Running head TITLE OF PAPER 1 Title of Your Essa.docx

Running head: TITLE OF PAPER 1
Title of Your Essay
Your Name
Course Number & Title
Instructor's Name
Month Day, Year
TITLE OF PAPER 2
Title of Your Essay
Start the first paragraph here. It should introduce your reader
to the subject you are
writing about, as well as your particular position or claim.
Before you can create your first
paragraph, consider these “pre-writing” tips. You can use this
template to help you format your

paper. For longer papers, include sub-headings or levels of
heading.
The writing process
Spend time planning your paper. A good practice is to
brainstorm ideas and decide how
to express the main idea or thesis. Once you have a rough idea
of what you want to say or argue,
create an outline or list to help you organize the evidence you
plan to present. For more
suggestions, please read about thesis statements on our Ashford
Writing Center website: Thesis
Statements. Other helpful tools on our website are the Thesis
Generator and Moving from
Prompt to Thesis.
Writing the body paragraphs
Each paragraph of your assignment should be clear and easy to
follow. We have several
good resources to help you write a strong paragraph, such as
How to Write a Good Paragraph
and the P.I.E. Paragraph Structure.
Using citations correctly
In addition to being well-written, each paragraph should include

an in-text citation to all
ideas, references, or quotations that are from outside sources
and research. The Ashford Writing
Center provides many resources to help you follow correct
citation style (primarily APA) and
gives lessons and examples of how to paraphrase and cite
sources. The APA Key Elements page
is a good place to start.
https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-formatting-headings%20in-apa-
style.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/writing-tools-outline.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-thesis-statements.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-thesis-statements.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/writing-tools-thesis-generator.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-prompt-to-thesis-
handout.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-prompt-to-thesis-
handout.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-good-paragraph.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-pie-paragraph.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-in-text-citation-guide.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-guidelines-for-quoting.html
https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-apa-key-elements.html
TITLE OF PAPER 3
References

The following are commonly used references. Please fill in the
required information, and if you
need more help, see the AWC References page. References are
listed in alphabetical order.
Ashford Textbook (Online edition): *
Author, A. (Year published). Title of book: Subtitle of book
(edition, if other than the first)
[Electronic version]. Retrieved from from URL
Example:
Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and
life assessment [Electronic
version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/4
Online Journal Article (such as from the Ashford Library):**
Author, A. (Year Published). Article title. Journal Name,
Volume(Issue), page range. doi:# or
Retrieved from journal’s homepage URL
**When including a URL for an online journal, you must search
for the journal’s home page and
include this in your reference entry. You may not include the
URL found through your
university library, as readers will not have access to this library.

Examples:
Churchill, S. D., & Mruk, C. J. (2014). Practicing what we
preach in humanistic and positive
psychology. American Psychologist, 69(1), 90-92.
doi:10.1037/a0034868
Santovec, M. (2008). Easing the transition improves grad
retention at Trinity U. Women in
Higher Education, 17(10), 32. Retrieved from
https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-apa-references-list.html
TITLE OF PAPER 4
http://www.trinitydc.edu/education/files/2010/09/Women_in_hi
gher_
Ed_Trinity_Transistions_10_08.pdf
Online Magazine:*
Author, A. (Year, Month Date Published). Article title.
Magazine Title. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Walk, V. (2013, April 29). Can this woman fix Europe? Time.
Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,213969.html

YouTube Video:*
Author, A. [Screen name]. (Year, Month, Day). Title of video
[Video file]. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. (2011, September 9). Real ghost
girl caught on video tape 14
[Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGCbxD848
Web Page:*
Author, A. (Year, Month, Date Published). Article title.
Retrieved from URL
Example—Corporate web page:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008).
Police and detectives. Retrieved
from http://bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos160.pdf
Example—Article or section within web page with no author:
Presentation tools. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://web2014.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools-
presentation.cfm
*Please delete the headers and notes in this document before
submitting your assignment.

Classmate Donn Reid respond to his discussion with a 125 word
or more .
· Donn Reid
Wednesday Dec 13 at 8:48pm
The writing task I believe I did well on was including details
and elaborating on my ideas. After I had created my idea list, I
still had to decide which topic to follow up on. I started with a
place, Germany. I recollected my memories from my first
experience starting at the airport and just did free writing from
there. Whatever came to mind in the remembrance journey I
wrote as quickly as the ideas came. The writing task that I need
to work on is the getting started on a writing assignment task.
Since, I was unsure of what to write about for each idea; I
mulled over where to start. Once I started though, it was
relatively easy and found myself in a flow of writing. The top
three grammatical errors were pretty easy to identify. These
errors were consistent across the questions. Error in parallelism
(3) Problem about reading comprehension (3) Apostrophe error
(3) To strengthen my writing task for including details and
elaborating on my ideas, I can continue to write more. I think as
I exercise this area of writing it will get better just by use.
Using more adjectives and thinking more in-depth on how to
express a particular point is going to make the thoughts clearer
and promote more of a visual as the reader takes in what I am
writing. To resolve the weakness of getting started, I could
jump right in and start. I found the just getting started and free
writing the ideas; they came much quicker and frequent. An
example sentence out of my essay is “Venturing out into the
chilly brisk evening looking for a place to eat on our first night
in Hoechst, Germany.” Finding better descriptive words to use,
like maybe not just chill and brisk but have some other
descriptive words to draw the reader in and form an image in
for them. I would like to work on those kinds of things. My

question from the weekly reading revolves around developing a
thesis. Is it necessary to have a thesis statement in a personal
narrative essay?
Manage Discussion Entry
· Go To Topic
The writing task I believe I did well on was including details
and elaborating on my ideas. After I had created my idea list, I
still had to decide which topic to follow up on. I started with a
place, Germany. I recollected my memories from my first
experience starting at the airport and just did free writing from
there. Whatever came to mind in the remembrance journey I
wrote as quickly as the ideas came.
The writing task that I need to work on is the getting started on
a writing assignment task. Since, I was unsure of what to write
about for each idea; I mulled over where to start. Once I started
though, it was relatively easy and found myself in a flow of
writing.
The top three grammatical errors were pretty easy to identify.
These errors were consistent across the questions.
1. Error in parallelism (3)
1. Problem about reading comprehension (3)
1. Apostrophe error (3)
To strengthen my writing task for including details and
elaborating on my ideas, I can continue to write more. I think as
I exercise this area of writing it will get better just by use.
Using more adjectives and thinking more in-depth on how to
express a particular point is going to make the thoughts clearer
and promote more of a visual as the reader takes in what I am
writing.
To resolve the weakness of getting started, I could jump right in
and start. I found the just getting started and free writing the
ideas; they came much quicker and frequent.
An example sentence out of my essay is “Venturing out into the
chilly brisk evening looking for a place to eat on our first night
in Hoechst, Germany.” Finding better descriptive words to use,
like maybe not just chill and brisk but have some other

descriptive words to draw the reader in and form an image in
for them. I would like to work on those kinds of things.
My question from the weekly reading revolves around
developing a thesis. Is it necessary to have a thesis statement in
a personal narrative essay?
Classmate Kristen Edwards respond to her Discussion 125
words or more
· Kristen Edwards
Yesterday Dec 14 at 7:33pm
Hello Everyone, I believe my essay structure is something I did
well. I struggle when it comes to writing, with that said, I feel
the structure I had was the strongest point of the essay.
Something I know I need work on is my thesis statement. I have
a hard time when it comes to brainstorming and coming up with
topics to discuss thus my thesis statement can certainly use
some work. Three errors I had in the grammar assessment are;
problems with the reading comprehension, the subject/verb
agreement and errors with apostrophes. The problems I ran in to
with reading comprehension was finding the main point or
points to a sentence. With apostrophes I had issues knowing
where the apostrophe should be placed. As for the subject/verb
agreement within a vague sentence it was hard for me to
determine the subject and the verb. My plan to further maximize
my strengths is to continue practicing what I already know and
what I feel I do best. As for my weaknesses I intend to take
more time in developing my thesis, along with sharing my ideas
with other to try and generate new ideas. I also would like to
take more time in the brainstorming process and again, share
these ideas with others in order to generate more ideas. My
question/questions: Which method of writing is best to use with
a personal essay? Should a personal essay be more informal or
formal? References: Connell, C.M., & Sole, K.
(2013) Essentials of college writing (2ed) Retrieved from:
https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG121.13.2/sections/sec

5.4 Thank you, Kristen
Manage Discussion Entry
· Go To Topic
Hello Everyone,
I believe my essay structure is something I did well. I struggle
when it comes to writing, with that said, I feel the structure I
had was the strongest point of the essay. Something I know I
need work on is my thesis statement. I have a hard time when it
comes to brainstorming and coming up with topics to discuss
thus my thesis statement can certainly use some work.
Three errors I had in the grammar assessment are; problems
with the reading comprehension, the subject/verb agreement and
errors with apostrophes. The problems I ran in to with reading
comprehension was finding the main point or points to a
sentence. With apostrophes I had issues knowing where the
apostrophe should be placed. As for the subject/verb agreement
within a vague sentence it was hard for me to determine the
subject and the verb.
My plan to further maximize my strengths is to continue
practicing what I already know and what I feel I do best. As for
my weaknesses I intend to take more time in developing my
thesis, along with sharing my ideas with other to try and
generate new ideas. I also would like to take more time in the
brainstorming process and again, share these ideas with others
in order to generate more ideas.
My question/questions: Which method of writing is best to use
with a personal essay? Should a personal essay be more
informal or formal?
References:
Connell, C.M., & Sole, K. (2013) Essentials of college
writing (2ed)
Retrieved from:
https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG121.13.2/sections/sec

5.4Links to an external site.
Thank you,
Kristen
1
Created in 2015
IN-TEXT CITATION GUIDE
What are in-text citations?
An in-text citation is a citation within your writing to show
where you found your information, facts, quotes,
and research. APA in-text citation style uses the author's last
name and the year of publication, for
example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page
number as well, for example: (Field, 2005,
p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have no
page numbers, use a paragraph number
instead, for example: (Fields, 2015, para.3).
In-text citations follow any sentence in your writing that
contains a direct quote, or paraphrased or
summarized information from an outside source.

