essay basics website

How to Write an Essay

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Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

Education World's page on writing activities and lessons links you to more free, online resources for learning how to "W.R.I.T.E.": write, revise, inform, think, and edit.

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Home / Guides / Writing Guides / Paper Types / How to Write an Essay

How to Write an Essay

So you’ve finished writing your essay. Now you can breathe a sigh of relief, close down your computer, and head out to celebrate with friends, right? Right! But after you’ve enjoyed that movie or milkshake, take a few more minutes to give your paper a final look before you hand it in. Doing so could help you avoid critical errors or weak organization that could eat away at your grade.

Guide Overview

• Reread the assignment
• Perfect the pacing
• Correct simple mistakes
• Avoid plagiarism
• Learn for next time

1. Reread the assignment

It’s easy to get carried away when writing an essay. You’ve had an idea that you’re excited about, the words start to flow, and soon you’re congratulating yourself on a job well done. However, while being grabbed by an idea is great, writing in the throes of inspiration can also mean mistakes. These could include not actually answering the question or interpreting the essay prompt properly, including information that isn’t relevant to the prompt, or being so focused on getting it done that you don’t include enough content to support your argument fully.

Make sure to check your essay against the original assignment and ask yourself: Does my paper truly and completely answer this question?

2. Perfect the pacing

Getting the pacing wrong could mean an essay that’s rambling, disjointed, lacking in essential detail, or just not engaging. Check that your paper is properly paced and book-ended by a clear introduction and conclusion.

As a general guide, the introduction and conclusion should each form around a fifth of your essay, with the essay body making up three-fifths. Check that your word count roughly fits these margins to get a perfectly paced essay. If it doesn’t, consider whether a section has too much detail or not enough. In the case of a long introduction, for example, is all of the information necessary? If so, should some of it be in the first paragraph of the paper body instead? A simple edit is often all that’s needed to correct pacing problems, resulting in an essay that flows much better.

3. Correct simple mistakes

Thoroughly proofreading can help ensure your essay is free of grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes you might have missed the first time. Nothing’s worse than losing points for small errors! So take the time to reread your essay with fresh eyes, or ask a friend or writing tutor to take a pass.

Citations can be the trickiest part of formatting. Make sure you’re citing in the correct style for your subject. If you’re unsure, ask your teacher, professor or TA. MLA style (Modern Language Association) and APA style (American Psychological Association) are among the most popular styles, with the former favored by humanities subjects and the latter favored by science subjects. Formatting guidelines for APA, MLA and Chicago style format can be found online, if your teacher doesn’t provide them.

4. Avoid plagiarism

It’s vital that any material you quote or paraphrase within your essay be properly referenced using the required citation format. Failure to reference your sources, even unintentionally, amounts to plagiarism, which can lead to a failing grade or an even more severe sanction from your school. When you check your essay, remember that even ideas that you haven’t directly quoted need to be referenced.

Look back through your source material or your notes as you check your essay. This will enable you to clearly see if you’ve used any material unintentionally, without referencing the source.

Actually creating the citations for a works cited page (or an annotated bibliography ) should be the easy part. After you’ve verified the correct citation style for your class, make sure you have all the required information, then feed that information into the EasyBib citation generator. You’ll also need to create in text citations that correlate to the full citations listed on your works cited page .

5. Learn for next time

Hopefully, the above final checking process should result in a good grade. But whatever the outcome, use it as an opportunity to gather feedback and make improvements on your next essay. If you’re disappointed with your grade, or don’t understand the feedback your teacher has given you (or if they haven’t given any), don’t be afraid to approach them to discuss where you went wrong and how you can prevent losing points in the future.

EasyBib Writing Resources

Writing a paper.

• Academic Essay
• Argumentative Essay
• College Admissions Essay
• Expository Essay
• Persuasive Essay
• Research Paper
• Thesis Statement
• Writing a Conclusion
• Writing an Introduction
• Writing an Outline
• Writing a Summary

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Essay Basics

For college, an essay is a collection of paragraphs that all work together to express ideas that respond appropriately to the directions and guidelines of a given written assignment. Depending on the instructor, course, or assignment, you might also hear essays called papers, term papers, articles, themes, compositions, reports, writing assignments , and written assessments , but these terms are largely interchangeable at the beginning of college.

