apart from what is outlined in the regularly updated MLA Handbook. Consequently, their dissertations often resemble lengthy college essays divided into five chapters, with limited emphasis on the Introduction and Conclusion chapters. The concluding section is routinely labeled as ‘Summation.’ These researchers typically overlook identifying knowledge gaps, even during the literature review phase, and often neglect the framing of research questions and formulation of hypotheses. There seems to be a prevailing belief that literary research is inherently distinct, exempting them from adopting methodologies employed in other disciplines. This paper explores the reasons behind the development of an anti-methodological stance among literature researchers, utilizing a structured questionnaire administered to PhD holders in literature. The findings suggest that this attitude stems from a steadfast adherence to the MLA Handbook, which prioritizes documentation procedures over methodological considerations. The paper recommends that literature scholars should embrace books and stylesheets designed for general research as the fundamental objectives of research in any discipline are the pursuit of truth and the appropriate means to achieve it.

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note John N. Duvall This is my final issue as editor of MFS, and I’m pleased that my editor-ship ends with Paul B. Armstrong’s excellent special issue, “Cognitive Modernisms,” that follows. I began working as the associate editor of the journal in January 1999 and took over as editor in the summer of 2001. It’s been a privilege, a pleasure, and an education. Over the years, I’ve vetted more than 6,000 submissions and seen close to 600 essays (and twice as many book reviews) through production. I’ll miss reading those submissions that made me excited to turn the pages—even after the pages became virtual in our online submission system. I’ll miss the bonhomie of our little staff that always has taken pride in never missing a deadline for getting issues to Johns Hopkins University Press. I’ll even miss the impromptu meetings to discuss the minutia of a grammatical issue or to think through how we should cite some strange text not covered by the MLA Handbook. Much less will I miss asking for volunteer labor—readers for essays and book reviewers. I’ve made more than 20,000 such requests over the last two decades. I called not only on members of our splendid Editorial Board but also on hundreds of people with specialized knowledge related to various submissions. Thanks to each and every one of you who answered the call in the service of the profession. Without your intellectual input, MFS simply couldn’t operate. Beginning with Volume 69, Robert Marzec, my associate editor since fall 2007, will take over as editor. Bob took the lead in editing several special issues, most notably “Modern Fiction and the Ecological” (Fall 2009) and “Anthropocene Fictions” (Winter 2018). Joining [End Page 599] him as associate editor is our colleague, Maren Linett, who has twice guest-edited special issues—“Modernism’s Jews/Jewish Modernisms” (Summer 2005) and “Cripping Modernism” (Spring 2019). Without question, MFS will be in good hands for years to come. So many people have helped make MFS a crucial outlet for scholarship on modernist and contemporary fiction. Prior to Bob Marzec, Siobhan Sommerville and Nancy J. Peterson served as my associate editors. Over the years, I’ve relied on the dedicated labor of some of the very best of Purdue’s English doctoral students who have been my editorial assistants. More than simply correcting MLA citation and documentation, the editorial assistants wrote countless queries to authors so that the work appearing in our pages would be not only intellectually stimulating, but also clear, concise, and correct. Here’s a chronological list of the editorial assistants who worked for MFS during my editorship: Diana Gilroy, Celeste Hines, Angela Laflen, Geoffrey Stacks, Carol Fadda-Conrey, Martin Whitehead, Monica Osborne, Rebecca Nicholson-Weir, Michael Mauritzen, Jason Buchanan, Paul X. Rutz, Aaron DeRosa, Stella Setka, Jason Dodge, Rebekah Mitsein, Leah Pennywark, Shaun Clarkson, Marc Diefenderfer, Elizabeth Boyle, Daniel Froid, Alejandra Ortega, Narim Kim, Allyn Pearson, and Matt Morgenstern. “Thank you” doesn’t begin to express my gratitude. William Breichner, Director of the Journals Division at JHUP has always been great to work with. Thanks, Bill, for all you’ve done to support and promote MFS. And finally, kudos to our contributors. You made my job easy. I’ve always said that it would be hard to publish a bad issue because of the consistently high quality of the submissions that came across my desk. I’m not retiring and will remain a member of the Purdue Advisory Board of MFS. I may even read a submission now and then if Bob or Maren ask me. But for now, my work here is done. [End Page 600] Copyright © 2022 Purdue Research Foundation

Student Research Done Right! A Teacher’s Guide for High School and College Classes by Lisa Scherff, Leslie S. Rush (review)

