Summary

Rules for Writing About Literature and MLA Citation Study Guide

From: Rules for Writing About Literature and MLA Citation

Core Writing Rules for Literary Analysis

Use present tense when writing about literature, except when describing events that happened earlier within the story.
Avoid first person in formal literary analysis unless the assignment is explicitly a personal response. Write in third person and refer to the reader or the audience.
Name the author’s first and last name the first time; after that, use the last name only. A common exception is Shakespeare, where the surname alone is standard.
Put titles of poems and short stories in quotation marks. Novels and plays should be italicized.

Include a centered title that hints at your thesis.
Write a clear thesis and make sure each topic sentence connects back to it.
Focus on one or two literary elements, such as character or setting, instead of retelling the plot.
Assume your audience has already read the work, so avoid excessive summary.

Do not dump quotes. Introduce and integrate quotations into your own sentences.
Prefer short quotations—phrases or single words—rather than long passages.
Aim for two or three direct quotes per body paragraph, balanced with your own analysis.
Usually end body paragraphs in your own words, not with a quotation.
Avoid more than one block quote; block quotes are used for quotations longer than three lines, are indented, and do not need quotation marks.

Use slash marks to show line breaks in poetry.
Use brackets for changes you make inside quotations.
Use ellipses when omitting words from a quotation, but not when quoting a brief word or phrase.
Place punctuation inside quotation marks unless there is an in-text citation; then the punctuation goes after the parenthetical citation.
For quoted dialogue inside a quotation, use single quotation marks within double quotation marks.
Do not use pg. in MLA in-text citations.

If you use only one work, include one full Works Cited entry.
If you use multiple selections from an anthology, include an entry for the anthology and abbreviated entries for the selections.

Avoid major sentence errors such as fragments, run-ons, and comma splices.
Watch for subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, and unclear pronoun reference.
Avoid vague indefinite pronouns such as someone and everyone when a clearer noun is possible.
Use commas correctly with dialogue and before coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences.
Use apostrophes for possession and contractions, not to form plurals.