Essays and their assignments vary so much that there is no single right kind of essay, so there are no clear answers to questions such as, “How many paragraphs should a college essay have?” or, “How many examples should I use to help convey my ideas?” etc.

But with that said, most essays have a few components in common:

• The Introduction: the beginning parts that show what is to come
• The Body: the bulk of the essay that says everything the assignment calls for
• The Conclusion: the ending parts that emphasize or make sense of what has been said

One rudimentary type of essay that displays these components in a way that’s easy to demonstrate and see is the five-paragraph essay.

The Five Paragraph Essay

The term “five-paragraph essay” refers to a default structure that consists of the following:

• This should clearly state the main idea of the whole essay, also called the essay’s claim or thesis .
• This should also include a brief mention of the main ideas to come, which is the essay map .
• Each paragraph should be about one main point that supports the main idea of the essay (the claim or thesis).
• The topic sentence of each paragraph should be its main point.
• The rest of the sentences of each paragraph should explain or support that topic sentence. In general, the method for this support is to provide an explanation, then an example or analogy, and then a conclusion. See more in the textbook section Paragraph Basics.
• This should clarify the most important ideas or interpretations regarding what the essay has said in the body.

Example Outline of a Five-Paragraph Essay:

• Claim/Thesis: Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance.
• Essay Map : They scare cyclists and pedestrians, present traffic hazards, and damage gardens.
• Topic Sentence: Dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians.
• Cyclists are forced to zigzag on the road.
• School children panic and turn wildly on their bikes.
• People who are walking at night freeze in fear.
• Topic Sentence : Loose dogs are traffic hazards.
• Dogs in the street make people swerve their cars.
• To avoid dogs, drivers run into other cars or pedestrians.
• Children coaxing dogs across busy streets create danger.
• Topic Sentence: Unleashed dogs damage gardens.
• They step on flowers and vegetables.
• They destroy hedges by urinating on them.
• They mess up lawns by digging holes.
• Emphasis: The problem of unleashed dogs should be taken seriously by citizens and city council members.

Using a subject assigned by your instructor, create an outline for a five-paragraph essay following these guidelines. Complete sentences are allowed but not required in such outlines.

• Claim/Thesis
• Topic Sentence
• Support (Explanation, Example or Analogy, and Conclusion)

When the above example outline is turned into complete sentences, arranged in paragraphs, and further elaborated here and there for clarity and transition, it becomes a complete five-paragraph essay, as seen here:

Problems Unleashed

With unfamiliar turning lanes branching and numerous traffic lights flashing and aggressive drivers weaving and honking, the last surprise you need as an urban driver is to suddenly see a dog run by in front of you. Unfortunately, given the current ordinances allowing unleashed dogs, this is the case. Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance. They not only present traffic hazards, but they also scare cyclists and pedestrians, and they damage property such as gardens.

Loose dogs are traffic hazards. Many dogs won’t hesitate to run across busy roads, and as soon as they do, people must suddenly swerve their cars. But the cars swerve where? In crowded city streets, the chances are there to swerve accidentally into other cars or pedestrians. And this danger is made worse by the tendency of children, who often don’t know any better, coaxing dogs across busy streets. These kinds of dangers are frequent enough for causes that can’t be controlled, and the problem of unleashed dogs, which can be controlled, adds to them unnecessarily.

And these dangers aren’t limited to swerving cars, for dogs can scare cyclists and pedestrians too. When dogs dart across their path, cyclists are forced to zigzag on the road. This leads to wrecks, which for cyclists can cause serious injury. And while adult cyclists might maintain control when confronted with a darting dog, children riding home from school can’t be expected to. They typically panic and turn wildly on their bikes. Even among pedestrians, unleashed dogs present a real danger, for no one can predict how aggressive a loose dog might be. When confronted with such dogs, people who are walking at night freeze in fear.