Each in-text citation in your writing must also have a
corresponding entry in your References list. There
are two exceptions to this rule: personal communications, like
interviews, emails, or classroom discussion
posts, and classic religious texts, like the Bible or the Koran.
These types of sources should be cited by
in-text citations only.
Always include in-text citations for:
irect quotes
All in-text citations require the same basic information:
Basic Examples of In-Text Citations
For a quote: “The systematic development of literacy and
schooling meant a new division in
society, between the educated and the uneducated” (Cook-
Gumperz, 1986, p. 27).

For paraphrased material: Some educational theorists suggest
that schooling and a focus on
teaching literacy divided society into educated and uneducated
classes (Cook-Gumperz, 1986).
For summarized material: Schooling and literacy contributed to
educational divisions in society
(Cook-Gumperz, 1986).
NOTE: If you mention the author and the year in your writing to
introduce the quote or paraphrased
material, then you need only include the page or paragraph
number in the in-text citation.
2
Created in 2015
For example:
According to Jenny Cook-Gumperz (1986), “The systematic
development of literacy and
schooling meant a new division in society, between the educated
and the uneducated” (p. 27).
Additional In-Text Citation Models

For online sources:
For a web page: The USDA is “taking steps to help farmers,
ranchers, and small businesses
wrestling with persistent drought” (United States Department of
Agriculture, 2015, “USDA Drought
Programs and Assistance,” para. 1).
Format: (Website Author, Year, “Web Page Title,” paragraph
number).
For an online article: The F.B.I. “warned the families not to talk
publicly” about the hostages
(Wright, 2015, para. 2).
Format: (Author’s Last Name, Year, paragraph number).
For an email communication: According to Dr. Edwards, “The
coming El Niño won’t do much to
alleviate California’s current drought” (personal
communication, April 26, 2015).
NOTE: Because most online sources do not contain page
numbers, use the paragraph number. While
many online sources may include numbers beside the
paragraphs, others may not, and you might have to
count them yourself. In the case of an extremely long article or
an online book, you may include the

section/chapter number and title and then the paragraph number,
like this:
(Smith, 2012, Chapter #, “Section Title,” para. 12).
Citing from a Secondary Source
Sometimes the quote you want to use is quoted by someone else
in another source, like your textbook.
You can still use that quote inside the textbook – this is called
citing from a secondary source. In this
case, the secondary source is your textbook and its author; the
primary source is the quote and its author.
So, in your writing, introduce the original author and the year
of publication, and then in the in-text citation
you’ll include the secondary source information. For instance,
you might want to include a quote by Sarah
Vowell that is cited in your textbook by Ryan Smith. You would
write this:
According to Sarah Vowell (2008), “The only thing more
dangerous than an idea is a belief” (as quoted in
Smith, 2012, Section #, “Section Title,” para. #).
NOTE: When citing from a secondary source, only the
secondary source information appears in the
references list. The primary source author and original date of
publication only appears in your writing.

3
Created in 2015
Moving the Citation Information Around
In-text citations contain three pieces of information: author,
publication date, and page/paragraph
location. However, if in your writing you place this information
elsewhere, like in the introductory phrase
before the quote, you do not need to repeat it in the citation.
Use the citation to “catch” anything you
haven’t already included.
Here are three examples where the citation information is
placed in different locations around the quote:
“The systematic development of literacy and schooling meant a
new division in society, between
the educated and the uneducated” (Cook-Gumperz, 1986, p. 27).
According to Jenny Cook-Gumperz (1986), “The systematic
development of literacy and

schooling meant a new division in society, between the educated
and the uneducated” (p. 27).
According to Cook-Gumperz, “The systematic development of
literacy and schooling meant a
new division in society, between the educated and the
uneducated” (1986, p. 27).
NOTE: Parentheses that contain citation information come after
the closing quote mark but before the
punctuation ending the entire sentence. Block quotes are the
exception, where the parenthetical citation
comes after the period at the end of the quote.
For a comprehensive overview of crediting sources, consult
Chapter 6 of the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association.
http://www.apastyle.org/
Mrs. Flowers (from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
Maya Angelou
3
137.9K
34
Mrs. Flowers (from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) Lyrics
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She
had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather,

and on the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private
breeze which swirled around, cooling her. She was thin without
the taut look of wiry people, and her printed voile dresses and
flowered hats were as right for her as denim overalls for a
farmer. She was our side’s answer to the richest white woman in
town.
Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if
snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close
enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her
skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too.
I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled
often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even,
small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she
chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her. The action
was so graceful and inclusively benign.She was one of the few
gentlewomen I have ever known, and has remained throughout
my life the measure of what a human being can be.
One summer afternoon, sweet-milk fresh in my memory, she
stopped at the Store to buy provisions. Another Negro woman of
her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper
sacks home in one hand, but Momma said, “Sister Flowers, I’ll
send Bailey up to your house with these things.”
She smiled that slow dragging smile, “Thank you, Mrs.
Henderson. I’d prefer Marguerite, though.” My name was
beautiful when she said it. “I’ve been meaning to talk to her,
anyway.” They gave each other age-group looks.
There was a little path beside the rocky road, and Mrs. Flowers
walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the
stones.
She said, without turning her head, to me, “I hear you’re doing
very good schoolwork, Marguerite, but that it’s all written. The

teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in
class.” We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path
widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the
separate unasked and unanswerable questions.
“Come and walk along with me, Marguerite.” I couldn’t have
refused even if I wanted to. She pronounced my name so nicely.
Or more correctly, she spoke each word with such clarity that I
was certain a foreigner who didn’t understand English could
have understood her.
“Now no one is going to make you talk—possibly no one can.
But bear in mind, language is man’s way of communicating with
his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him
from the lower animals.” That was a totally new idea to me, and
I would need time to think about it.
“Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get.
That’s good, but not good enough. Words mean more than what
is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them
with the shades of deeper meaning.”I memorized the part about
the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and
poetic.She said she was going to give me some books and that I
not only must read them, I must read them aloud. She suggested
that I try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as
possible.
“I’ll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been
badly handled.” My imagination boggled at the punishment I
would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers’s.
Death would be too kind and brief.
Mrs. Flowers (from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) Lyrics
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She

had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather,
and on the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private
breeze which swirled around, cooling her. She was thin without
the taut look of wiry people, and her printed voile dresses and
flowered hats were as right for her as denim overalls for a
farmer. She was our side’s answer to the richest white woman in
town.
Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if
snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close
enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her
skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too.
I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled
often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even,
small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she
chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her. The action
was so graceful and inclusively benign.She was one of the few
gentlewomen I have ever known, and has remained throughout
my life the measure of what a human being can be.
One summer afternoon, sweet-milk fresh in my memory, she
stopped at the Store to buy provisions. Another Negro woman of
her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper
sacks home in one hand, but Momma said, “Sister Flowers, I’ll
send Bailey up to your house with these things.”
She smiled that slow dragging smile, “Thank you, Mrs.
Henderson. I’d prefer Marguerite, though.” My name was
beautiful when she said it. “I’ve been meaning to talk to her,
anyway.” They gave each other age-group looks.
There was a little path beside the rocky road, and Mrs. Flowers
walked in front swinging her arms and picking her way over the
stones.
She said, without turning her head, to me, “I hear you’re doing

very good schoolwork, Marguerite, but that it’s all written. The
teachers report that they have trouble getting you to talk in
class.” We passed the triangular farm on our left and the path
widened to allow us to walk together. I hung back in the
separate unasked and unanswerable questions.
“Come and walk along with me, Marguerite.” I couldn’t have
refused even if I wanted to. She pronounced my name so nicely.
Or more correctly, she spoke each word with such clarity that I
was certain a foreigner who didn’t understand English could
have understood her.
“Now no one is going to make you talk—possibly no one can.
But bear in mind, language is man’s way of communicating with
his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him
from the lower animals.” That was a totally new idea to me, and
I would need time to think about it.
“Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every chance you get.
That’s good, but not good enough. Words mean more than what
is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them
with the shades of deeper meaning.”I memorized the part about
the human voice infusing words. It seemed so valid and
poetic.She said she was going to give me some books and that I
not only must read them, I must read them aloud. She suggested
that I try to make a sentence sound in as many different ways as
possible.
“I’ll accept no excuse if you return a book to me that has been
badly handled.” My imagination boggled at the punishment I
would deserve if in fact I did abuse a book of Mrs. Flowers’s.
Death would be too kind and brief.
The odors in the house surprised me. Somehow I had never
connected Mrs. Flowers with food or eating or any other
common experience of common people. There must have been
an outhouse, too, but my mind never recorded it.