Reviewed by: Student Research Done Right! A Teacher’s Guide for High School and College Classes by Lisa Scherff, Leslie S. Rush Joy Landeira Lisa Scherff and Leslie S. Rush. Student Research Done Right! A Teacher’s Guide for High School and College Classes. Denver: McRel International, 2018. 95pp. “Grandma Joy, Do you know what my Nemesis is?” queried my 16 year old grandson. My first thought was that maybe he was studying the manual for his upcoming driver’s license test, or perhaps playing some new computer game with a character based on the Greek goddess of retribution. I responded, “No, Quinn, what is your Nemesis?” to which he replied, “MLA Style.” You might imagine my delight, not only as a grandparent, but also as an editor, that high schoolers take MLA style seriously! I gave him his own copy of the 8th Edition of the MLA Handbook, and told him that I know plenty of college students, and journal contributors too, whose downfall is still MLA style. Thank goodness for the dedicated teachers that start our students off on the right foot from an early age and for suitable resources to lead them to success. You might also imagine my delight when Student Research Done Right! A Teacher’s Guide for High School and College Classes showed up for review. Although the target audience is secondary school and early college English teachers, this basic compilation of research methods and exercises can also be used by teachers of other languages who are introducing and refreshing their students’ research techniques in college first year seminars, world language and literature classes, and international student orientation classes. Early chapters set the foundations for research practices that will last a lifetime. RAVEN, a mnemonic device, evaluates the credibility of sources, including online texts. By analyzing the author’s reputation, ability to see, vested interest, expertise, and neutrality, students become aware of the trustworthiness of sources. Another technique, the rhetorical précis, with its structured four-sentence paragraph and one-page practice template, develops summarizing skills that form the basis for abstracts and annotations. One of the most useful research habits is writing annotated bibliographies; many years after reading a document, researchers can review their annotations without re-reading the entire text. Often literary researchers find that an annotated bibliography can replace the traditional “review of literature” article sections [End Page 82] and book chapters. Short, but essential, discussions of how to formulate research questions and the differences between qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research initiate students into the research process. Data collection through surveys, including ethics and human participant proposals, is briefly explained. After these critical preparatory skills are learned, classroom exercises and assignments address practical questions with activities for student practice in writing a literature synthesis paper, an explanatory or argumentative text, discursive argumentative writing or an academic paper with accompanying oral defense. Teachers will appreciate student writing examples that illustrate finished products from actual classes and serve as guides for how to structure assignments. Students will appreciate and retain the techniques since they are accompanied by useful memory prompts and learning devices. Staying on the “research arrow” from research question, to literature review, to research method, to results, to interpretation, discussion and implications will keep many a researcher on track and will keep their aim on target. This slim, well-organized guide helps us get what we all want, Student Research Done Right! Joy Landeira University of Wyoming Copyright © 2019 Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association

What Makes a Good Politician? Democratic Representation, ‘Vote-Buying’ and the MLA Handbook in Nagaland, Northeast India

In this article I attempt an ethnography of democratic representation in India by examining how ordinary villagers in the north-eastern state of Nagaland relate to their politicians, what they expect of them, and what yardsticks they adopt to evaluate their performance in office. I focus on the dialectical relationship between homegrown Naga political theory and praxis, and the specificities of Nagaland state and governance to show that the form democratic representation takes there is a reflection of historical particularities and the society’s own conception and normative imagination of its political self and sociality. Provincialising liberalist projections of democratic representation, the article contributes to a promising body of creative analysis that is paving the way for a much fuller and richer understanding of existing democratic life-worlds in South Asia.

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM BY USING MLA STYLE GUIDE

The writers of ancient literature of oriental civilizations did not give reference in their texts. The concept of giving references in texts was not heard of in those times. However, even in present times also many researchers do not cite the references or quote sources consulted by them, which can be described as an act of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offence where a writer merely copies the ideas of the original writers without acknowledging them. Proper citation of the sources consulted or quoted in the text can help in avoiding plagiarism students of literature must use MLA handbook for making their research work acceptable by the readers all over the world. When MLA style manual was published for the first time in 1951, it was of only 31 pages, whereas 8th edition of the manual has 146 pages. It has kept pace with the changing times and this article highlights the changes made in the 8th edition of the MLA style sheet.

