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Introduction
At the end of the last argumentation module we looked at a student argument that followed the APA format. For this module, we will examine one that follows the MLA format. (1)
Reading
Select and read this argumentative essay, “Toxic Locks: What Is Hiding in Your Shampoo?” (1)
Like the last student example, this one also tackles a controversial issue, and its author provides citations from various sources to bolster her claims. However, where many of the citations in the APA paper arguing about guns on campus involved expert opinions with which the author either agreed or took issue, this MLA paper’s citations are focused largely on factual evidence. In fact, you will notice that these citations start almost immediately in the introductory paragraph as the author seeks to use evidence early on to win over her audience. Also, note that while the author of the APA paper in the last module chose to use direct quotes to cite her sources, this author prefers to use paraphrasing to present outside evidence; in other words, she reworded the information from outside sources using her own language and sentence structure. Regardless, she was still very careful to cite every sentence in which outside information appears in her paper in order to avoid plagiarism and to lend credibility to her position. Take some time to study the various moments in the essay when sources are presented, and focus on the way signal phrases and parenthetical citations work. You will also want to pay attention to the way different kinds of sources are used; for instance, this essay cites a credible source that has no author. Note how it appears in the in-text citations. (1)
(1) Content by Florida State College at Jacksonville is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
