Advanced Expository Writing

Welcome to the SEU English and Foreign Languages Dept. guide. Use the tabs at the top to find sources and information to help you research topics.

• Advanced Expository Writing
• Citation Styles

Getting Started

On this page and in the tabs are some of the most useful information resources for English and Foreign Language classes.  Check back for pages that are specialized for your course or major.

Additional information on MLA style may be found at these websites:

• Modern Language Association

• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University MLA

• Duke University Libraries - Citing Sources

Circulation

circ@seu.edu
863.667.5059

Reference

863.667.5089

When you can't access an article or book, remember to request it from ILL at no cost.

Click this icon in a database, or use the Request Library Materials link below.

Request Library Materials Form
Request (books, chapters, journal articles)
Contact ILL at ill@seu.edu

• You can request books and articles not available at SEU or other local libraries through Interlibrary Loan.
• Articles will be emailed to you whenever possible.
• Books will be mailed with pre-paid postage return packaging, if you are an online student.
• Use links from resources to make requests, or use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

Most of the journal articles owned by Steelman Library can be found online.  Some are found in print.

• Some of the databases which are especially for English and Foreign Languages are included on this page.
• If your professor wants you to use a "peer-reviewed" or "scholarly" article, there is often a box on the search page in the database which you can select to retrieve only this type of article.  Generally, these two terms are interchangeable.
• If you only want to retrieve search results that will give you the entire book or article, choose "full-text" as a search option.

These databases may be helpful as you research literature in English and other languages.

To find the full text of the article click on a link to the full text. Many journals are available online, but some are in the Library's print collection.

Articles from journals not available at SEU may be requested through interlibrary loan.

• Request Library Materials Form
  Request (books, chapters, journal articles)
  Contact ILL at ill@seu.edu
• Academic Search Complete

  
  This link opens in a new window. Scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text databases accessed in one search.
• JSTOR

  
  This link opens in a new window. Archive Database usually five years old including Scholarly, full-text periodicals in the Arts and Sciences.
• MLA International Bibliography with Full Text

  
  This link opens in a new window. The primary periodical index for English and language studies: find books and articles on languages, literature, folklore, and linguistics.

Circulation

circ@seu.edu
863.667.5059

Reference

863.667.5089

The following Library of Congress classifications may be useful when browsing the shelves at Steelman Library for additional materials on languages and literature.

• Books are arranged by country of origin of the author in the P section. 
• If the book's call number begins with the letter P, it is on a general literary or languages topic. 
• British literature is in PR
• American literature is in PS. 
• Spanish and French books are in PQ.
• Within the letter classifications, the books are arranged roughly by chronology.  

• State University Libraries in Florida

• Florida Community College Libraries

• State Library of Florida

• Lakeland Public Library

• Center for Research Libraries

• Library of Congress

  
  Extensive database with millions of books and other items.

Circulation

circ@seu.edu
863.667.5059

Reference

863.667.5089

When you can't access an article or book, remember to request it from ILL at no cost.

Click this icon in a database, or use the Request Library Materials link below.

Request Library Materials Form
Request (books, chapters, journal articles)
Contact ILL at ill@seu.edu

• You can request books and articles not available at SEU or other local libraries through Interlibrary Loan.
• Articles will be emailed to you whenever possible.
• Books will be mailed with pre-paid postage return packaging, if you are an online student.
• Use links from resources to make requests, or use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

• Festival of Faith & Writing

  biennial festival for and about writing on faith

• Rhetoric & Christina Tradition

  Comprehensive Bibliography, Calvin College

• RSCC Online Writing Lab

  Roane State Community College

• Writing Center Handouts

• BooksAndCulture.com | Cultural Worldviews & Book Reviews

  Book reviews and more, written from a Christian worldview.

• Image: Art, Faith, Mystery

  Web home of Image Journal.

• PEN American Center - Home

  A global literary community.

