Biography

Elements of biography•Character – what he or she is like as a person

• Events – significant incidents that affected the person

• Setting – where the person lived and died, living conditions, time period of life, etc.

The Big Idea•After gathering information, come up with the main idea of the person’s life

• Support your thesis statement with evidence and elaboration

• Evidence – quotations and paraphrase coming from your sources

• Elaboration – make the connection for your readers

MLA 7th EditionFormatting and Style Guide

Format: General Guidelines

Type on white 8.5“ x 11“ paper

Double-space everything

Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font (or similar font)

Leave only one space after punctuation

Set all margins to 1 inch on all sides

Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch

Formatting the 1st Page No title page

In the upper left corner of the 1st page, list your

name, your instructor's name, the course, and date

Center the paper title (use standard caps but no

underlining, italics, quote, or bold)

Sample 1st Page

Citations•Every formal piece of writing should include a “Works Cited” page

•This page tells where you got the information gathered to write the paper

• It will be the last page of your essay

•Very specific formatting is required – Center the heading Works Cited

•Use a hanging indent

Anderson, Curtis. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. New York: Hyperion, 2006.

Print.

Zalta, Edward N., Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U, 2007. Web. 25 July 2008.

**If information is unknown, such as author, leave blank. If there is no date, use the date you accessed the site.

In text citations• Parenthetical citations include the author and page the idea or quote is found on (Wordsworth 83)

• For works in which the author is unknown, and for websites, the article title can be named. (Finding Joy 93)

• For websites with no article title or page number, a simplified domain name is acceptable. (Forbes.com)

• The parenthetical citation will refer to the works cited page. If an in text citation is used, the full citation MUST be on the works cited page.

If you need help, use citation machine!