Handing in Assignments: Writing and File Format

We use MLA format.

That means 8.5-by-11 documents, typed in 12-point Times New Roman typeface, double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Some prose and poetry can be single-spaced, provided that is your intention as an author. I will also require proper formatting insofar as the header at the top of your first page (i.e., a running header).

For critical papers, I require all writing adhere to MLA format. In our creative work, however, we will not use scholarly documentation to cite sources; rather, we will acknowledge and attribute sources in-text.

All work files you hand in must be Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) files. If you use some other word processing program–WordStar or Open Office, for example–you should find out how to make or save your files as RTF before the first assignment is to be handed in.

Your name and description of your assignment–one we usually agree upon or one that is obvious or deadline- or assignment-specific–in the file name. For example, if a student named Jane Doe sends along her first draft of January essay, she might call the assignment “January Submission” to be helpful and name her file “JaneDoeJanSub.”

I will then send back my comments with a renamed document named
“JaneDoeJanSub withcomments.”

Please do adhere to this naming convention. It’s important to have all of our document ducks in a row for this kind of class. Failure to do so may result in my not findind your work in my email or on my hard drive, and in extreme cases I might not accept your work!

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