MLA Refreshers . . . and Revision Tips for Project #1

Here are links to our slideshows from today:

• the one on revision, with examples from your drafts,
• the one with the wrong/right versions of WC entries, and
• the one with examples of in-text citations.

Slideshows as We Develop the Draft

Here are slideshows from class today, including the one we saw on entering conversations, the one we did on analyzing your paragraphs and the structure of your piece, and the one on improving clarity in your writing.

MLA Formatting

Here's the guide I typically use as an overview of the formatting of the paper itself. As for the Works Cited page, you'll find all you need to know on page 111 of your MLA Handbook.

A visual reference to formatting papers in MLA style.

As for Works Cited entries themselves, here's that image from your book that is the guide to doing any source, for the most part:

The basic template for WC entries.

On Finding a Topic and Asking Questions

Here are two slideshows from today, one on researching as a way of exploring topics as well as loopwriting as a means of exploring your thoughts, and one on formulating a good question to drive your project.

Project Ideas from Class Monday

Remember that initially, with any topic, we work toward building a "working knowledge"—a sense of what it entails, what is being talked about recently, and so on. Having a working knowledge can help us start to figure out where and what we can contribute to the conversation with our own take.

We'll add to this list I'm sure, but here's what we've explored so far with regard to personality and our attempts to understand what makes us work:

• Personality testing, how it’s useful, how it’s used and where and with what implications
• Other ways data-hungry culture uses testing to understand workplaces and interactions among people
• Giving versus taking and the dynamics of that
• Personality traits/trends in the culture (parenting), in the world (social perfectionism and male suicide)
• Personality privilege, i.e. being introverted in an extroverted culture

Personality Vids from Class

Here's the Adam Grant TED Talk we saw in class, "Are You a Giver or a Taker?"

And the Susan Cain piece called, "The Power of Introverts"

Finally, here's a teeny list-type article by Sophia Dembling writing for Psychology Today, "Seven Things Extroverts Should Know about Introverts (and Vice Versa)" that you'll find useful. 

Activity: Your Experiences with the MBTI

Let's delve into the kind of personality testing that's based on the most famous test: the MBTI. Start off with a bit of context. This brief article from the official Myers Briggs Foundation website at least helps you understand where the instrument came from (hint: it's grounded in Jungian theories).

I found a nice version of the instrument on a site called 16 Personalities. The actual test is right here. It uses little slider bars, so you can capture how strongly you feel about any of the questions!

Once it tells you a four-letter code (like mine, an INTJ—even though at times I think I'm like an INFJ, too), you can head to this part of the site to read about yourself. There's actually a lot of material here, covering everything from how your type behaves in friendships, as a parent, at work . . . Have fun reading, but don't pay for the premium guide—a lot of these sites are put together by consultants who want to sell more in-depth profiles, but they're kind of expensive!

In a Google Doc (you'll share it with me), write down your type and make a list of some things you read about yourself that are dead-on.

Finally, just so you have it, here's the doc we started on what personality even "is."

Good Essays Exploring Personality-Related Topics

The essays I'm sharing in this post are professional, noted pieces of non-fiction journalism. They are not scholarly, per se, but definitely work with multiple sources and are good examples of how to organize and give purpose to readers in a piece of writing. They might spark ideas for your project, since they too treat the topic of personality in their own way, but what we'll talk about are the clarity of structure, the ways that sources are brought into the conversation, and what the writer is putting on the table for us to ponder:

• Megan McArdle's piece for Bloomberg View, "Seven Reasons We Hate Free Range Parenting"
• Will Storr's piece for Mosaic, "The Male Suicides: How Social Perfectionism Kills"