These are some of the most severe problems with unleashed dogs, but there are others still worthy of concern, such as the damage unleashed dogs do to lawns and gardens. Property owners invest significant time and money into the value of their lawns, but dogs can’t understand or respect that. Let loose without a leash, dogs will simply act like the animals they are. They will step on flowers and vegetables, destroy hedges by urinating on them, and mess up lawns by digging holes.

With the city ordinances as they currently stand, unleashed dogs are allowed to cause danger, injury, fear, and property damage. But this doesn’t have to be the case. The problem of unleashed dogs should be taken seriously by citizens and city council members. We would be wise to stop letting dogs take responsibility for their actions, and start taking responsibility ourselves.

Read the above example outline and essay carefully. Then identify any significant changes in ideas, wording, or organization that the essay has made from the original plan in the outline. Explain why the writer would make those changes.

Using your outline from Exercise 1, create a five-paragraph essay.

Keep in mind that the five-paragraph essay is a rudimentary essay form. It is excellent for demonstrating the key parts of a general essay, and it can address many types of short writing assignments in college, but it is too limited to sustain the more complex kinds of discussions many of the higher-level college essays need to develop and present.

For those kinds of essays, you will need a deeper and more complete understanding of the general essay structure (below), as well as an understanding of various writing modes and strategies, research, and format (the sections and chapters that follow).

Complete General Essay Structure

The following explains how to write an essay using a general essay structure at a far more complete level and with far more depth than the five-paragraph essay. This complete general essay structure can be applied to many of your essay assignments that you will encounter in many of your college classes, regardless of subject matter. Although innumerable alterations and variations are possible in successful essays, these concepts are foundational, and they merit your understanding and application as a student of writing.

Also note that there is no set number of paragraphs using a complete general essay structure, as there is in the five-paragraph essay (one introductory, three body, and one concluding). A good introduction can be broken up into more than one paragraph, as can a conclusion, and body paragraphs might number more than three. But this complete general essay structure can indeed be achieved in five paragraphs as well.

Here are the components of complete general essay structure:

• Use a phrase that identifies the subject.
• Consider a title that also suggests the main claim, or thesis (see below, and see the section Thesis for more information)
• Remember that the title is the writer’s main opportunity to control interpretation.
• Don’t use a phrase that could easily apply to all the other students’ essays, such as the number or title of the assignment.
• The Introduction gives the audience a stark impression of what the essay is about.
• In choosing this glimpse, consider that which is surprising, counter-intuitive, or vivid.
• Don’t use false questions, such as those about the reader’s personal experience, those that have obvious answers, or those for which you won’t attempt specific or compelling answers.
• Give a larger understanding of the glimpse above, such as what the important issue is, or why it is significant.
• Don’t get detailed. Save details for the body paragraphs.
• Your main claim or thesis is your position or point about the subject, often confirming or denying a proposition.
• For more details on thesis statements, see the section Thesis.
• Don’t use a question or a fragment as a main claim or thesis.
• Don’t confuse the subject with the main claim or thesis.
• Don’t reference your own essay. State your main points by discussing the subject itself rather than by discussing the essay you’re writing.
• Don’t get detailed here either.
• The Body forms the support for your main claim or thesis.
• Keep in mind that you are not limited to three body paragraphs only, but that three body paragraphs form a good base regardless.
• Give each main point a separate paragraph. Aim for at least three body paragraphs, which means you should have at least three main points that support your main claim or thesis.
• Use topic sentences and supporting sentences in each paragraph. Supporting sentences often come in the form of explanations, then examples or analogies, and then conclusions. For more information on the structure of a paragraph, see the section Paragraph Basics.
• Remember that separate paragraphs not only help the audience read, but they also help writers see their ideas as clarified segments, each of which needs to be completed, connected, and organized.
• For details and strategies about how best to connect paragraphs, see the section Transitions.
• Don’t combine two different focal points into the same paragraph, even if they are about the same subject.
• Don’t contradict the order of your Essay Map from the Introduction, even if minor points require paragraphs in-between the main points.
• Don’t veer away from supporting your main claim or thesis. If any necessary minor point appears to do this, immediately follow it up by conveying its support to your thesis.
• The Conclusion brings your essay to its final and most significant point. Use any one or combination of the following components:
• One good strategy is to use a brief and poignant phrase or quotation.
• Another good strategy is to use a metaphor: description of an interesting image that stands for an important idea.
• Don’t re-state the introduction or be redundant.
• Don’t bring up new details or issues.
• Don’t end on a minor point
• Don’t weaken your essay here with contradiction, false humility, self-deprecation, or un-rebutted opposition.
• Don’t issue commands, get aggressive, or sound exclamatory in the Conclusion.
• For more information, see the section Rhythms of Three.
• Combine or rearrange Emphasis, Humility, and Elevation as needed.

