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Spelling: The Mechanics of Writing

Hello Friends,

This blog is my response to the task assigned to us by our teacher Vaidehi Ma'am in paper 209: Research Methodology. My topic is The Mechanics of Writing: Spelling and a brief note on it.

Spelling

Spelling should be consistent in a paper. Some words can be acceptably be spelled more than one way. So if you write acknowledgment in one place, use that spelling throughout instead of the variant spelling acknowledgement. (Quoted text, however, must follow the spelling shown in the source.)

Dictionaries

To ensure consistency, use a single dictionary, if an entry has variant spellings, generally adopt the spelling listed first.

Plurals

The plurals of nouns are generally formed by appending -s (kids, laws, stars, Fridays, Obamas) or, for words ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, and -z, appending -es (sketches, masses, Dickenses, brushes, taxes, Kleenexes, spritzes).

 Consult a dictionary for guidance about nonstandard plurals. 

⮚When the dictionary provides more than one plural form, generally use the first term listed. 

⮚ If the term has not been naturalized into English - that is, if it is labeled "foreign term", "French phrase," or the like in a dictionary - add an s (e.g., mise en abyme becomes mise en abymes). Terms such as these should appear in italics in your prose.

⮚Some words, like data and politics, can be construed as singular or plural. The dictionary usually tells you when this is the case. 

Word Division

Turn off the automatic-hyphenation option in your word processor. Dividing words at the ends of lines are unnecessary in a research paper, and it has disadvantages. A word divided between lines is harder to read, and the reader sometimes cannot tell whether the hyphen it contains is part of your spelling or part of the spelling in text you are quoting.

Foreign Words

If you quote material in a foreign language, you must reproduce all accents and other marks exactly as they appear in the original. If you need marks that are not available in your word processor, write them in by hand.


Works Cited

The Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook. 9th ed., PDF file, Modern Language Assn. of America, 2021.

Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed., Modern Language Assn. of America, 2009.

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