Modern Language Association: The MLA Handbook, 8th edition

Modern Language Association: The MLA Handbook, 8th edition

MLA Handbook

Reviewed by: MLA Handbook David P. Wiseman Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook. 8thed. New York: MLA, 2016. Pp. 146. ISBN 978-1-60329-262-7. As a scholar and editor, I read style manuals regularly, both to sharpen my editorial skills and to stay abreast of updates. As I read the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, I confess my surprise to have learned, as the back cover clearly states, that: "More than just a new edition, this is a new MLA style." Though I anticipate some pushback against this major change, I consider the MLA's decision to transition to a less rigid style a necessary step in the right direction to be able to anticipate and meet new needs in a digital age. The MLA Handbookbegins with a foreword from Rosemary Feal and a preface from Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the latter being the primary author of the style guide (xiii). In her fore-word, Feal acknowledges that MLA style "has evolved in response to changing needs over the [End Page 162]years" (vii). The basic theories behind this recent publication are repeated throughout the text; it grants "more freedom" (vii) and "greater flexibility" (viii) to authors, while underscoring the continuing need for general principles of research and documentation. Fitzpatrick adds historical context to the MLA Handbookin her insightful preface, recognizing that with the "increasing mobility of texts" (x), there is even more need for "reliable data trail[s]" as well as increased "flexibility and openness" (xiii) to be able to cite any data source, whether currently existing or yet to be invented. By basing the handbook on "commonsense guidelines" (3) rather than prescriptive rules, the MLA has made a bold move, and a positive one in my opinion, toward a style that seeks to present the information that is most useful to readers, thus enabling more open communication in research and scholarly dialogue. The handbook is divided into two main parts: "Principles of MLA Style" (1–58) and "Details of MLA Style" (59–128). The first, as its title suggests, is dedicated to general principles of research and writing. I found this section to be clear and informative. Contrasting past MLA handbooks that served as "reference work[s], which users consulted at need," this edition is more of "a guide that [teaches] the principles underlying documentation" (xi). This principle-based approach, however, is not without structure. It simply opens the space for new forms of scholarship and media to be documented in a clear and consistent way regardless of the delivery format. The second part of the MLA Handbookprovides a more in-depth look at the specifics of the new style. This section details the "rules" of documentation, but repeatedly emphasizes that these guidelines should be adapted to the needs of authors and their readers. As there is not space to outline all of the structures and changes contained in the handbook, below is an abbreviated template of the new format for works cited entries with a specific example of a journal article following for reference. Citation template (see MLA Handbook129 for a useful practice template): Author. Title of source. Title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date, location. (Additional "containers" [see definition below] or other clarifying information can be added to the citation as needed.) Article citation example ( MLA Handbook114): Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200. The above template presents an orderly list of items that could be included in a citation. The introduction of the handbook, however, offers the following statement as one of the guiding principles behind the new MLA style: "Remember that there is often more than one correct way to document a source" (4). As such, most citations will not require all of the categories outlined in the template. Furthermore, the same work may be documented in distinct ways depending on what information the author considers most valuable for potential readers. As I read through the MLA Handbook, I was confronted with new terminology. For example, the term containerin MLA style refers to the entity that publishes ("contains") the work...

Harder to Find than Nemo: The Elusive Image Citation Standard

New image citation standards need to be developed in order for college and graduate students to meet visual literacy standards. The MLA Handbook , 8th edition, and Chicago Manual of Style , 16th edition, do not adequately clarify how to caption, attribute, and cite images. Other image captioning and citing resources are available, but refer to the MLA and Chicago manuals. Image captions from scholarly journals vary widely and cannot be used as examples for students to follow. Recommendations are also provided for future editions of the MLA Handbook and Chicago Manual of Style .

