Transitions

Good writers of non-fiction use carefully chosen transition words and carefully crafted topic sentences.


Transition words and phrases:

• tie a sentence to a paragraph
• connect "the dots" for the reader
• provide organization and flow

Here are some sites with lists of transition words:

     Homework Center

     The Writing Center - University of Wisconsin

Topic sentences:

• tie a paragraph to the thesis
• summarize for the reader
• provide organization and flow

You should already have topic sentences from your outline, but you may need to revise and reconstruct some.

Parenthetical Citation in MLA Format

Wahoo it's drafting time!  We're in the home stretch my precious pop-tarts.

Parenthetical Citation QUICK Overview:

• EVERY fact, quote, stat, story, etc. that is not your original idea (basically everything BUT your thesis and your crafty leads which we'll work on next week) needs to be cited

• The author's last name goes in parentheses after the fact and before the ending punctuation.  Put the page number - if there is one - one space after the name and before the ending parentheses.  Do not write page, p., # or anything else like that.  If there is no author, use the title of the book (italics) or article/web site (quotes).
•  Blah blah blah (Sanchez 36).
• "Blah blah blah" (Sanchez 49).
• Blah blah blah (Sanchez and Kelly 45). <-- 2 authors
• Blah blah blah (Sanchez, Kelly and Smith 89). <-- 3 authors
• Blah blah blah (Sanchez et al. 342) <-- more than 3 authors
• Blah blah blah (The World According to Sanchez). <-- book without author (very unlikely)
• Blah blah blah ("Top 10 Reasons I Love Kristen Sanchez"). <-- article or web site without author (more likely)

• If you quote someone who was quoted by someone else, do it like this:
• "Blah blah blah" (qtd. in Sanchez 47).
• "Blah blah blah" (qtd. in "Top 10 Reasons I Love Kristen Sanchez").

• If you SAY the author's name in your set up for the quote or for the fact, you don't need to put his or her name in parentheses.  You just need to put the page number.  If there is no page number, you don't put anything.
• According to world famous historian Kristen Sanchez, "Blah blah blah" (47).
• In her book The World According to Sanchez, Kristen Sanchez argues that blah blah blah (89).

• When you have multiple facts, quotes, stats, etc. in a row from the same source, you do not repeat the citation in full.  If it's a book with page numbers, you just put the new page number like this:
• Blah blah blah (Sanchez 36).
• Blah blah blah (48).
• If it's a book with page numbers and it's from the SAME page, you write Ibid like this:
• Blah blah blah (Sanchez 36).
• Blah blah blah (ibid).
• If it's an article or web site without page numbers, you just write ibid like this:
• Blah blah blah ("The World According to Sanchez").
• Blah blah blah (ibid).

Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Emmet Till

Essential Question:  What made Emmett Till's murder in 1955 different than previous incidents of violence against African-Americans?  What was the significance then?  What is the significance now?


Warmup:  What can we learn about the murder of Emmett Till from Bob Dylan's protest song Death of Emmett Till?  (Start video 40 seconds in)






To read the lyrics, visit Bobdylan.com

Who was Emmett Till and why was he killed?

Start at 4:40






Images from the case (PBS Eyes on the Prize)

STOP & JOT:  What made Emmett Till's murder in 1955 different than previous incidents of violence against African-Americans?  

The Trial:

Video clip from PBS American Experience:  The Murder of Emmett Till

Primary Source Analysis:

White House Memo filed by E. Frederic Morrow, the first African-American White House staff member

PICK TWO:

• What do you read that you didn’t expect?
• What powerful words and ideas are expressed?
• What feelings and thoughts does the primary source trigger in you?
• What questions does it raise?
• What can you learn from analyzing this?
• If someone created this, what would be different?

How did this incident shape young African-Americans?

• "Emmett Till and I were about the same age. A week after he was murdered... I stood on the corner with a gang of boys, looking at pictures of him in the black newspapers and magazines. In one, he was laughing and happy. In the other, his head was swollen and bashed in, his eyes bulging out of their sockets and his mouth twisted and broken. His mother had done a bold thing. She refused to let him be buried until hundreds of thousands marched past his open casket in Chicago and looked down at his mutilated body. [I] felt a deep kinship to him when I learned he was born the same year and day I was. My father talked about it at night and dramatized the crime. I couldn't get Emmett out of my mind..."      ~ Muhammed Ali, boxer
• "My memories are exact -- and parallel those of many others my age -- I felt vulnerable for the first time in my life -- Till was a year younger -- and recall believing that this could easily happen to me -- for no reason at all. I lived in Pennsylvania at the time."       ~ Julian Bond, civil rights leader and chairman, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and George School alum

STOP & JOT:  What was the significance then?  What is the significance now?

Additional resources:

PBS Timeline of Emmett Till case 

Harrison's Lynching Project

Isabel lynching project

Lynching Project- YeonJae Lee

Lynching- Meaghan Bollard

lynching by selom

Jessie's Lynching Project

Eesha's Lynching Project

Ben's lynching project

Michael's Lynching Ecphrasis

Tyler's Lynching Project

Brandon's Lynching Mini-Project

Luke's Lynching Project

Lynching Project- Emma