Using a subject assigned by your instructor, create an outline for a complete general essay structure. In your outline, identify the types of ideas that you would use to address the components and principles explained above. Complete sentences are allowed but not required in such outlines.

Using your outline from Exercise 4 and the concepts above, compose a complete general essay.

The Writing Textbook Copyright © 2021 by Josh Woods, editor and contributor, as well as an unnamed author (by request from the original publisher), and other authors named separately is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Basics of Essay Writing

What does a good essay need.

An academic essay aims to persuade readers of an idea based on evidence .

• An academic essay should answer a question or task .
• It should have a thesis statement (answer to the question) and an argument .
• It should try to present or discuss something: develop a thesis via a set of closely related points by reasoning and evidence.
• An academic essay should include relevant examples , supporting evidence and information from academic texts or credible sources.

Basic steps in writing an essay

Although there are some basic steps to writing an assignment, essay writing is not a linear process. You might work through the different stages a number of times in the course of writing an essay. For example, you may go back to the reading and notetaking stage if you find another useful text, or perhaps to reread to locate specific information.

Possible steps (In no strict order)

  see next: getting started, essay and assignment writing guide.

• Getting started
• Research the topic
• Organise your ideas
• Write your essay
• Reference your essay
• Edit your essay
• Hand in your essay
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• Reflective writing
• ^ More support

Scholarly Resources 4 Students | scite.ai 21 May 2024

Discover your Library: Main Library 21 May 2024

Narrative Essay

Essay basics.

It’s important to keep your audience in mind when writing. Imagine you are writing about your first full day as a college student. How might your writing vary for the audiences below?

* a text you are sending to your best friend

* an email you are sending to a parent or guardian

* a retelling of your experiences for a paper you are writing for your sociology course

In each example above, the method of communication will shape the length and depth of what you write as well as the style (including word choices) and the level of formality. Think about what  content  you may need to include based on what each specific audience already knows or needs to know about your topic.

Most writing has one of these two purposes:

1. to inform

2. to persuade

Generally speaking, an essay is made up of three parts: an introduction (with a thesis), a body consisting of a group of paragraphs, and a conclusion.

• Essay Basics. Authored by : Lisa Ford. License : CC BY: Attribution

Essay Writing: Essay Writing Basics

• Essay Writing Basics
• Purdue OWL Page on Writing Your Thesis This link opens in a new window
• Paragraphs and Transitions
• How to Tell if a Website is Legitimate This link opens in a new window
• Formatting Your References Page
• Cite a Website
• Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors
• Additional Resources
• Proofread Before You Submit Your Paper
• Structuring the 5-Paragraph Essay

Basic Essay Format

Please Note : These guidelines are general suggestions. When in doubt, please refer to your assignment for specifics.

Most essays consist of three parts:

• the introduction (one paragraph);
• the body (usually at least three paragraphs), and
• the conclusion (one paragraph).

Minimum of 5 paragraphs total

Standard Parts of an Essay

Introduction paragraph (including the thesis statement ).

Begin your paper by introducing your topic. 

Parts of an Introduction paragraph:

• “I danced so much at my birthday party; my feet are killing me!”
• “The surprise birthday party my friends gave me was amazing.”
• “I was so glad that the party remained a secret; my friends from the old neighborhood were there, and most surprisingly, I didn’t know I could still dance so much.”

Be sure your Introduction makes a clear, general point, which you can back up with specifics as you lead to your Thesis Statement.

Thesis Statement

The final sentence in your Introduction paragraph should be your Thesis Statement: a   single, clear, and concise sentence stating your essay’s main idea or argument .