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources—2017

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources—2017 Mike Witcombe (bio) What follows is a bibliography of Philip Roth-related texts published during 2017, including critical works (books, book chapters, journal essays, and special journal issues). All entries will reflect the format as defined in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook (2016). All sources are arranged in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. Individual essays included in edited collections are grouped in “Book Chapters” and are cross-listed according to MLA style. Digital book editions, such as those designed for Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook readers, are not included in this listing. Given the recent growth in e-book technology, digital versions of Roth’s texts are becoming standard practice. This being the case, none of these e-book versions are included in this bibliography. Readers and researchers can easily visit online booksellers to find digital editions. Mike Witcombe Mike Witcombe is Lecturer in English Literature at Bath Spa University, where he researches contemporary Jewish-American fiction. He has recently coedited an open access essay collection for the Open Library of the Humanities titled “New Voices in Jewish-American Fiction,” and has additional research interests in baseball fiction, videogames, and the history of psychoanalysis. BOOKS Baum, Devorah. Feeling Jewish (A Book for Just About Anyone). Yale UP, 2017. Google Scholar Connolly, Andy. Philip Roth and the American Liberal Tradition. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. Google Scholar EDITED COLLECTIONS AND SPECIAL ISSUES Brühwiler, Claudia Franziska and Lee Trepanier, editors. A Political Companion to Philip Roth. UP of Kentucky, 2017. Google Scholar BOOK CHAPTERS Bloom, James D. “American Fiction After Mulvey.” Reading the Male Gaze in Literature and Culture: Studies in Erotic Epistemology, Palgrave MacMillan, 2017, pp. 165–88. Google Scholar Boozer, Jack. “The Intratextuality of Film Adaptation: From The Dying Animal to Elegy.” The Oxford Handbook of Adaptation Studies, edited by Thomas Leitch, Oxford UP, 2017, pp. 197–213. Google Scholar Boswell, Marshall. “Ageing Novelists and the End of the American Century.” American Literature in Transition, 1990–2000, edited by Stephen J. Burn, Cambridge UP, 2017, pp. 48–62. Google Scholar Brühwiler, Claudia Franziska. “Serving his Tour as an ‘Exasperated Liberal and Indignant Citizen’: Philip Roth, a Public Intellectual?” A Political Companion to Philip Roth, Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 41–63. Carpi, Daniela. “Cultural Mobility and Diaspora: The Case of Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock.” Diaspora, Law and Literature, edited by Daniela Carpi and Klaus Stierstorfer, Walter de Gruyter, 2017, pp. 187–204. Google Scholar Connolly, Andy. “Philip Roth and the American ‘Underclass’ in The Human Stain.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 238–62. Festl, Michael G. “Four Pathologies and a State of Sanity: Political Philosophy and Philip Roth on the Individual in Society.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 95–118. Frediani, Federica. “Unsound Elegy: Breast Cancer in The Dying Animal by Philip Roth and Elegy by Isabel Coixet.” New Directions in Literature and Medicine Studies, edited by Stephanie Hilger, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 253–65. Google Scholar Gordon, Louis. “Three Voices or One? Philip Roth and Zionism.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 119–34. Kaplan, Brett Ashley. “The American Berserk in Sabbath’s Theater (1995).” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 220–37. Kinzel, Till. “‘Novotny’s Pain’: Philip Roth on the Politics and Problem of Pain.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 161–71. Lang, Jessica. “American Fiction and the Act of Genocide.” Textual Silence: Unreadability and the Holocaust, Rutgers UP, 2017, pp. 119–54. Google Scholar Maurer, Yael. “The Body Politic: Philip Roth’s American Men.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 172–90. Palmer, R. Barton. “Authorial Second Lives: Machaut, Chaucer, and Philip Roth.” Machaut’s Legacy: The Judgment Poetry Tradition in the Later Middle Ages and Beyond, edited by R. Barton Palmer and Burt Kimmelman, UP of Florida, 2017, pp. 271–96. Google Scholar Parrish, Timothy. “History and Fiction.” The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern American Fiction, edited by Paula Geyh, Cambridge UP, 2017, pp. 81–96. Google Scholar Pozorski, Aimee. “‘An ear in search of a word’: Writing and the Politics of Listening in Roth’s I Married a Communist.” Brühwiler and Trepanier, pp. 15–40. Shipe, Matthew...