The sweet scent of vanilla had met us as she opened the door.
“I made tea cookies this morning. You see, I had planned to
invite you for cookies and lemonade so we could have this little
chat. The lemonade is in the icebox.”
It followed that Mrs. Flowers would have ice on an ordinary
day, when most families in our town bought ice late on
Saturdays only a few times during the summer to be used in the
wooden ice cream freezers.
She took the bags from me and disappeared through the kitchen
door. I looked around the room that I had never in my wildest
fantasies imagined I would see. Browned photographs leered or
threatened from the walls and the white, freshly done curtains
pushed against themselves and against the wind. I wanted to
gobble up the room entire and take it to Bailey, who would help
me analyze and enjoy it.
“Have a seat, Marguerite. Over there by the table.” She carried
a platter covered with a tea towel. Although she warned that she
hadn’t tried her hand at baking sweets for some time, I was
certain that like everything else about her the cookies would be
perfect.They were flat round wafers, slightly browned on the
edges and butter-yellow in the center. With the cold lemonade
they were sufficient for childhood’s lifelong diet. Remembering
my manners, I took nice little ladylike bites off the edges. She
said she had made them expressly for me and that she had a few
in the kitchen that I could take home to my brother. So I
jammed one whole cake in my mouth and the rough crumbs
scratched the insides of my jaws, and if I hadn’t had to swallow,
it would have been a dream come true.As I ate she began the
first of what we later called “my lessons in living.”She said that
I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of
illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more

educated and even more intelligent than college professors. She
encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called
mother wit. That in those homely sayings was couched the
collective wisdom of generations.
When I finished the cookies she brushed off the table and
brought a thick, small book from the bookcase. I had read A
Tale of Two Cities and found it up to my standards as a
romantic novel. She opened the first page and I heard poetry for
the first time in my life.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . .” Her
voice slid in and curved down through and over the words. She
was nearly singing. I wanted to look at the pages. Were they the
same that I had read? Or were there notes, music, lined on the
pages, as in a hymn book? Her sounds began cascading gently. I
knew from listening to a thousand preachers that she was
nearing the end of her reading, and I hadn’t really heard, heard
to understand, a single word.
“How do you like that?”
It occurred to me that she expected a response. The sweet
vanilla flavor was still on my tongue and her reading was a
wonder in my ears. I had to speak.
I said, “Yes, ma’am.” It was the least I could do, but it was the
most also.
“There’s one more thing. Take this book of poems and
memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit, I want you
to recite.”
I have tried often to search behind the sophistication of years
for the enchantment I so easily found in those gifts. The essence
escapes but its aura remains. To be allowed, no, invited, into
the private lives of strangers, and to share their joys and fears,

was a chance to exchange the Southern bitter wormwood for a
cup of mead with Beowulf or a hot cup of tea and milk with
Oliver Twist. When I said aloud, “It is a far, far better thing
that I do, than I have ever done . . .” tears of love filled my eyes
at my selflessness.
On that first day, I ran down the hill and into the road (few cars
ever came along it) and had the good sense to stop running
before I reached the Store.
I was liked, and what a difference it made. I was respected not
as Mrs. Henderson’s grandchild or Bailey’s sister but for just
being Marguerite Johnson.
Childhood’s logic never asks to be proved (all conclusions are
absolute). I didn’t question why Mrs. Flowers had singled me
out for attention, nor did it occur to me that Momma might have
asked her to give me a little talking-to. All I cared about was
that she had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her
favorite book. It was enough to prove that she liked me.
An excerpt from the classic first volume of Maya Angelou’s
seven-volume autobiography. Published in 1969, I Know Why
The Caged Bird Sings has become one of the most famous
memoirs in American literature, a staple of the high school
English curriculum, and a widely admired survivor’s narrative.
Its frank grappling with the impact of racism and sexual trauma
has also made it a frequent target of censorship.
Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass
identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers

will
write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly
to save
themselves, to survive as individuals.
—Don DeLillo
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you
should be able to:
1. Explain the purpose of a personal
writing essay.
2. Recognize the different types of per-
sonal essays.
3. Identify the different components of
a personal writing assignment, such
as point of view, structure, tone, and
language usage.
4. Create personal essays that are aware
of the audience, have a strong plot,
have a clear point, use concrete
language, and properly incorporate
dialogue.
5. Generate essays with great descrip-
tions by being specific, appealing to
the senses, selecting the right details,
and utilizing comparisons.
6Personal Writing

©Deborah Harrison/Photographer’s
Choice/Getty Images
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CHAPTER 6Section 6.1 What Is Personal Writing?
As you have learned, there are four primary types of college
writing: personal, expository,
persuasive/argument, and research assignments. You are
probably familiar with personal
papers because they are frequently assigned in elementary and
high school. For instance,
you may have written a paper describing what you did on your
summer vacation, or you
may have shared your impressions of a book you read or a
movie you saw. In college,
you will occasionally be asked to write a personal reflection or
essay on a defined topic.
Although personal papers may not be the most common type of
writing assignment you
will encounter in your college classes, you will most likely have
some personal or narra-
tive writing assignments in your courses, and many of your
academic papers will be com-
bination papers in which you must take a personal position on
an issue. Perhaps you have
composed an essay about a significant person or event in your
life or a paper reflecting on
your personal goals or what a college education means to you.
Papers such as these can
be defined as personal papers. Developing a personal position
on a subject can help you
clarify ideas, practice logical skills, and exercise your reasoning

abilities.
6.1 What Is Personal Writing?
Personal writing may share a personal experience or perspec-
tive, and it can be an effective
method for offering a viewpoint on
a text or an event. Writing from the
personal perspective may also allow
a writer to write more freely than he
or she otherwise would because it is
less burdened by formal conventions
than other types of writing. Personal
writing includes opinion papers,
reflective papers, response papers,
creative writing assignments, and
combination papers.
Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock
Personal writing allows you the freedom to express your
own ideas, thoughts, and beliefs in a creative manner,
often without having to adhere to the structure or
conventions of other writing styles.
con80878_06_c06.indd 110 8/26/13 1:04 PM
The Purpose of Personal Writing
Personal papers are usually written to accomplish one of the
following purposes:
• Tell a story;
• Share a personal experience;

• Give a personal interpretation of an event;
• Describe a person, place, object, or event;
• Express personal feelings or opinions on a subject; or
• Entertain or provoke the audience.
When you write a personal paper, you express your own
thoughts, ideas, and opinions
about a subject. Writing in Action: Week 2 Essay: Literary
Elements illustrates questions that
could be asked for a personal paper on a film.
Writing in Action: Week 2 Essay: Literary Elements
Consider an interesting movie you have seen recently. Prepare a
three-page paper about that movie
based on the following questions:
1. Keeping in mind what you have learned in class thus far
about literary elements, what does
this movie mean to you?
2. What is this movie really about?
3. Is there a “moral to the story,” a theme to be explored, or a
comment to think about?
4. What is the point of the movie?
5. Did you find this movie meaningful for you personally? Why
or why not?
Recognizing Personal Writing Assignments
Personal papers can sometimes allow you to think through your
position on a topic and
even aid you in writing an expository, persuasive,
argumentative, or research paper. Many
of the required papers in your college courses will be
combination papers that are a blend
of personal papers and one or more of the other types of college

writing. Let us look at
some assignments that fall into the category of personal papers
or have personal writing
components, as well as some that do not.
When It Is Not Personal
If a prompt is asking you to write an analysis, interpretation,
objective account, or a
research paper, it is likely not asking you to write a personal
essay or to integrate personal
elements. A prompt will clearly indicate that it is asking you to
incorporate elements of
personal writing by asking you to discuss your feelings,
experiences, memories, impres-
sions, or perspective. Ask yourself whether the assignment in
any way is about you as a
person—if it is, then you should include personal elements, and
if it is not, then no per-
sonal elements should be used. Table 6.1 provides a list of
words in an essay prompt that
con80878_06_c06.indd 111 8/26/13 1:04 PM
would signal that the essay is not personal (but make sure it is
not a combination essay
and doesn’t ask you to relate something from your personal life.
See the examples given
in the sections “Opinion Papers” and “Combination Papers”).
Table 6.1: Key words in an essay prompt that signal
nonpersonal writing

