STEP 6: Review Basics of Sample MLA Paper. Notice everything is doublespaced. Kafka s Background and Its Influence on His Work

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1 Cameron 1 Kirk Cameron Mr. Donn English II GT 4th Pd. STEP 6: Review Basics of Sample MLA Paper Notice everything is doublespaced 15 December 2006 Kafka s Background and Its Influence on His Work As an adult, Kafka never had any time for himself. He worked constantly, and when he wasn t working, he wrote. Kafka suffering from many minor mental disorders such as frequent migraines and depression and to make matters worse, he also suffered from a domineering, cynical father. Though not a pretty picture, it iskafka s work ethic, minor mental disorders, and domineering father that shaped his work and made it famous. Perhaps the most famous of his fictions would be Gregor, the protagonist of The Metamorphosis. Gregor is drawn with some traits that are identical to Kafka himself. When Gregor wakes up and realizes he is a bug, the first thought he has is whether or not he can make it to work on time (Kafka 1-2). When he finds out that he will not be able to make it to work that day, he immediately began thinking of how to get there the next day: Only page numbers given There s a moment now and then when a man is incapable of working, but that s when quoting from the same precisely the right moment to consider his past performances (21). author twice in a row in the Critics tend to agree that this distorted work ethic reflects the way in which Kafka SAME paragraph places significance on work at the expense of his own health. Before the novel s first page it is evident Gregor has developed an insectile personality he is a drone serving purposes much larger and more significant than he. In Kafka s German, Gregor wakes transformed into ungeheures Ungeziefer", literally a "monstrous vermin. Special terms in quotes

2 Cameron 2 One bug-like quality was his dislike of a lot of noise. This has Kafka written all over it: I hear the slamming of every door, he wrote. Footsteps, the gramophones Last name of of online journal articles required neighbors, his sisters' canaries, the bonging of church bells, the jangling town-hall when your clock-- paper does not mention the author he felt like he was living in a bowling alley (Keillor). Kafka wished to be by away name Notice how to from punctuate quotes inside the influences of the people around him, so he wrote a journal to himself, wishing to be of quotes away from it all. This, again, resembles Gregor, who never wanted to be kept away from everybody; yet in writing Gregor s exile from his family and the pressures of society, Kafka is in a way fulfilling Kafka s own wish to escape into a world of words (Bjeli 10). Kafka suffered from frequent migraines and minor cases of depression (Bjeli 10). Perhaps his slight mental disorders contributed to the way some of his stories turned out. Part of Gregor s transformation means becoming myopic and diseased: His belly itched with white spots that react to touch like exposed nerves (68), and he gradually loses his vision to the point that he cannot see distinguish the colors or lines of the outside world all examples of how Kafka s characters manifested Kafka s own Notice your citations start fresh when starting a new paragraph obsession with his own health (Kafka found his family s meaty diet repulsive). His father constantly put pressure on him to do better at school or at work and to get married. Kafka s future and his life were ruined by his overbearing father (Bjeli 6). This of course hurt Kafka since he was never good enough for his father. Kafka, Use ellipsis when you are in a way got back at his father in The Metamorphosis. Gregor s father didn t only quoting Notice that part of a when you work; it was up to Gregor to bring the money home (Freedman 135). Since it has been complete work quotes sentence into your paragraphs established that Gregor is parallel to Kafka, one could assume that Gregor s father is (in-text citations), parallel the to Kafka s father. In that sense, by making Gregor s father useless, it could be punctuation comes said that Kafka was labeling his father useless. Kafka was a very anti-social person. He AFTER the parenthesis.