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources—2016

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources—2016 Mike Witcombe (bio) What follows is a bibliography of Philip Roth-related texts published during 2016, including critical works (books, book chapters, journal essays, and special journal issues). All entries will reflect the format as defined in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook (2016). All sources are arranged in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. Individual essays included in edited collections are grouped in "Book Chapters" and are cross-listed according to MLA style. Digital book editions, such as those designed for Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook readers, are not included in this listing. Given the recent growth in e-book technology, digital versions of Roth's texts are becoming standard practice. This being the case, none of these e-book versions are included in this bibliography. Readers and researchers can easily visit online booksellers to find digital editions. Mike Witcombe Mike Witcombe is Lecturer in English Literature at Bath Spa University, where he researches contemporary Jewish-American fiction. He is currently co-editing an essay collection for the Open Library of the Humanities titled "New Voices in Jewish-American Fiction," and has additional research interests in baseball fiction, videogames, and the history of psychoanalysis. His article on Roth's drafting process for the Kepesh novels was published in Philip Roth Studies 13.1 (Spring 2017). BOOKS McDonald, Paul and Samantha Roden. Philip Roth Through the Lens of Kepesh. Humanities-Ebooks, 2016. Google Scholar EDITED COLLECTIONS AND SPECIAL ISSUES Gooblar, David and Aimee Pozorski, editors. Roth After Eighty: Philip Roth and the American Literary Imagination, Lexington Books, 2016. Google Scholar EDITED COLLECTIONS AND SPECIAL ISSUES Gooblar, David and Aimee Pozorski, editors. Roth After Eighty: Philip Roth and the American Literary Imagination, Lexington Books, 2016. Google Scholar BOOK CHAPTERS Brauner, David. "Performance Anxiety: Impotence, Queerness, and the 'Drama of Self-Disgust' in Philip Roth's The Professor of Desire and The Humbling." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 61-78. Google Scholar Brühwiler, Claudia Franziska. "'A Human Being Lives Here': Philip Roth on Scandals and the American Presidency." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 29–42. Google Scholar Calder, Alex. "'I told my wrath, my Roth did grow': Anger in Operation Shylock." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 95–108. [End Page 133] Google Scholar Coughlan, David. "Exit Ghost Writer: Philip Roth." Ghost Writing in Contemporary American Fiction, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 97–114. Google Scholar Douglas, Christopher. "Recapitulation and Religious Indifference in The Plot Against America." If God Meant to Interfere: American Literature and the Rise of the Christian Right, Cornell UP, 2016, pp. 117–50. Google Scholar Gelbart, Amy. "'[Sticking] to a plan completely": Performance, Affective Adaptation, Memory, Pretend Play, and Suicide in Philip Roth's The Humbling." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 149–66. Google Scholar George, Joseph. "Assimilation and Appropriation: Contest and Collaboration in Global Suburbia." Postmodern Suburban Spaces: Philosophy, Ethics, and Community in Post-War American Fiction, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 163–80. Google Scholar Guillain, Aurélie. "Stalkers, Furies and Comforters: Roth's Grave Comedy of Persecution." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 79–94. Google Scholar Hayes, Patrick. "'With an accomplice no less brilliant than Jean Genet': A Comparative Approach to Roth's Autofiction." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 43–60. Google Scholar Mack, Michael. "Ageing and Modern Jewish Writing and Thought." The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging, edited by Geoffrey Scarre, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 149–67. Google Scholar Morley, Catherine. "'My Kinsmen, My Precursors': Philip Roth, Epic, Influence, and Bardic Proclivities." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 109–26. Google Scholar Nadel, Ira. "Roth @ 25: Publishing Goodbye, Columbus." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 19–28. Google Scholar Newton, Adam Zachary. "'I was the prosthesis': Roth and Late Style." Gooblar and Pozorski pp. 127–48. Google Scholar Parks, Tim. "Philip Roth." Life and Work: Writers, Readers, and the Conversations Between Them. Yale UP, 2016. yale.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.12987/yale/9780300215366.001.0001/upso-9780300215366-chapter-009 Google Scholar Pozorski, Aimee. "Introduction—After Eighty: Philip Roth and the American Literary Imagination." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. xiii-xxii. Google Scholar Shechner, Mark. "Newark: The Shtetl." Gooblar and Pozorski, pp. 167–80. Google Scholar Shostak, Debra. "'Every...

A Review of 'The MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition

A Review of 'The MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition

A Review of the MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition (2016)

A Review of the MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition (2016)

An overview of research methodology: MLA handbook (7th edition)

The most important and essential part of any work of research is the bibliography. It not only authenticates the work of the author, but also helps the future researchers of similar interests to go to the works cited and thereby widen their knowledge. There are different styles or formats which are used in citing the works referred. While the APA is the most preferred style of the researchers in the field of science, the MLA is the preference of those researching in the human sciences department. This is paper is an overview of the MLA Handbook which has assisted millions of researchers across the globe in preparing the bibliography of their research work. The significance of this paper lies in the simplification of the data that is required by the scholar to cite references. Many a times, it becomes tedious and time consuming to go through the entire book for assistance in a particular type of reference. This paper comes in handy for those who would like to get the required help quickly. It discusses and gives the most often used citations in a simple method. It also highlights on those citations which have been updated from the sixth edition of the same book.

