Tutor profile: Jenna D.

Why should you use an Oxford comma?

The Oxford comma adds clarity to a statement. Not using the comma can create confusion, whereas two items may appear to be linked where they are not meant to be. For example: My heroes are my parents, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. This statement makes it seem like the writer's parents are Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa. The Oxford comma clarifies this statement: My heroes are my parents, Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Teresa.

What is the appropriate MARC field for a title that has no added entry, but begins with an article such as "the" or "an"?

Depending on which article, use the MARC field for the title statement of a book (245) and then add a first indicator of 0 for no added entry, and a second indicator for the number of non-filing characters that appear in the title. For a title that begins with "The," add a second indicator of 4 non-filing characters. The MARC field would appear as 245 04

Is the trend of the "unreliable narrator" a recent phenomenon, with books like "Gone Girl" and "The Girl on the Train" leading the trend?

The unreliable narrator trope is not a recent phenomenon, and has been around in literature for a long time. For example, in David Copperfield, Charles Dickens begins the novel with the narrator recounting the details of his own birth. This is not a story told from the narrator's actual memories of the events, and sets the tone for the rest of the novel to be similarly exaggerated, potentially to cause the reader to sympathize with the character. Therefore, the reader cannot be certain that David Copperfield is a reliable narrator. This is hardly a new trend, and is one that will never go away, though it may diminish in popularity over time.