Give an objective account . . .
Assess the factual circumstances . . .
Offer an interpretation . . .
Produce a reading. . .
Research the historical underpinnings of . . .
Evaluate the consequences of the newly passed legislation . . .
Argue for the significance of the text’s theme of justice . . .
Keep in mind that Table 6.1 is not a complete list; look for
terms in the writing prompt that
gesture toward objectivity or reasoned interpretation. If you are
unsure whether or not
a prompt allows for any personal elements whatsoever, ask your
instructor, but bear in
mind that the prompt will explicitly ask for this if it is what is
required of you. The follow-
ing Writing in Action box, Personal Paper Assignments,
provides examples of paper prompts
that specifically ask the writer to compose a personal paper.
Writing in Action: Personal Paper Assignments
You can recognize a personal paper assignment by key words or
phrases in the assignment that ask
you for your opinion or your views on a subject. Key words and
action verbs are underlined in the
following examples:
• Write about an experience in which you struggled with
something and were unsuccessful and

discuss what you learned from the experience.
• Explain what you think about a current scientific or social
controversy.
• Reflect on a person who had a strong impact on your life and
the ways in which he or she
influenced you.
• Imagine that you have unlimited wealth and write about what
you would do with your money
and why.
• What do you think has been the most important social or
political movement of the 20th
century?
con80878_06_c06.indd 112 8/26/13 1:04 PM
Opinion Papers
Opinion papers express the writer’s point of view or opinion on
a specific topic. They
may be personal papers if you are asked simply to give your
opinion on an issue and
explain your point of view. An opinion is a personal viewpoint
on a subject that may or
may not be supported with facts or evidence. However, if you
are required to state your
opinion and then argue that point of view, your paper will be a
combination of personal
and persuasive writing. This would be a hybrid paper that asks
you to incorporate both

personal reflection and logical, nonpersonal argumentation. If
you are writing this kind
of paper, you should keep the personal and argumentative
sections of the paper separate
in order to show how your personal reflections contributed to
your argument. This will
also help ensure that you include an argumentative, nonpersonal
section to your paper.
For example, an opinion assignment may ask you to write an
essay in which you discuss
whether or not you think you should buy products from a
company who gives money to
something you do not personally support.
Reflective Papers
Personal papers may also be assigned when your instructors
want you to think about
something you have read and to respond to it or discuss its
meaning for you; these assign-
ments are often called reflective papers. However, if an
assignment asks you to reflect,
discuss, or explain something, be careful. The words reflect,
discuss, and explain all have
multiple meanings.
We reflect on something when we think about it and express our
personal opinion or share
a personal story. However, the word reflect can also mean to
carefully consider something
or to explore options. Instead of voicing your own opinion, a
reflective paper assignment
may be asking you to consider an issue, to analyze a situation,
or to explore options, based
on what you have learned in the course. This type of assignment
requires an expository
paper, which we will discuss in Chapter 8. Similarly, if an

assignment asks you to discuss
or explain an issue, you must look further at the assignment to
determine whether you
are being asked to write a personal paper that discusses or
explains your own opinion
or whether you are being asked to share information you have
learned from your text or
from research. A reflective paper, for instance, may ask you to
read an article on a current
event and then to reflect on the position stated there.
Response Papers
When you are asked to respond to material you have read by
expressing your personal
opinion on a topic or to reflect on what you have read and share
its meaning for you, your
instructors are looking for a specific type of response from you.
Responses to reading,
like other personal papers, require that you state your opinion
on an issue or reflect on
an issue and state your viewpoint about it, and they are written
in first person. However,
unlike other personal papers, you do not choose the subject.
Before you write a response,
you have most likely read about or discussed a controversial
topic. A response paper usu-
ally requires you to think about the different points of view
expressed in the material you
read or discussed and to take a personal stand on the issue.
Because a response paper asks
you to begin by demonstrating that you understand the issue, it
is usually best to begin
with the more objective third person. Notice that this is very
different from the suggested
format discussed earlier for the combination personal and
research paper.

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In this type of paper, you generally begin by presenting a brief
overview of the issue
and the different viewpoints presented, to demonstrate that you
understand both the
issue itself and the controversy surrounding it. This first part of
the paper is expository
(see Chapter 8) and should therefore be written in third person.
Then, you will switch
to a first-person point of view and share your opinion of the
issue and state where you
stand on the issue. This part of the paper requires personal
writing. Finally, you must
support your point of view by stating why you believe as you do
and how you came to
adopt this perspective. Discuss what factors were most
important to you in arriving at
a conclusion about the issue.
As you can see, papers that ask you to respond to reading share
all the characteristics
of other personal papers outlined earlier in this chapter, but
they also require that you
explore and explain your opinion, which is often a way to
introduce you to expository
writing. A response paper could ask you to read two positions
on the creation of constitu-
tional amendments—one for and one against—and then to
develop a personal response
that indicates your viewpoint.

Creative Writing Assignments
The term creative writing refers to written works or artistic
expressions whose purpose
is to create images or to express thoughts or feelings. It can also
include information and
an implied or direct position. Creative writing can be
considered personal writing and
includes genres, or categories, of writing such as short stories,
novels, poetry, screenplays,
and creative nonfiction like biographies and memoirs. You may
engage in creative writ-
ing as part of your college career if you take a dedicated
creative writing course, if one
of your other courses has an assignment that involves creative
writing, or if you decide
to pursue creative writing as an extracurricular activity.
Journaling, and idea-generating
techniques like mind mapping and free-writing, covered in
Chapter 4, are also examples
of personal creative writing.
Combination Papers
A combination paper may require you to combine elements of
personal, expository, per-
suasive or argument, and research papers. For example, you may
have an assignment
that asks you to state your opinion on a controversial issue
(personal) and then to con-
duct research and find evidence both in support of and in
opposition to your viewpoint
(research). This type of assignment combines elements of
personal and research writing
in the same paper. In a combination paper such as this, you will
write in first person
when you are stating your personal opinion and then switch to

third person when you
report the information you found in your research. This would
be an appropriate format
if the assignment asks you to first convey your personal opinion
and then to lay out and
develop your reasoning afterward. The first person “I” is not
appropriate when you dis-
cuss research because research is not personal but rather an
objective interpretation. This
means that while others may have a different interpretation of
the same research, it is not
“personal” to state your interpretation—therefore, the first
person “I” is inappropriate. A
combination paper could ask you to do research about the extent
to which American citi-
zens should have the freedom of speech before it begins to
infringe on the rights of others
and then to formulate a viewpoint on this subject using the first
person.
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CHAPTER 6Section 6.2 Personal Writing Conventions
6.2 Personal Writing Conventions
Before responding to a personal writing assignment, it is
important to understand how to construct a personal paper.
Personal writing generally calls for writing conventions that
differ from those used in other types of writing, such as
argument and exposi-
tion. For example, the tone, language, and structure used in a
personal paper are often more
informal than in other paper types. The following sections will

help guide you in choosing
the proper tone, language, point of view, and structure for
writing a personal paper.
Tone and Language
Personal papers are generally written in a less formal, or even
conversational, tone, and
the use of contractions and other types of informal language is
often allowed, if it is appro-
priate to the story or the topic. Personal papers might also
include dialogue, which should
be placed in quotation marks. However, it is important to
remember that you are writing
for an academic audience and that the essay prompt may require
you to include an intro-
duction and a thesis statement that makes a claim about the
personal experience you
describe. The language in personal writing assignments should
be appropriate, and the
paper must meet the writing requirements outlined in your
course guide or syllabus. If
you are unsure of the type of language that is appropriate for a
particular writing assign-
ment, make sure that you ask your instructor.
Point of View
Because you are sharing your personal viewpoint
on a subject, a personal paper is usually written
from a first-person point of view, which means you
are able to use pronouns such as I, me, my, we, and
our. However, personal papers are often narrative
and tell a story. In your paper, you might also tell
a story about another person. In this instance, as
the narrator, you would write from a third-person
point of view and refer to the person by name or
use the pronouns he, she, or they. This creates the

effect of a more distant narrator, one who seems to
be more objective precisely because the paper does
not use the first person “I” and therefore does not
seem to be speaking from personal opinion. Your
instructor will not likely ask you to write a creative
writing piece such as a short story, but the follow-
ing fiction excerpt from Mark Twain’s The Adven-
tures of Huckleberry Finn (1895) includes several of
the key elements of a personal paper. Read Writing
in Action: Excerpt From The Adventures of Huckle-
berry Finn for an example of how Twain employs a
Pantheon/SuperStock
The chosen style of narration can have
a significant effect on the tone and
effectiveness of personal writing. Mark
Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is defined by
the potentially unreliable narration of its
young and uneducated title character.
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CHAPTER 6Section 6.2 Personal Writing Conventions
first-person point of view to create a narrative from the
perspective of a young boy growing
up in the antebellum South. In the excerpt, Huck is trying to
decide if he should do what he
believes to be his duty and mail a letter reporting the
whereabouts of Jim, who has escaped
from slavery.
Writing in Action: Excerpt From The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn

I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had
ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could
pray now. But I didn’t do it straight off, but laid the paper down
and set there thinking—thinking how
good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being
lost and going to hell. And went on
thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I
see Jim before me all the time: in the
day and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes
storms, and we a-floating along, talking
and singing and laughing. But somehow I couldn’t seem to
strike no places to harden me against him,
but only the other kind. I’d see him standing my watch on top of
his’n, ‘stead of calling me, so I could
go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back
out of the fog; and when I come to
him again in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and such-
like times; and would always call me
honey, and pet me and do everything he could think of for me,
and how good he always was; and at
last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had
small-pox aboard, and he was so grateful,
and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and
the only one he’s got now; and then I
happened to look around and see that paper.
It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was
a-trembling, because I’d got to decide,
forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute,
sort of holding my breath, and then
says to myself:
“All right, then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up.
Structure and Supporting Ideas