According to Denis Johnson of the Rasmussen College Library , you should t hink of a thesis statement as  one complete sentence that expresses your position or tells your story in a nutshell .

The Thesis Statement should always take a stand and justify further discussion .

3 or More Body Paragraphs (and using Transitions )

Now use the Body of your essay to support the main points you presented in your Thesis Statement. Develop each point using one or more paragraphs, and support each point with specific details . Your details may come from research or your direct experience. Refer to your assignment for required supporting documentation (APA citations.)  Your  analysis and discussion of your topic should tie your narrative together and draw conclusions supporting your thesis.

Use effective transition words and phrases to give your paper “flow,” to connect your ideas, and to move from one supporting statement to another.

Conclusion Paragraph

• “The surprise party my friends had for me was a great reminder of the good old days. It was a wonderful surprise seeing old friends again and have fun like we did when we were younger. My feet will never be the same again.”

Use your conclusion to restate and consolidate all the main points of your essay. You should first restate your Thesis Statement (using slightly different phrasing this time). Give closure to your essay by resolving any outstanding points and leaving your readers with a final thought regarding your argument's future or long-term implications. Your Conclusion is not the place to introduce new ideas or topics that did not appear earlier in your paper.

Don’t forget to cite each source of information you use -  using In-Text Citations throughout your paper and a References page at the end. Use these LibGuides to help you with your In-Text Citations and  References   page.

(Sample Essay excerpts and instructions, thanks to  Professor Deborah Ashby:  Monroe College, Department of Social Sciences)

A Monroe College Research Guide

                 THIS RESEARCH OR "LIBGUIDE" WAS PRODUCED BY THE LIBRARIANS OF MONROE COLLEGE                    

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
• Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

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This Is a Crucial Moment to Stand Up to Islamophobia. Instead, Democrats Are Caving.

A 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, murdered in his Chicago home for being Muslim. Three Palestinian American college students, shot at in Vermont while out for a walk. An Arab American student hit by a car , while wearing a T-shirt with Arabic writing on it at Stanford University in California.

Since Oct. 7, when Hamas led a violent attack against civilians in Israel, there’s been a surge in reports of Islamophobic bias—the largest uptick since Donald Trump announced his Muslim ban in December 2015, according to Corey Saylor , director of research and advocacy at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Islamophobia tends to spike when there’s “any media exposure to Muslim-related issues,” according to one 2016 study by the University of Texas at Austin—and that’s been the case in the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began, leaving American Muslims afraid for their safety at home as they’re grieving the bloodshed abroad. (The war in Gaza has since killed upwards of 30,000 Palestinian civilians and left many more hungry as famine grips the enclave.)

This is the kind of time when you might expect Democrats—the party that has in recent decades identified themselves with equity and social justice —to recommit to fighting Islamophobia. Instead, they’re allowing Islamophobia to sabotage the judicial nomination of a highly qualified candidate: Adeel Mangi, an attorney from New Jersey, who, if confirmed, would become the first-ever Muslim attorney to sit on a federal appeals court.

In December, at Mangi’s confirmation hearing, GOP senators fired off leading questions laced with racism without a single reference to the nominee’s actual judicial experience. Adding insult to injury, Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, along with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, in recent weeks have all publicly said they would vote “no” on confirming Mangi, knowing full well their party’s razor-thin Senate majority means any defections will surely sink his nomination.

Confirming Mangi would add some sorely needed diversity to our nation’s courts—the federal bench is currently 66 percent white —and a check on biases. A study by the Center for American Progress found that judges belonging to different racial, ethnic, and religious groups use their unique backgrounds and life experiences to shape their rulings, and that it overall has a net positive impact on our judiciary. “Women judges and judges of color have spoken out about gender and racial bias on the courts and led calls for reforms,” said CAP, noting that judges of different backgrounds also enhance the courtroom experience for defendants and lawyers, regardless of their case’s outcome.

And the seat Mangi has been nominated to, the 3 rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is an especially important bench. It covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, states where banks and other corporations tend to have a big presence. ( Over 50 percent of publicly traded companies are incorporated in Delaware.) Currently, the 3 rd Circuit has a 7–6 conservative majority, and Mangi’s confirmation would bring some much needed balance.