3 Cameron 3 Notice you must cite your sources EVEN suffered from many mental disorders, including if frequent you are migraines and minor depression paraphrasing! ( The Best Darned Kafka Site Ever ).. All this contributed to his works of literature. Though some say that he was a very unstable person, others believe that his disorders are a main contributor to his great works, which they are. Without the disorders, he would not be able to think like a metaphorical bug that now is literally a bug: Perhaps Kafka felt the same sense of disgust at the world that we feel when a particularly loathsome bug approaches us; perhaps he used the bug to express how he felt he was an annoyance to others; perhaps, as with Gregor, Kafka s sense of his own insignificance led him to choose Gregor s shape. Most likely it s best to assume he intended all of these things or, just as likely, none of them. (Sandifer 5) Notice that citations that are Without his domineering father, he wouldn t be able FOUR to have LINES the storyline or more of must the be included as a BLOCK QUOTE. useless father in The Metamorphosis. And finally, without You his indent personality, block we quotes wouldn t 10 spaces on the LEFT margin have Gregor Samsa, the bug, or many other of his well-known only. characters Also, the throughout punctuation his will come BEFORE the many works of literature. parenthetical citation.

4 Cameron 4 Works Cited Bjeli, Diwan. A Tale of Anguish. Hindu. 16 June 2006: NA. Gen. Ref. Center Gold. Gale Group. Neville HS Lib. Web. 27 November Freedman, Ralph. Kafka s Obscurity. The Metamorphosis. New York: Bantam Books, Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Mineola: Dover, Keillor, Garrison. Feeding the Hunger Artist: Kafka wouldn't have found life such a trial if he'd had a daughter and ate right. Time International I Aug 2004: 60. Kafka, Franz. The Best Darned Kafka Site Ever. 4 January Web. March End of Sample Everything is alphabetized by the FIRST LETTER of your entry, regardless of what it is. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL! Note where periods, commas, colons, etc. belong. If you are not sure about what something is, ASK! Above you have examples of these types of article above, provided in order: an journal article retrieved from an online database a chapter from a book in print A book in print a journal article found in print (gotten from the actual journal itself) a web site Notice basic rules of punctuation and overall Works Cited rules: Names of articles and chapters are in quotes Names of books and magazines are underlined Notice where periods are placed! Notice periods are NOT underlined after titles of books (or anywhere else) Notice abbreviations such as Lib. For library and HS for High School are acceptable and encouraged FINALLY: if you do not have a AUTHOR for your article, you simply leave it out and start with the title (notice the web site entry as an example). FOR MLA CITATION CHART CONTAINING BOTH PARENTHETICAL CITATION GUIDE AND GUIDE TO WORKS C ITED ENTRIES, GO TO MY All About Writing: Making the Right Moves page and click MLA Citation Chart.

5 Cameron 5 MLA format: o Everything is doublespaced. EVERYTHING! o All sources quoted in paper MUST be present on Works Cited page (and vice versa include nothing on the Works Cited you didn t use in paper) o Times New Roman, 12 point font ONLY (see me if you have vision problems that would require larger print this is the ONLY exception) o Headers on EVERY page o NO title page/cover sheet o 1-inch margins all around (see me or get help with your word processor if necessary) o Black ink only o Follow Works Cited Entries and Parenthetical Citations handout examples for quoting and locating the types of sources you used

6 Cameron 6 USING ILLUSTRATIONS The illustration label and number should always appear in two places: the document main text (e.g. see fig. 1) and near the illustration itself (Fig. 1). Captions provide titles or explanatory notes. Source information documentation will always depend upon the medium of the source illustration. If you provide source information with all of your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page. EXAMPLE: Kafka suffered from frequent migraines and minor cases of depression (Bjeli 10). Perhaps his slight mental disorders contributed to the way some of his stories turned out. His disorders made him think differently, as many mental issues do, which could be the cause of the storyline of The Metamorphosis Who would think of a boy who metaphorically is a bug, but then literally turns into a bug (see Fig. 1)?

7 Cameron 7 Fig 1. Notice that Gregor Samsa s mental breakdown is illustrated in the claustrophobic confines of the room, which is mirrored as a bug s confining exoskeleton and the hideousness of the inside ugliness being made external.

8 Cameron 8 Bibliographic info to be used in Works Cited: Claudio Goldini. Metamorphosis: Tribute to Franz Kafka Ink. Goldini.com, Buenos Aires. Web. 7 Feb 2012.