• Poets & Writers | From Inspiration to Publication

  Website of Poets & Writers Magazine.

• 100 Best Websites for Writers

  Best websites for aspiring authors.

• ProCon.org - Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues This site is great if you're writing about a controversial issue!

• The Internet Writing Journal(R) -- The Online Magazine and Blog for Writers and Book Lovers

• Writing Information & Resources

  Writing tips for academic writers (that's you).

• Wordnik: All the Words.

• Guide to Grammar and Writing

• National Writing Project - Improving the Teaching of Writing in the Nation's Schools

Circulation

circ@seu.edu
863.667.5059

Reference

863.667.5089

In-Text Citations

After a quote, add the first entry in Works Cited — usually the author's last name and a page reference. "The in-text citation should direct the reader unambiguously to the entry in your works-cited list…" (page numbers used in this guide indicate where the topic is found in the MLA Handbook).

If using the author's name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.

If you use more than one work by the same author, abbreviate the title to a noun phrase.

If more than one author has the same last name, add their first initial, if needed, use the first name.

If two authors wrote the work, list both separated by and, if three or more, list the first author followed by et al

If no pagination information is available, but paragraphs are numbered, include that information.

If no pagination information is available and paragraphs are not numbered, the work must be cited only in its entirety, but you can include words in your text that indicate about where to find the quote.

Note: "Identifying the source in your text is essential for nearly every kind of borrowing…quotations…facts…paraphrased ideas" (MLA 57).

For additional examples and explanations, see pages 148-181 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

For scholarly journals that only exist in electronic form on the Web, cite the work like you would for a print article, only conclude the entry with the following items:

1. Medium of publication consulted (Web)
2. Date of access (day, month, and year)

If the publication does not include page numbers, use "n. pag." in place of the page numbers.

For articles retrieved full text from an online database, include the name of the database before "Web."

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 189-193 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

An entry for a nonperiodical publication on the Web usually contains most of the following components, in sequence:

1. Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer, or translator of the work
2. Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger work
3. Title of the overall Web site (italicized), if distinct from item 2
4. Version or edition used
5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p.
6. Date of publication (day, month, and year, as available); if nothing is available, use n.d.
7. Medium of publication (Web)
8. Date of access (day, month, and year)

Each item is followed by a period except the publisher or sponsor, which is followed by a comma. Untitled works may be identified by a genre label (e.g., Home page, Introduction, Online posting), neither italicized nor enclosed in quotation marks, in the place where the title goes.

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 184-187 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

An entry for a nonperiodical publication on the Web usually contains most of the following components, in sequence:

1. Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer, or translator of the work
2. Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger work
3. Title of the overall Web site (italicized), if distinct from item 2
4. Version or edition used
5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p.
6. Date of publication (day, month, and year, as available); if nothing is available, use n.d.
7. Medium of publication (Web)
8. Date of access (day, month, and year)

Each item is followed by a period except the publisher or sponsor, which is followed by a comma. Untitled works may be identified by a genre label (e.g., Home page, Introduction, Online posting), neither italicized nor enclosed in quotation marks, in the place where the title goes.

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 184-187 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

You may include other information (names of performers, directors, etc.) if they are pertinent. List the most important as the main entry.

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 193 -211 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

It is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.

Zotero works with Microsoft Word to create your bibliography for you.

There are two different manuals for MLA Style Citations.

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is mostly used by high school and college students and was most recently updated in 2009. It gives step-by-step advice on every aspect of writing papers, from selecting a topic to submitting the completed paper. It provides an authoritative presentation of MLA documentation style for use in student writing.

Reference LB2369.G53 2009

The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing is mostly used by graduate students and professionals and was most recently updated in Summer 2008. It offers complete guidance on writing and documenting scholarly texts, submitting them for peer review, and preparing them for publication.

Reference PN147.G53 2008

Additional information on MLA style may be found at these websites:

• Modern Language Association

• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University MLA

• Duke University Libraries - Citing Sources

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