The Democrats who have vowed to vote “no” on Mangi’s confirmation are openly giving credence to Islamophobia, calling into question what the party actually stands for.

At a dark time for American Muslims, Mangi’s historic nomination feels like a rare bright spot. He represents the best of the immigrant struggle—coming into a new country, seeking a better life while adapting to a new culture. Mangi became a civil servant here in the U.S., fighting for democracy on behalf of vulnerable Americans, and it’s made our country better. Mangi, born and raised in Pakistan, studied law at Oxford University, then immigrated to the U.S. at 22 years old to attend Harvard University. He began practicing law in the U.S. and became the youngest associate to make partner at the New York law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. He worked on historic cases, including a landmark wrongful death lawsuit of a mentally ill Black man at a New York maximum security prison, which led to a $5 million payout to the victim’s family and required cameras and microphones to be installed throughout the prison.

Mangi also successfully fought for mosques to be built in New Jersey after their permits were denied, a case that earned a $3.25 million settlement and involved Donald Trump’s Justice Department. Mangi has also been a fierce advocate for immigrants, joining a coalition of different faith groups in advocating for keeping DACA, and the LQBTQ+ community, writing an amicus brief defending Title VII.

But Republicans have made Mangi the target of a baseless smear campaign that accuses him of antisemitism over a Rutgers University event he was once tangentially involved with.

Mangi was an advisory board member for Rutgers Law School’s Center for Security, Race and Rights , from 2019 to 2023. In 2021 the center co-sponsored a panel discussion, which was hosted by the People’s Forum, in honor of the 20 th anniversary of 9/11.* Sami Al-Arian was a featured speaker, a Florida professor who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (a group the U.S. considers a terrorist organization) and was sentenced to prison. However, CSRR did not have a hand in picking Al-Arian has the event’s speaker.

Mangi also testified that he served as an adviser to Rutgers Law School, meeting just once a year to offer advice on the university’s academic issues. He was not aware of that 9/11 anniversary event happening, let alone did he have a say in which speakers were selected. Yet, Republican Sen. John Kennedy challenged that assertion, asking Mangi, “Is this the way you celebrate 9/11?”

“I don’t know any of these people or that event,” said Mangi. “I certainly and unequivocally would condemn any terrorism.”

Other Republicans joined in, incessantly focusing on Mangi’s personal perspective on the Israel-Hamas war, while completely ignoring the experience and skills he would bring to the federal judiciary. “Do you believe that Jews are colonial settlers in Israel?,” asked Republican Sen. Tom Cotton . “Do you condemn the atrocities of the Hamas terrorists?,” asked Republican Sen. Ted Cruz .

Over and over again, Mangi explained that international policy matters were not something he could weigh in on. “I have no basis as a judicial nominee to cast views on the Middle East,” said Mangi , when responding to a question about whether he believes Israel is a violent settler colonial state from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. However, Mangi made clear that he believes “the events of Oct. 7 were a horror involving the deaths of innocent civilians,” and that he had “no patience—none—for any attempts to justify or defend those events.”

This kind of racism has become commonplace for the GOP. Consider when TikTok CEO Shou Chew was called to testify before Congress, and Republicans continuously insisted he was affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, despite Chew confirming he is a citizen of Singapore—which bans dual citizenship. And there’s Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, when calling to censure one of only three Muslim members of Congress, said “Representative Ilhan Omar of Somalia—I mean Minnesota.”

Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president and the Republican Party’s standard bearer of extremism, told a crowd of supporters in December that immigrants coming into the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Democrats are well aware of these bigoted tactics and recognize that the GOP has “concluded that racism might be bad morals but it’s good politics,” as New York Rep. Ritchie Torres put it to the New York Times .

Nevertheless, Cortez Masto was the first Democrat to publicly announce she would not vote for Mangi because of his affiliation with the Alliance of Families for Justice , a criminal justice reform group. She was quickly joined by fellow Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, who said she could not vote for Mangi because of “concerns I’ve heard from law enforcement in Nevada,” without offering more specific details. (Rosen’s decision ignores the other five law enforcement agencies that endorsed Mangi as someone who “demonstrated commitment to upholding the highest ethics and fair administration of the law.”)