Personal papers are read sequentially from beginning to end,
and frequently narrate
events or circumstances in chronological order, as they would
occur logically in time.
Personal papers do not usually contain headings to divide one
section of the paper from
another (if you were writing a novel or short story, however, it
would be appropriate to
divide up your thoughts according to organized chapters or
sections). Your intent should
be to capture the reader’s attention at the very beginning of the
paper and to carry the
reader along with you, in a clear and organized way, through the
end of the paper. All
good personal papers share some common features. They have a
suitable topic articulated
over the course of several paragraphs, and they anticipate a
reader’s desire for context,
information, and development. Consider what would be
interesting to you as a reader
and what kinds of details and information you look for when
you read a piece of personal
writing. What allows you as a reader to stay engaged with
personal writing?
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CHAPTER 6Section 6.3 Narrative Writing Pattern
6.3 Narrative Writing Pattern
N
arration is storytelling from the perspective of a narrator, and
the story may be

true, false, imaginary, or a combination. A narration can be
about past, present, or
future events, and it can be short or the length of a novel—it is
important to note
that more complex narrative forms of writing frequently
combine a variety of time frames.
For the purposes of your own writing, which will usually
consist of a short assignment
of approximately two to five pages, it is ideal to narrate from
the perspective of one time
frame. The event, or plot, of the narration may come from your
own personal experience,
or it may be a hypothetical situation or an event that you
imagine. If the assignment states
that you can make up a hypothetical or imaginary situation, then
that is assumed and is
fair to do so in your writing. However, if the assignment calls
for a narrative based on
something that actually occurred, be sure to select an actual
event and stick to the facts of
that event in writing your paper.
The Purpose of Narrative
The purpose of a narrative may be simply to entertain or engage
the reader, or the story
might have a more specific purpose such as to share a
personally significant event or to
teach a lesson, or moral. When we tell a story using a narration
strategy, we attempt to
bring the subject and the events to life for readers so that they
can share in the experience
and the emotions of the experience. To accomplish this goal, we
must make sure to incor-
porate certain important elements in the narrative. Most of us
remember being told sto-

ries as children, and we love a good story that holds our
interest. We have also probably
known someone who is a poor storyteller, who rambles on or
gives too much detail, who
goes off track, or who ruins the ending. For our narration to
have impact, we must tell a
story that grabs and holds the audience’s attention, provides
important and appropriate
details, and discusses events in a clear and well-organized
sequence.
Consider the Audience
When you write narrative papers, remember to think about the
writing situation and con-
sider the purpose and the audience for your paper. You might be
interested in the topic, but
is it appropriate for the assignment you have been given and for
an academic audience?
Also consider aspects of the rhetorical context such as the
backgrounds and the attitudes of
the audience. Anticipate how the audience is likely to react to
your narrative. Will they like
or dislike what you write? How do you want them to feel when
they have read the story?
Answers to these questions can help you determine what to
write and how to write it.
Develop the Thesis
Review Chapter 5 for information on how to construct an
effective thesis. Recall that a the-
sis statement is a claim that the writer must argue and prove
over the course of an essay.
All good narrations make a point and have a clear purpose. Do
not leave readers wonder-
ing, “So what?” after they have read your paper. Make sure that
they understand the sig-

nificance of your story and the primary idea you want to share
with them. In other words,
why is the story important? If the assignment is asking you to
articulate your personal
position, then you should write a thesis that will suggest why
your position is important.
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In this case, you would also write topic sentences that link up
with the thesis statement
and claims that interpret evidence. However, if you are writing
fiction or a short narrative,
it usually will not contain a direct thesis statement, and will
likely convey significance in
the story through the articulation of a key theme or concept that
the story builds toward
and resolves to some extent. If your story has a message such as
a lesson or a moral, also
make sure that the message is clear to the reader either through
an explicit argument (in
the form of a thesis and well-argued paragraphs) or an implicit
argument (through the
careful structuring of a theme or issue).
Develop the Plot
As you learned earlier, plot is the order, or sequence, of events
that unfold in your story. It
is crucial that you organize these events so that, by the end of
the story, they make sense
to the reader and build up to a crucial moment in the narrative.
Your story should have

some creative tension, and decisions about how to organize
events often depend on how
you want to incorporate that creative tension into the story.
Creative tension is the stress and interest created when a story
has an unresolved prob-
lem or disagreement, a decision that must be made, or a
dilemma or conflict that must be
resolved. Without creative tension, a story is boring. Stories
that incorporate creative ten-
sion capture and hold our interest. You build tension when your
story includes surprising
events, when an action leads to an unexpected consequence, or
when factors complicate
an issue and must be sorted out before they can be resolved.
Include creative tension such
as this in your narrative and carefully consider when to reveal
key information and when
to hold it back. Also make certain to resolve that creative
tension by the end of your story.
It is a careful balancing act: too much creative tension could
result in undercommunica-
tion with the audience, but revealing everything will likely
make the story a bit dull.
Anticipate and Answer Possible Reader Questions
When telling a story, do not leave your readers hanging by
failing to answer important
questions they may have while they read. As you create your
narrative, anticipate what
readers will need to know and include this information in the
story. Remember what your
needs are as a reader of a narrative and try to take that into
consideration as you write. For
instance, it is likely that you appreciate the appropriate context,
background, and enough

content to understand what is happening in the narrative, so you
should assume your
readers will as well.
Use Language and Dialogue Effectively
Effective personal writing includes using specific, concrete
language that allows the audi-
ence to imagine with their senses. A writer’s use of dialogue
can enrich a personal narra-
tive or creative story.
con80878_06_c06.indd 118 8/26/13 1:04 PM
Concrete Language
Words can be categorized as either abstract or concrete.
Abstract words such as freedom,
peace, love, and success have no physical substance; we cannot
see, hear, touch, smell, or
taste them. Concrete words, on the other hand, represent people,
places, and things we
can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste. Concrete words such as
book, child, apple, and ice are
specific and tangible, and they represent physical objects rather
than ideas, qualities,
or concepts. They conjure up pictures in our minds of our own
experiences with these
objects. Good narration often utilizes the writing pattern of
description, discussed later
in this chapter, to ensure that readers have a clear mental
picture of the story’s setting or
scene and its characters. Try to paint pictures by using concrete
words that describe physi-

cal objects and people and help readers visualize or imagine
what you want them to see.
Effective Dialogue
In narration, dialogue is a verbal exchange between two or more
characters in a text. You
can make characters come to life and give them personalities by
incorporating dialogue in
your narration and letting them tell the story in their own
words. Writing dialogue effec-
tively takes practice. It is useful to look at examples of dialogue
in texts to see how it oper-
ates. Notice the dialogue in James McBride’s autobiographical
narrative “Shul/School”:
One afternoon I came home from school and cornered Mommy
while she
was cooking dinner. “Ma, what’s a tragic mulatto?” I asked.
Anger flashed across her face like lightning and her nose, which
tends to
redden and swell in anger, blew up like a balloon. ‘Where’d you
hear that?’
she asked.
“I read it in a book.”
“For God’s sake, you’re no tragic mul—What book is this?”
“Just a book I read.”
“Don’t read that book anymore.” She sucked her teeth. “Tragic
mulatto.
What a stupid thing to call somebody! Somebody called you
that?”

“No.”
“Don’t ever use that term.”
“Am I black or white?”
“You’re a human being,” she snapped. “Educate yourself or
you’ll be a
nobody!” (McBride, 1996/2008, p. 482)
In this excerpt from “Schul/School,” dialogue serves to directly
confront the issue of race
as it is experienced by McBride. This dialogue conveys to the
reader what the experience
may have felt like from the viewpoint of McBride as a child, not
McBride the adult who
is reflecting back on the experience. If McBride had written this
from the perspective of
con80878_06_c06.indd 119 8/26/13 1:04 PM
an adult narrating this experience in paragraph form, it simply
would not be as powerful.
Here, the dialogue form allows us as readers to feel as if we are
part of the moment, won-
dering how someone could be called a “mulatto,” and how that
differs from McBride’s
own sense of himself.
Maintain Clear Narrative Order
Writers use a number of different strategies to organize
information and, often, the choice

of how to organize is based on your judgment of what would be
most effective. Below
are some organizational strategies to consider as you plan your
paper and present the
material. You are not required to use one of these arrangements;
just be sure that your
paper flows well and is organized logically. As described in
Chapter 5, two of the possible
ways of organizing a narrative are chronological order and
spatial order. Events arranged in
a chronological order are organized by time, and may start with
the earliest event and go
forward in time to the present or start from the present and go
backward in time. Infor-
mation arranged according to spatial order is organized by
direction—for example, left
to right, north to south, or up to down. A third organizational
structure that has great
significance for narrative is dramatic order or structure.
The dramatic structure is common in many short stories, novels,
screenplays, and other
types of creative writing. It can also be used effectively in your
personal papers. The dra-
matic structure has five elements, which are described below:
1. the opening paragraphs, which establish the setting and
characters and intro-
duce the situation that contains the creative tension;
2. the rising action, which takes up the majority of the story and
includes the
interaction and/or dialogue between the characters, the building
of tension,
and the introduction of other elements of the story;

3. the climax or turning point, the moment in which the conflict
comes into sharp
focus and is resolved;
4. the falling action, or aftermath, where the rest of the story
falls into place; and
5. the concluding paragraphs or sections, where some of the
loose ends are wrapped
up and the story is brought to a close. Note that you do not need
to resolve
everything, and in fact trying to do so might sound reductive.
You should,
however, provide some resolution to the main concern of the
narrative.
See Writing Sample: Soccer Personal Essay for an example of
the personal soccer paper we
began in Chapters 4 and 5. Notice how each paragraph focuses
on one main idea that sup-
ports the thesis, while the author also maintains a clear
narrative order using the chrono-
logical arrangement to lead the reader from her early
experiences playing soccer to how
soccer has made her the person she is today.
con80878_06_c06.indd 120 8/26/13 1:04 PM
Writing Sample: Soccer Personal Essay
What is the most fulfilling part about playing competitive
soccer? Perhaps you guessed winning tro-

phies, adrenaline highs, or staying in great shape. But in my
experience, bonding with teammates and
learning how to be a true team player tops the list. Thinking
back on my many years as a soccer player, I
have realized how important the game of soccer has been in
developing my greatest friendships, along
with a positive attitude towards teamwork that has in turn
influenced other aspects of my life. Playing
soccer has caused me to grow as a person, influencing my
values and the outlook on life I have today.
For one thing, soccer has helped me to make friendships that
have lasted throughout the stages of
my life. I remember loving soccer from day one, even if I barely
understood the concept of the game.
When I was just 6 years old, my mother signed me up for a local
AYSO team (American Youth Soccer
Organization) that played around the corner from our church. I
had always been a spunky and ener-
getic little girl, preferring to climb trees rather than play with
Barbie dolls, but soccer brought out
something new in me. Suddenly, I had to learn the rules of the
game, and to learn how to work with
a bunch of other girls that I just met. In that first year or two, it
was all about being together with my
teammates, kicking around the small black-and-white ball,
wondering what we would eat for snack
time, and pulling up grass with our fingers. Luckily, a couple of
those girls grew into two of my best
friends. Now that we are starting our own families, we can think
back on those days and get excited
about signing up our own children for soccer one day.
Continuing to play soccer throughout my life has also taught me
a great deal about what it means to
work hard and work as a team. Unlike some of the girls from

AYSO, I kept playing soccer in middle
school and high school and beyond, and it was during these
years that soccer began to challenge me
and shape me. Many people don’t realize the incredible
commitment that is required when you play
a competitive team sport. First, there’s the fact that you practice
almost every day, which is physically
draining. When I would return home from a long day of school
and soccer practice, that’s when my
homework and chores would only just begin. But in order to be
at your peak condition and help your
team when they need you on the field, you have to find the time
and energy to handle it all. Spending
so much time with the girls on my team taught us how to
function as a unit. We knew we could count
on each other, whether it was to show up for practice on time,
help defend our goal during a game,
or grab an ice pack for a teammate’s injury. Being a team player
isn’t something that I left behind on
the high school soccer field. When our son Toby was born 3
years ago, my husband Jayden and I had
to support one another more than ever before, juggling our
family, jobs, and finances. Like soccer,
becoming a parent has been the ultimate challenge and yet so
rewarding at the same time.
Soccer has also allowed me to have a familiar path toward
fitness and wellness that I can take any
time that I begin to feel out of shape or unhealthy. Now that I’m
in my thirties and am raising my first
child, it hasn’t always been easy to find time to exercise, or to
make my health a priority. But while
I’m shorter on time than ever these days, soccer taught me to
value my dedication to physical activity
and health. So a year after Toby was born, I joined a local adult
team, partly to try to lose some of the

baby weight and get back into shape. Now, my old jeans are
finally starting to fit again, and I made
friends with another new mom whose son is the same age as
mine. When I could easily have been
overwhelmed by new responsibilities and put my health on the
back burner, my soccer background
helped me stay disciplined and focused.
(continued)
con80878_06_c06.indd 121 8/26/13 1:04 PM
CHAPTER 6Section 6.4 Descriptive Writing Pattern
6.4 Descriptive Writing Pattern
D
escription is a pattern of
writing that can be defined
as painting pictures with
words. When we describe a person,
place, object, or event, we provide
details about its physical characteris-
tics. As we discussed earlier, descrip-
tion and narration are often used
together because description helps
make the story we are narrating
clearer and more vivid.
The Purpose of Description
Effective description requires using
carefully chosen language that creates
the visual image you want readers to

have of your story’s subject. However,
you can use description in other types
of writing besides narration. For example, in a persuasive paper
(which will be discussed in
Chapter 7), you might use description to help readers
understand the seriousness of a prob-
lem before you attempt to convince them to take action to solve
that problem.
Use Specific Language
To be descriptive, use specific terms and avoid vague and
general words. Break the poor
writing habit of using vague, informal “catch all” words such as
things, stuff, and lots of.
Instead of writing “I have lots of music stuff and other things in
my room,” be specific and
name each object or write a general statement and then expand
it by specifically naming
the various objects. For instance, you might write, “I have
several musical instruments
in my room including a guitar, a saxophone, and a set of drums,
along with my radio
and portable media player.” In all forms of writing, avoid using
passive voice, forms of
Pixtal/SuperStock
Descriptive writing avoids general words in favor of the
specific. It is far more effective to describe your individual
instruments than to refer generally to your musical
equipment.
Writing Sample: Soccer Personal Essay (continued)
Overall, I would not be the person I am today without the years
I spent playing competitive soc-
cer. Not only did I learn to love the game itself, but I also

learned how to make friends, be part of
team, balance my time, and stay positive and healthy in multiple
aspects of my life. While I’m sure I
could have learned these lessons without playing soccer, I
would not have learned them to the same
degree. Those many days of sweat, late nights, singing on the
bus, and games won and lost have
stayed with me over the years. I still love soccer to this day,
and cannot wait for the time to come
when I can buy Toby his first jersey and pair of cleats.
con80878_06_c06.indd 122 8/26/13 1:04 PM
the verb “be.” For instance, if someone says, “Snacks are being
eaten,” the word “being”
is a form of the word “be” and is passive. Passive voice often
adds unnecessary words
and creates ambiguity at the sentence level: Instead, use a
descriptive verb to indicate
precisely what you mean. To take out passive voice, you could
say, “Jennifer is eating
snacks,” which directly identifies the subject of the sentence as
actively doing something.
Select Specific Details
Good description includes important details that help paint the
picture for the reader by
“filling in the blanks” in the visual image. Details help you
focus the reader’s attention on
characteristics that make people, places, objects, and events
unique and help them “come
alive” for readers. Look beyond the obvious for specific

characteristics of what you are
describing to help readers “see” it too.
Let us imagine, for example, that you are asked to describe your
office workspace. You
would probably begin with a description of the size and shape
of your desk and the objects
around the desk. But then you should look beyond the obvious
and try to find specific
characteristics of your workspace that make it unique from that
of other workspaces. Try
to elaborate on the basic description with carefully selected
details that give readers a
sense of the person who occupies that space.
For example, you might write, “The basic black-and-white décor
of the cubicle is shat-
tered by bold splashes of fire engine red, forest green, and pale
yellow. Bright red coffee
cups are strategically placed within easy reach of the computer
and hold pens, paper clips,
rubber bands, and other assorted necessities. The mugs contrast
sharply with the four
dark green sets of file folders neatly arranged, alphabetically by
topic, in stacking black
metal file holders. However, dozens of tiny yellow Post-it™
notes disrupt the sense of
organization as they litter the computer screen and desk with
reminders about everything
from meetings and project deadlines to groceries and family
birthdays.” It is precisely
these specific details and uses of descriptive language that make
these words more than
just words—they become an imagistic scene the reader can
visualize.

Use Descriptive Language
When you use description in personal writing, you seek to
involve readers in the story
by helping them see, hear, touch, smell, or taste what you are
telling them. You do this
by using language that elicits emotional responses from your
readers. Words can have
different connotations, or emotional impact. In most of your
college writing, you want
to choose words that discuss or explain issues without stirring
emotions. However, in
personal writing, the opposite is true; you want to deliberately
choose words that paint a
picture, evoke sensory experience, or that stir the reader’s
emotions.
For example, if you want to paint a negative picture of an alley
in a rundown part of town,
rather than simply stating that it “smells bad because it is
littered with junk and rotting
garbage,” you might take readers on a journey with you down
this alley by describing it
this way: “As I tripped over bent and rusted tin cans, jagged
pieces of broken glass, and
large plastic bags of unknown contents, the putrid smell of
rotting food filled my nose.
Suddenly, I found myself swatting huge, black horseflies that
swarmed around me.” Can
you visualize that alley better now?
con80878_06_c06.indd 123 8/26/13 1:04 PM

Descriptive language refers to words that are vivid, expressive,
and highly specific to
the topic you are writing on. Instead of stating that you smelled
a strong odor, you might
specifically describe it by saying that it was pungent, bitter,
sweet, or spicy. Paint a clear
picture of sensations and emotions for the reader as well. For
instance, rather than writ-
ing that you were angry, you might use the words livid,
enraged, or fuming with anger to
discuss your feelings—or better yet, you could explain a facial
expression that conveys
anger rather than simply saying you were “enraged.” Table 6.2
provides you with some
descriptive alternatives to common verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs. Use the alternative
words in this list to help make your writing more vivid.
Descriptive language tends to
express an evaluation of something. Because it expresses an
evaluation or perspective,
there is no such thing as completely objective description.
However, the best description
would be one that is carefully informed and that does not
exaggerate (“He is absolutely
always happy”) or understate (“Though he is an Honors student,
he is really only average
in his performance”). Description should aim for accuracy and
fairness and avoid exag-
geration for the purpose of effect.
Table 6.2: Alternatives to common verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs
Instead of see, write
spy
spot

observe
notice
perceive
witness
glance
detect
discern
glimpse
recognize
Instead of say or tell, write
cry
yell
shout
exclaim
whisper
scream
bellow
bark
holler
roar
shriek
Instead of ask, write
beg
query
plead
appeal

inquire
request
question
demand
implore
Instead of eat, write
munch
swallow
consume
devour
gobble
gorge
wolf
chomp
chew
gnaw
nibble
Instead of run or go, write
fly
job
flee
race
dart
dash
rush
bound
scurry
scamper
sprint

hurry
Instead of like, write
adore
admire
respect
worship
appreciate
value
treasure
cherish
regard
idolize
treasure
relish
(continued)
con80878_06_c06.indd 124 8/26/13 1:04 PM
Instead of look, write
gaze
stare
glance
glare
glimpse

peep
peek
gape
gawk
scrutinize
survey
study
Instead of take, write
grasp
capture
seize
catch
pocket
grab
pilfer
snatch
lift
pinch
steal
nab
Instead of think, write
believe
reflect
imagine
consider
contemplate
ponder

deliberate
meditate
mull over
ruminate
muse
wonder
Instead of angry, write
livid
enraged
fuming
irritated
irate
heated
annoyed
furious
incensed
outraged
infuriated
Instead of pretty, write
cute
adorable
attractive
beautiful
alluring
glamorous
handsome

lovely
charming
endearing
appealing
gorgeous
Instead of happy, write
giddy
elated
pleased
glad
joyful
cheerful
blissful
ecstatic
delighted
jovial
amused
excited
Instead of good or great, write
huge
immense
enormous
grand
outstanding
commendable
magnificent

impressive
remarkable
notable
imposing
inspiring
splendid
Instead of bad, write
evil
awful
terrible
dreadful
appalling
shocking
ghastly
horrific or horrible
deceitful
dire
wicked
poor
inferior
Instead of sad, write
glum
depressed
gloomy
miserable
heartbreaking

distressing
sorrowful
poignant
moving
disheartening
discouraging
gloomy
disappointing
adverbs (continued)
(continued)
con80878_06_c06.indd 125 8/26/13 1:04 PM
CHAPTER 6Chapter Summary
Instead of smart, write
wise
gifted
clever
intelligent
bright
brainy
sharp
quick
informed
astute

perceptive
incisive
insightful
Instead of nice, write
pleasant
kind
polite
agreeable
pleasing
lovely
amiable
friendly
likable
affable
gracious
sociable
cordial
Instead of big, write
huge
large
enormous
gigantic
giant
immense
vast

sizeable
massive
colossal
tremendous
towering
soaring
Compare the Unfamiliar to the Familiar
One useful way to help readers visualize what you are
describing is to compare it to some-
thing they might already know. For example, suppose you are
describing a flower. You
could comment on the color and the size of the flower by saying
that it is pink and tiny.
However, the color pink has many different shades, and the
word tiny has a wide range of
interpretations. So, instead you might state, “The color of the
flower was the same hue as
that of the pink candy Valentine’s Day hearts.”
When you report your observations of something; share personal
experiences; or describe
a person, place, object, or event, remember to use the elements
of effective description
to make your ideas clear and vivid to your readers. Read the
combination narration and
description essay by professional writer Anna Quindlen (2007)
found at http://www
.newsweek.com/id/32467/page/1. This essay illustrates many of
the characteristics of
effective narration and description we have discussed in this
chapter. See if you can iden-
tify the strategies she uses to paint a picture of her beloved dog.
On a separate sheet of
paper, generate a list of strategies you see operating in the

essay.
Chapter Summary
At times your discussion-post assignments may be personal
writing assignments, and
other writing assignments will be combination papers that have
one or more sections that
must be written using personal writing patterns, so it is
necessary to know how this form
of writing differs from expository, persuasive, and argument
papers.
Personal papers ask you to express your own thoughts, ideas,
and opinions about a sub-
ject. They can be written to tell a story about yourself or others;
to describe a person, place,
object, or event; or to express personal opinions on an issue.
They may be called essays,
opinion papers, reflective papers, or creative writing
assignments. Personal papers, or the
personal sections of a combination paper, have three important
characteristics:
adverbs (continued)
con80878_06_c06.indd 126 8/26/13 1:04 PM
http://www.newsweek.com/id/32467/page/1
http://www.newsweek.com/id/32467/page/1
CHAPTER 6Key Terms
1. They are generally written from a first-person point of view,
unless you are

narrating a story about another person.
2. They are logically organized and do not have headings that
interrupt the flow
of the writing.
3. They are written in a conversational tone that is appropriate
for an academic
audience and may contain dialogue.
Personal writing often uses specific writing patterns. Each of
these patterns—including
narration, description, and responses to reading—has its own
specific elements, which
you must incorporate if your personal writing is to be effective.
While narrative essays
should communicate a clear purpose such as in the case of
articulating a position, creative
writing pieces may not contain either a direct or an implied
thesis. Descriptive writing
is the use of vivid, imagistic language that incorporates the
senses, so in order to write
descriptively, one should use language that pertains to all of the
senses. This also allows
readers to visualize the scene the writer creates. Because
personal writing uses your imag-
ination or asks you to reflect on your own experiences and
viewpoints, it can be a useful
tool to help stimulate your creativity and to give you valuable
experience in expressing
your ideas in written form.
Key Terms
abstract words Words that have no physi-
cal substance; we cannot see, hear, touch,
smell, or taste them.

concrete words Words that represent
people, places, and things we can see, hear,
touch, smell, or taste; they are specific and
tangible, and represent physical objects
rather than ideas, qualities, or concepts.
combination paper An assignment that
includes elements of personal, expository,
persuasive or argument, and research
papers. For instance, one section of the
paper might be personal, while another is
persuasive.
creative tension The stress and interest
created when a story has an unresolved
problem or disagreement, a decision that
must be made, or a dilemma or conflict
that must be resolved.
creative writing Written or artistic works
whose purpose is to create images or to
express thoughts or feelings. These works
may also imply a position or argument.
description A pattern of writing that
involves providing details about the physi-
cal characteristics of a person, place, object,
or event.
descriptive language Words that are
vivid, expressive, and highly specific to the
topic you are writing on.
dialogue A verbal exchange between two
or more characters in a text.

narration Storytelling from the perspec-
tive of a narrator. The story may be true,
false, imaginary, or a combination.
nonfiction A genre of writing that
includes biographies, memoirs, and his-
torical documents.
opinion A personal viewpoint on a subject
that may or may not be supported with
facts or evidence.
opinion paper A type of essay that
explains the writer’s point of view or opin-
ion on a specific topic.
con80878_06_c06.indd 127 8/26/13 1:04 PM
CHAPTER 6Key Terms
plot The order, or sequence, of events that
unfold in a story.
reflective paper An assignment that asks
the writer think about something he or she
has read and to respond to it or discuss its
meaning for him or her.
response paper An assignment that
requires the writer to think about the
different points of view expressed in the
material being discussed and to take a
personal stand on the issue.

con80878_06_c06.indd 128 8/26/13 1:04 PM
ENG 121: English Composition I
Example Journal Entry: Quotes
Purpose: Use this example student journal entry to explore
important elements that make this an
exemplary submission. Hover over the information symbol (
) or select the numbers within the text
to read about what the student has done well in this journal
entry.
Quotes
In the essay, “Good Boy, Beau. Stay,” the writer, Anna
Quindlen, uses her dog, Beau, as an example of
how we should all live our lives. She tells us that we should live
for the moment. Throughout the essay,
Quindlen includes a lot of concrete language to incorporate the
five senses. In one section of the essay,

she describes a pot roast and the dog’s reaction: (1)[“Beau once
had a catcher's mitt of a mouth, but if
you throw him a scrap now it usually bounces unseen off his
head. Yet put a pork roast in the oven, and
the guy still breathes as audibly as an obscene caller. The eyes
and ears are gone, but the nose is eternal.
And the tail. The tail still wags. When it stops, then we'll know”
(2010, para. 6).] The concrete language
in this quote is the use of “pork roast” and the dog’s breathing
like “an obscene caller.” (2)[That language
creates a very real sensation of smell and sound.] Another
instance of concrete language can be seen
when Quindlen writes, (3)[“One summer he was skunked three
times and spent weeks studded with
spines after indulging his taste for advanced decomposition by
rolling on a dead porcupine“ (para. 4).]
Words like “skunked three times” presents a very imaginable
smell and the words “studded with spines”
creates a very real image of a dog that really loves to let loose
and enjoy life, even if that enjoyment
stems from dead carcasses and run-ins with prickly animals. I
want to use the same kind of concrete
language in my own essay. My grandmother was famous for her
cooking. I want to recreate that

delicious smell of baked bread when describing her, and I’ll try
to use concrete words like Quindlen to do
so.
References
Quindlen, A. (2010). Quindlen: How an Old Dog Teaches Me
Tricks About Life. The Daily Beast.
Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/quindlen-how-old-
dog-teaches-me-tricks-about-life-
97257
http://www.newsweek.com/quindlen-how-old-dog-teaches-me-
tricks-about-life-97257
http://www.newsweek.com/quindlen-how-old-dog-teaches-me-
tricks-about-life-97257
ENG 121: English Composition I
Comments (color and number coded):
1. There is a great use of quoting here. Not only does the
student properly employ APA style, but she has
chosen a quote that shows the author's use of the five senses.
This supports the student's claim that
Quindlen includes concrete language to incorporate the five
senses. Return

2. The student follows up the quote with an explanation of why
the selected quote is important and why it
was chosen. The student demonstrates an understanding of
integrating quotes because she is able to
select an appropriate quote that supports her claim and then
explains to readers why the quote is
significant. Return
3. Again the student selects a quote from Quindlen's essay that
highlights sense impressions and then
explains to readers the impact that those sense impressions
have. The student then finishes the journal
entry by explaining how she will also strive to use sense
impressions in her own journal like Quindlen
does in her essay. Return
Button3: Button2: Button 5: Button 6: Button 7: Button4:
Button 8: Button10:
I Want a Wife
1- I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am
A Wife.
And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.

2- Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene
fresh
from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with
his
ex-wife. He is looking for another wife. As I thought about him
while I
was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that 1, too,
would
like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?
3- I would like to go back to school so that I can become
economically
independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those
dependent
upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school.
And while I
am going to school, I want a wife to take care of my children. I
want a
wife to keep track of the children's doctor and dentist
appointments. And
to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my
children eat
properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the
children's
clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good
nurturant
attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling,
makes sure
that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes
them to
the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the
children when
they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the
children need
special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school.

My
wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job. It
may mean
a small cut in my wife's income from time to time, but I guess I
can
tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for
the care
of the children while my wife is working.
4- I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want
a wife
who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after
my children,
a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep
my clothes
clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see
to it that
my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can
find what
I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals,
a wife
who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do
the
necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them
pleasantly, and
then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife
who will
care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and
loss of time
from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a
vacation
so that someone can continue to care for me and my children
when I need a
rest and change of scene.
5- I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling

complaints about a
wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I
feel the
need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my
course
studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when
I have
written them.
6- I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social
life.
When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife
who will
take care of the baby-sitting arrangements. When I meet people
at school
that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the
house
clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my
friends, and
not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my
friends. I
want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and
ready
for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not
bother us. I
want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that
they feel
comfortable, who makes sure that they have an ashtray, that
they are
passed the hors d'oeuvres, that they are offered a second helping
of the
food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary,
that their
coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who
knows
that sometimes I need a night out by myself.

7- I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who
makes
love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who
makes sure
that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not
demand
sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife
who
assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I
do not
want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually
faithful to me
so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with
jealousies.
And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may
entail more
than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to
relate
to people as fully as possible.
8- If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife
than the
wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present
wife with
another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife
will
take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am
left free.
9- When I am through with school and have a job, I want my
wife to quit
working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and
completely
take care of a wife's duties.

10- My God, who wouldn't want a wife?
Author: Judy Brady (Syfers)
Literature for Composition, (Third Edition)
Sylvan Barnet, Morton Berman, William Burto, Marcia Stubbs.
Copyright 1993
Publisher: HarperCollins Customs Books
Pages 775-776.
Source info is provided by Kara French. (Thank you Kara :-)
Text only | Back
English Composition 2
Integrating Quotations into Sentences
You should never have a quotation standing alone as a complete
sentence, or, worse yet, as an incomplete sentence, in your
writing. IVCC's Style Book explains this concept well with a
good analogy that describes quotations as helium balloons. We
all know what happens when you let go of a helium balloon: it
flies away. In a way, the same thing happens when you present a
quotation that is standing all by itself in your writing, a
quotation that is not "held down" by one of your own sentences.
The quotation will seem disconnected from your own thoughts
and from the flow of your sentences. Ways to integrate
quotations properly into your own sentences are explained
below. Please note the punctuation: it is correct.
There are at least four ways to integrate quotations.
1. Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon.
Example: In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau
states directly his purpose for going into the woods: "I went to
the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only

the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it
had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had
not lived."
Example: Thoreau's philosophy might be summed up best by his
repeated request for people to ignore the insignificant details of
life: "Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has
hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme
cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity,
simplicity, simplicity!"
Example: Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: "Time is but
the stream I go a-fishing in."
This is an easy rule to remember: if you use a complete
sentence to introduce a quotation, you need a colon after the
sentence. Using a comma in this situation will most likely
create a comma splice, one of the serious sentence-boundary
errors. Be careful not to confuse a colon (:) with a semicolon
(;).
2. Use an introductory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete
sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma.
states directly his purpose for going into the woods when he
says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not
learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived."
Example: "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us,"
Thoreau says as he suggests the consequences of making
ourselves slaves to "progress."
Example: Thoreau asks, "Why should we live with such hurry
and waste of life?"
Example: According to Thoreau, "We do not ride on the
railroad; it rides upon us."
You should use a comma to separate your own words from the
quotation when your introductory or explanatory phrase ends
with a verb such as "says," "said," "thinks," "believes,"
"pondered," "recalls," "questions," and "asks" (and many more).

You should also use a comma when you introduce a quotation
with a phrase such as "According to Thoreau."
3. Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any
punctuation between your own words and the words you are
quoting.
states directly his purpose for going into the woods when he
says that "I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I
could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to
die, discover that I had not lived."
Example: Thoreau argues that "shams and delusions are
esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous."
Example: According to Thoreau, people are too often "thrown
off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on
the rails."
Notice that the word "that" is used in two of the examples
above, and when it is used as it is in the examples, "that"
replaces the comma which would be necessary without "that" in
the sentence. You usually have a choice, then, when you begin a
sentence with a phrase such as "Thoreau says." You either can
add a comma after "says," or you can add the word "that" with
no comma.
4. Use short quotations--only a few words--as part of your own
sentence.
states that his retreat to the woods around Walden Pond was
motivated by his desire "to live deliberately" and to face only
"the essential facts of life."
Example: Thoreau argues that people blindly accept "shams and
delusions" as the "soundest truths," while regarding reality as
"fabulous."
Example: Although Thoreau "drink[s] at" the stream of Time, he
can "detect how shallow it is."
When you integrate quotations in this way, you do not use any
special punctuation. Instead, you should punctuate the sentence

just as you would if all of the words were your own.
All of the methods above for integrating quotations are correct,
but you should avoid relying too much on just one method. You
should instead use a variety of methods.
Notice the Punctuation!
Notice that there are only two punctuation marks that are used
to introduce quotations: the comma and the colon (:). A
semicolon (;) never is used to introduce quoted words.
Notice as well the punctuation of the sentences above in
relation to the quotations. Commas and periods go inside the
final quotation mark ("like this."). For whatever reason, this is
the way we do it in America. In England, though, the commas
and periods go outside of the final punctuation mark.
Semicolons and colons go outside of the final quotation mark
("like this";).
Question marks and exclamation points go outside of the final
quotation mark if the punctuation mark is part of your sentence-
-your question or your exclamation ("like this"?). Those marks
go inside of the final quotation mark if they are a part of the
original--the writer's question or exclamation ("like this!").
The Proper Punctuation: Keeping in Simple
Remembering just a few simple rules can help you use the
correct punctuation as you introduce quotations. There are some
exceptions to the rules below, but they should help you use the
correct punctuation with quotations most of the time.
· Rule 1: Complete sentence: "quotation." (If you use a
complete sentence to introduce a quotation, use a colon (:) just
before the quotation.)
· Rule 2: Someone says, "quotation." (If the word just before
the quotation is a verb indicating someone uttering the quoted
words, use a comma. Examples include the words "says," "said,"
"states," "asks," and "yells." But remember that there is no
punctuation if the word "that" comes just before the quotation,
as in "the narrator says that.")

· Rule 3: If Rules 1 and 2 do not apply, do not use any
punctuation between your words and the quoted words.
And remember that a semicolon (;) never is used to introduce
quotations.
These rules oversimplify the use of punctuation with quotations,
but applying just these few rules should help you use the correct
punctuation about 90 percent of time.
This page was last updated on . Copyright Randy Rambo, 2006.
COMMON APA REFERENCE LIST MODELS
This guide contains examples of references in APA style. The
references are grouped
by category: periodicals; books and reference books;
audiovisual media; and internet
resources. In addition, general samples of corresponding
citations are provided within
each reference category.
For an example of a formatted References list, click here.
PERIODICALS
Items published on a regular basis such as journals, magazines,
newspapers, and
newsletters.
Reference
List

Format:
Periodical
Author's Last Name, Initials. (Publication Year). Title of
article. Title of
Periodical, volume #(issue #), pp–pp. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx
If no digital object identifier (DOI) is assigned, include URL
address with
no ending punctuation (see example below).
Example:
Journal
article with
DOI
Florian, R. V. (2010). Challenges for interactivist–constructivist
robotics.
New Ideas in Psychology, 28(3), 350–353.
doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2009.09.009
Example:
Journal

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