Katie McGuckin's Blog Post

Katie McGuckin                                                                                                                            3/20/17

Blog Post

     Today's class continued the same as last week's, but instead of rough drafts, we worked on the final version our research paper because it will be due at 12:00 tonight. Before we started on our papers, Mr. Rivers gave a few reminders on the format of the document and a step by step process for revision.

     Final steps for revision:

1. Integrate all evidence
2. Other comments from the draft/outline
3. Go to the hallway and record yourself reading your paper...then listen to it!
4. Tidy up MLA formatting

Along with these suggestions, he also gave two additional tips that could make it easier to select text and help improve the spacing of the paper. One tip we were given was that by clicking "Ctrl" and "a", every word in the document becomes highlighted, which is a much more efficient way to make changes to the font, coloring, sizing, spacing, etc. Another suggestion we received was how to remove the random and inconsistent spaces in the text, by selecting the entire document and click "line spacing" and "add space after paragraph", then click "line spacing" again and click "remove space after paragraph. We were also reminded to add a title to our work (other than "Research Paper") that introduces the topic, add transitions to create a smoother flow throughout paragraphs, have the document in correct MLA format, and list our work cited on a separate page that is double spaced and in alphabetical order.

      MLA Format for Research Paper
Your Name
Mr. Rivers and Mr. Dalia
American Literature
20 March 2017
                                                                            Title

     Text __________________________________________________________________________

I spent today's class looking for a quote to support my counterclaim and figuring out how to explain it after I added a transition word. During study hall, which I had before English, I looked at the three articles I had found on Ebscohost and emailed to myself last week. I tried to find a quote that would work as an example of media that challenged male stereotypes successfully, but was not remembered or discussed often in society because it was from a first time director and not backed by a popular franchise or production studio. After reading the articles, I decided to use an early quote in one that was about the film, Salt of This Sea, and summarized how it acknowledged the incorrect assumption that Palestinian men tended to resort to violence. Once I cited the quote and added it to my work cited, I tried to lead into the quote and explain its significance.