Unsurprisingly, Manchin, who is officially retiring from Congress after his current term ends this year, also said he won’t vote for Mangi unless he can earn at least one vote from Republicans .

Since Rosen is up for reelection in a swing state this year, she’s probably taking note of what’s happening in other swing states, like Pennsylvania. The Judicial Crisis Network, an ultra-right-wing group focused on confirming conservative judges across the country, is funding ads smearing Mangi by declaring him antisemitic . The ads are also running in Montana in a pressure campaign to force the state’s sole Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Jon Tester, to vote “no” on Mangi.

In response to Republicans’ accusations of antisemitism, 15 Jewish advocacy groups that collectively represent more than 1 million Americans came together to offer a glowing endorsement of Mangi. And the American Jewish Committee not only endorsed him but went so far as to encourage senators to “disregard the untoward implications underlying that unnecessary and unhelpful line of questioning.” They were joined by the Anti-Defamation League—the most prominent Jewish advocacy group in the world—which also fully endorsed Mangi and suggested the way in which senators questioned him “appear to have been motivated by bias towards his religion.”

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for confirming judicial nominees, defended Mangi and called out Republican Sen. John Kennedy, who asked the nominee how he celebrated 9/11. “Think about that for a second. Because [Mangi] is Muslim, the senator thought it was appropriate to ask him if it was appropriate to celebrate 9/11 in his home,” said Durbin . “He of course said ‘no.’ He was a resident of New York and thought it was a tragedy that occurred to our nation, and that he had friends and family who were affected by that tragedy.” Durbin urged his colleagues to dismiss Republicans’ smear campaign and evaluate Mangi on his record.

The White House has also tried damage control measures, demanding Cruz, Hawley, and Cotton apologize to Mangi. “He represents the best of America, and when confirmed, Mr. Mangi will not only make history—he will make an outstanding judge,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told NBC News .

In this current climate, simply chiding the Republicans who harassed Mangi and urging Democrats to vote for him isn’t enough. The White House must hold Cortez Masto, Rosen, and Manchin accountable for the party’s vow to condemn “the decades-long campaign to demonize and dehumanize the Muslim faith community”—because if they don’t stand against Islamophobia at a moment like this, what do they stand for in the first place?

Correction, April 15, 2024: This piece originally misstated when Mangi served as an advisory board member for the Center for Security, Race and Rights. It was from 2019–23. This piece also misidentified the organizer of a Sept. 11 anniversary event in 2021. It was hosted by the People’s Forum, and the CSRR was a co-sponsor of the event.

Update, April 15, 2024: Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights reached out to Slate to clarify that it had no role in picking the speakers of the 9/11 anniversary event in 2021.

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Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco Delivers Remarks at the One Detroit Roundtable

Detroit , MI United States

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Dawn, for that very kind introduction — and thank you all for welcoming me and for being here.

I’m especially grateful to Chief White for hosting us at the Detroit Police Department.

It’s a privilege to join Detroit’s law enforcement and community leaders today — who are working together to tackle violent crime to make this community safer.

I’m here to listen and learn because the work of One Detroit is having a real impact — and it’s being felt in reduced levels of violent crime across this city.

The Department of Justice has no higher priority than keeping our communities safe, and we are all-in on reversing the violent crime uptick that started in 2020, during the pandemic.

Every jurisdiction faces unique challenges — large or small, rural or urban — no community can tackle them alone.

So, in 2021, the Justice Department announced a comprehensive strategy to reduce violent crime — a strategy rooted in local communities and built on four distinct pillars:

• Going after the most significant drivers of violent crime — especially gun crimes and violent repeat offenders;
• Fostering trust and earning legitimacy in the communities we serve;
• Investing in community-based prevention and intervention programs; and
• Measuring the results of our efforts by our impact, through actual decreases in violent crime.

We are committed to an approach that is data-driven and centered on what federal law enforcement does best: and that’s serving as a force multiplier with our state and local law enforcement partners and bringing the resources needed to go after the drivers of violent crime.

Our strategy is paying real dividends — when it comes to violent crime, those dividends take the form of lives saved, families united, and safer communities.