Modern Language Association: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition

Modern Language Association: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition

Report of the Executive Director

I Am Pleased to Report on the Association's Activities in 2009, a year in which the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers was published. The new edition, sent free to members, contains significant updates to MLA citation style and offers an electronic component for the first time. Another project in 2009, the Academic Workforce Advocacy Kit on the MLA Web site, brings together documents that equip members to work for long-term change in employment conditions. New online benefits of MLA membership include the Directory of Periodicals, a customizable convention program, and self-nomination forms for committee membership. Although the MLA, like all associations and academic institutions, has felt the effects of the economic recession, our membership and finances remained strong in 2009.

MLA handbook for writers of research papers

MLA handbook for writers of research papers

Basic College Research Skills (review)

Reviewed by: Basic College Research Skills Walter P. Rankin Basic College Research Skills. Steven Bookman and Christopher Warburton. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 2007, 114 pages, $19.95 (softcover) In the introduction to Basic College Research Skills, authors Steven Bookman and Christopher Warburton claim rather ambitiously that their text "gives students a comprehensive background in the art and science of scientific research, as well as providing instruction on common writing assignment requirements encountered in research-based and general writing classes" (p. 1). The authors further claim that the text is suitable for all levels of undergraduate and graduate study. Unfortunately, this brief text does not fully warrant these claims for a variety of reasons, nor does it distinguish itself from more comprehensive college study guides like Kathleen McWhorter's College Reading & Study Skills (now in its tenth edition) or Debbie Longman and Rhonda Atkinson's CLASS: College Learning and Study Skills (now in its seventh edition). Conceptually, Basic College Research Skills is awkwardly organized with disparate concepts (such as setting goals which is grouped with vocabulary learning) loosely gathered together. While the text is comprised of just five chapters, the authors have oddly chosen to divide those chapters into three distinct parts; thus, part II, titled "Research and Data Estimation," ends up being comprised solely of chapter 3, titled "Research and Data Estimation." The fundamental weakness of the text, however, is that the authors attempt to cover far too much material in too brief an amount of space. Instructors teaching students how to write research papers or conduct statistical analyses will no doubt require their students to use detailed reference guides, such as the official MLA Handbook, and other textbooks that truly specialize in those areas. This text simply lacks the necessary scope to make it a practical supplement to those kinds of academic works, nor is it comprehensive enough to stand on its own. Unfortunately, even the general chapters devoted to the broad skills needed for success in college lack the depth required to benefit students in a substantial way. Chapter 1, for example, ostensibly covers study skills, an area that should address students' different learning styles as well as instructors' varying methods of teaching. At a scant nine-and-a-half pages, this chapter spends three paragraphs total on goal setting; two paragraphs on vocabulary learning; and the final few pages defining types of college lectures and examinations that students might encounter. It would have been helpful if the authors had provided a few sample questions in this section to show students what kinds of questions and test formats they might encounter. Additionally, the authors fail to provide practical advice – such as encouraging students to talk to their instructors during office hours about their lectures and exams – instead offering stilted commentary like, "Listening, in terms of a college lecture, involves hearing what sentences the instructor is saying (also called utterances) while, at the same time, trying to understand the utterances" (pp. 7-8). Basic College Research Skills includes a troubling number of typos, grammatical errors, and factual misinformation that could actually hinder a student's academic performance. In chapter 1, the statement "Open-book examinations are not intended to be easy" is immediately [End Page 388] followed by the contradictory claim, "Take-home examinations are not intended to be easy like open-book examinations" (p. 10). Regardless, most instructors will likely agree that no exam is intended to be "easy" or "hard"; rather, the intent of any exam is that it adequately cover the material students need to have mastered for that course. In chapter 4, the authors briefly address the dangers and consequences of plagiarism. They incorrectly state, "At best, students who plagiarize will receive an 'F' for that course. If the student is lucky, the instructor might let the student redo the assignment" (p. 54). The authors fail to recognize that every institution has its own type of honor system and judicial code that should be followed by its students and faculty. At some institutions, students may receive a failing grade on a plagiarized assignment, yet still pass that course. Instructors should be encouraged to follow the policies and procedures of their institution when...

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Alfred the Great’s Boethius

Teaching &amp; Learning Guide for: Alfred the Great’s <i>Boethius</i>

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003. 6th edn. xvii + 361 pp. $17. ISBN 0–87352–986–3

Journal Article Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003. 6th edn. xvii + 361 pp. $17. ISBN 0–87352–986–3 Get access Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 42, Issue 1, January 2006, Page 95, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqi046 Published: 01 January 2006

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers