Notes+from+Reading

Always refer to author by last name, not first name, after you have introduced the author by both first and last.

Never have an "orphan" quote: a quote not connected to the rest of your writing. They feel to the reader as though you forgot you were required to quote and went back and just stuck it in.

All titles should be capitalized except for prepositions and articles, even if the title is not capitalized in the actual article.

Titles of short pieces (articles, poems, essays, etc) go in "quotation marks" and larger works (books, magazine titles, journal titles, etc) go in //italics.// No title is ever both in quotations marks and italics.

Avoid using "you." It sounds preachy and will make your reader feel defensive.

If you misspell the word "definitely", spellcheck will automatically change it to "defiantly" and then your sentence will sound silly.

When citing in-text with MLA, the period always goes at the end of the sentence, after the parentheses.

Languages like English and Spanish are always capitalized.

Reading your paper out loud before you turn it in will help you find most of your errors, like reading this out loud (a common opening sentence): "In “Language as a bridge and identity” by Hector Tobar mentioned how people spoke many languages."

The first idea that pops into your head when reading an article is probably the same thing that has popped into everyone else's head, too. Good critical thinking goes beyond that and finds complexity, asking the tough questions, especially "why?".