One Detroit brings together community members and law enforcement; and it brings local solutions to local challenges.

When data informs strategy that is guided by community; when trust develops into real partnership; and when prevention, intervention, and enforcement all work hand in hand; that’s a formula for success against violent crime.

And that’s what we’re seeing here in Detroit and in more and more communities throughout the country.

Over the past year, violent crime is on a broad downward trajectory across the United States.

And Detroit is leading the charge. As of this month, every category of violent crime is declining – some to well below pre-pandemic levels.

Detroit closed out 2023 with the fewest homicides on record — in over 50 years. 

But we’re not letting up. Here in the Motor City and across the nation, we’re keeping our foot on the gas when it comes to our violent crime reduction strategy.

A few minutes ago, I visited Detroit’s Real-Time Crime Center, which the Justice Department is proud to support.

I saw real-time data in action helping federal, state, and local law enforcement collaborate to tackle violent crime.

Just last week, by deploying ATF crime gun intelligence, like the kind being used at the Real-Time Crime Center, the U.S. Attorney’s Office — working with its partners — secured a conviction of a man who trafficked 35 guns into the city of Detroit.

Put simply, these types of intelligence centers, whether focused on break-ins or gun crimes, or identifying crime hotspots are keeping our citizens safer.

Let me conclude where I started — by thanking all of you here who are united as One Detroit.

This collection of leaders shows the power of a community that pulls together – members of law enforcement, nonprofits, faith leaders, policymakers, and elected officials — all addressing every element of violent crime: from enforcement to prevention to outreach to re-entry.

Look around this table. There are a lot of folks here, bringing different perspectives, tools, and expertise.  

To solve big problems, we need big tables — and everyone needs a seat.

I want to thank Dawn Ison and her team at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their work and for the work represented by all of you and your teams here today.

I also want to thank Chief White, Deputy Mayor Bettison, and Wayne County Prosecutor Worthy for joining us today and for everything you and your teams are doing to drive down violent crime – along with our law enforcement partners from the ATF, DEA, and FBI.

This work is far from over — but One Detroit shows what we can do when we come together.

I’m eager to hear about the work you’re doing and the work ahead.

Thank you again for having me.

And now I’ll turn it over to Chief White.

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Motive joins Battlefield | Update from Patrick Klaus, GM

Read time: 2 mins | an update on motive advancing the future of battlefield while continuing development on iron man..

Hi everyone, 

As we progress into the new year and I celebrate my fifth year working at Motive as Studio General Manager, I’m proud to share more news on how we maintain our long-term strategy of two world-class game teams developing projects side by side.

In my last update, I spoke about the studio going through an important period of evolution; we invested in developing our people in more ways than ever, and we improved our workspaces for teams to collaborate to their fullest and deliver the best game possible. That period of evolution and elevation continues today, with the exciting announcement that a group of developers from Motive are joining the talented teams at Criterion, DICE and Ripple Effect to continue unlocking the full potential of Battlefield. 

The directors who delivered our Dead Space remake in 2023, Philippe Ducharme (Executive Producer) and Roman Campos-Oriola (Creative Director), will build a team at Motive to work alongside the Battlefield studios around the world creating what’s next for Battlefield– a universe across both multiplayer and single-player experiences. Their proven expertise in storytelling, immersive battles and developing on the Frostbite engine uniquely positions them to help advance the vision for Battlefield, led by Vince Zampella (EVP, Group GM of Respawn and Battlefield) and Byron Beede (SVP, GM Battlefield).

In parallel, development continues to move forward on our Iron Man project, led by Olivier Proulx (Executive Producer) and Ian Frazier (Creative Director). The team made excellent progress this year, hitting a major internal milestone and laying a robust foundation for the journey ahead. Iron Man is an important priority for Motive, and I’m very proud of the work we’ve accomplished so far. 

If you want to join our world-class teams in Montreal, take a look at our open roles . We plan to continue growing over the coming year, so if you don’t see anything that fits your profile today, check back in with us soon.  

Related News

Motive named among montreal’s top employers, dead space remake anniversary sweepstakes - official winners, dead space remake anniversary sweepstakes - official rules.

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