Tutor profile: Alexis S.

When citing a novel, what should an in-text citation in MLA format look like?

MLA format follows the author-page method for in-text citations. This means that, in parentheses, you will write the last name of the author followed by the page number you are quoting from. However, if you have already mentioned the author's name in the sentence containing the quote, you do not need to include the name in your citation.

What are the qualities of a good thesis for a college-level literature essay?

While a thesis should contain enough information for the reader to understand what the essay will be about, it should also be concise, ideally only being a sentence long. It should be present at the end of the introduction paragraph and make a claim about the work that will be analyzed in the succeeding paragraphs. If we look at the essay in the format of "saying what you're going to say, saying it, and saying what you said," then the thesis is a one-sentence summary of what you intend to say about the work.

Please identify the subject, the direct object (DO), and the indirect object (IO) in the following sentence: The boy threw the dog a bone

The boy is the subject, as he is the "do-er." The bone is the DO, as it is the thing that is being acted upon. The dog, therefore, is the IO, or the recipient of the DO.