A question about MLA documentation examples in WWS...

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Just curious... Ds will start week 28 in WWS on Monday. This chapter introduces MLA documentation. I showed this chapter to a local English teacher yesterday. She wanted to see how MLA was taught. When she looked at it, she noticed the examples for MLA in WWS were not up-to-date with The Writers Reference 6th edition with MLA Updates..... the book she uses in her classes.

 

She pointed out a few differences:

The second line in a reference should be indented.

The media form should also be referenced: print, etc...

 

She also said that in MLA there are not supposed to be footnotes at the bottom of the page... just in-text citations and then a works cited page.

 

I am typing from memory... trying to remember the correct terms. Yet, there were definitely some differences between what is in WWS and what is the most up-to-date standards for MLA form.

 

It left me wondering why WWS was not lined up with this most up-to-date form.... I'm really not sure if this is anything to worry about... Like I said, I'm just curious.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?:confused:

[Dana]

I may be overlooking it, but I don't see MLA mentioned in that chapter of WWS.

 

I sure wouldn't want to revise every time there's a change to MLA (shudder). It looks to me like this WWS chapter is discussing the importance of documentation. You'd want to pick your style guide (MLA, Chicago, APA) and use it for specifics of documentation, but WWS is showing why documentation is important and how to document. The style guide you require will show specific formatting of documentation.

 

At least that's my best explanation.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I may be overlooking it, but I don't see MLA mentioned in that chapter of WWS.

 

I sure wouldn't want to revise every time there's a change to MLA (shudder). It looks to me like this WWS chapter is discussing the importance of documentation. You'd want to pick your style guide (MLA, Chicago, APA) and use it for specifics of documentation, but WWS is showing why documentation is important and how to document. The style guide you require will show specific formatting of documentation.

 

At least that's my best explanation.

 

On page 382 of the teachers manual toward the bottom:

"There is more than one accepted style for citations and bibliographies. The style taught here is MLA, which is widely accepted and straightforward.

 

On page 383, she mentions "Correct citation form for all of these styles can be found at WorldCat...The screen that pops up will show how a text should be cited in each style."

 

Is this confusing to anyone else? Are students being taught a variety of skills from the different citations/bibliography styles or is she trying to only stick to MLA? If only MLA, the examples don't line up with the most recent examples in The Writer's Reverence 6th Edition with MLA Updates.

 

Still confused.

[Dana]

I'd only checked the Student Book. I see what you're talking about.

 

There are also quite a few other things in a style guide (whether there's a title page, how the margin spacing needs to be done, whether quotes are single spaced or double spaced, and tons of other formatting issues).

 

Someone else will probably pop in and have other ideas...

I think on p382/383 the styles shown are showing how the different styles organize the bibliographic info (some with colons, some dates in different locations, etc.)

 

MLA doesn't use footnotes. It looks like the student guide gives info about different documentation types and the teacher guide gives more specifics. But it still can't give everything.

 

At this level (if it's being used before high school), I'd be less concerned with current formatting and more concerned with ideas (documentation and definition of plagiarism). In high school, I'd pick a style guide (most current version of one I picked) and require papers to be used with that format.

 

I think discussing the nitpickings of a style (MLA works cited used to be double spaced as well... don't know if that's still a requirement) really matter at this point. But I do agree that WWS then isn't using MLA (other than in content of works cited).

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I'd only checked the Student Book. I see what you're talking about.

 

There are also quite a few other things in a style guide (whether there's a title page, how the margin spacing needs to be done, whether quotes are single spaced or double spaced, and tons of other formatting issues).

 

Someone else will probably pop in and have other ideas...

I think on p382/383 the styles shown are showing how the different styles organize the bibliographic info (some with colons, some dates in different locations, etc.)

 

MLA doesn't use footnotes. It looks like the student guide gives info about different documentation types and the teacher guide gives more specifics. But it still can't give everything.

 

At this level (if it's being used before high school), I'd be less concerned with current formatting and more concerned with ideas (documentation and definition of plagiarism). In high school, I'd pick a style guide (most current version of one I picked) and require papers to be used with that format.

 

I think discussing the nitpickings of a style (MLA works cited used to be double spaced as well... don't know if that's still a requirement) really matter at this point. But I do agree that WWS then isn't using MLA (other than in content of works cited).

 

Thanks for your comments. I would never had known about this had my English teacher friend not pointed it out to me. She teaches at the high school level. At the level of WWS, general lessons about documentation might be fine as an overview that will end up as more detailed,specific teaching in high school.

 

Would love to hear from anyone else! :001_smile:

[elegantlion]

We're not there yet, but I went through the lesson. I understand it as she is teaching footnotes, end notes, and works cited, not a specific style. I would assume these are all skills that need to be taught and could easily be modified to apply to a specific style requirement, that way the student has a more broad skill set.

Edited March 13, 2012 by elegantlion