English MLA exercise

English 1A-20644

Joette Whims

Research Paper

November 14, 2017

[Put your outline first, right after the title. Start your paper on a new page.]

[Put outline into formal format: I. A. B. II. A. B. a. b. c., etc.

Add your thesis to your outline.]

[Use “control/enter” to start a new page automatically.]

The Most Important Education in Life

It has been common knowledge,[nc] for ages,[nc] that babies start to learn about the environment and their surrounding world from a very young age, including at the prenatal, (immediately before birth) and postnatal periods (immediately after birth). The very early experiences of a child[,] including those bonds that they form with their parents, as well as the first learning experiences, have been established to deeply impact their future cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. It is, therefore, sound to argue that optimizing the early years of a child’s life is the best investment that a parent or any other individual can make in society to ensure the future success of the child (Camilli et al.). [A quote would be good here.] This investment is done through the provision of education, which begins from the very moment that the baby is taken home from the hospital after being delivered, and goes on until the child starts going to the playgroups and kindergarten. The capabilities of human beings to learn continue for the rest of the years they will be alive, but its intensity is never as huge as the one exhibited during the preschool years. Owing to these facts, it is necessary to give the babies and toddlers early learning experiences to be able to aid their social, intellectual, and emotional development. This process lays down the foundation on which their later school success will be built (Belfield). [Give a quote here.] This is because the physical abilities, progress, and mental growth of the child,[nc] grows at an astounding rate and that the highest percentage of learning happens between birth,[nc] and age of six (Camilli et al.) [Use a quote.] THEREFORE, WHAT INDIVIDUALS REQUIRE TO GET AHEAD IN LIFE,[nc] IS ACTUALLY DETERMINED BEFORE THEIR ENTRY INTO KINDERGARTEN BECAUSE THAT IS THE TIME WHEN THE BRAIN IS UNDERGOING RAPID DEVELOPMENT IN BUILDING COGNITIVE SKILLS, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL GROWTH, AND THE GROSS-MOTOR SKILLS NECESSARY FOR FURTHERING THEIR EDUCATION. [This is a good thesis, but it really covers a lot of ground. To cover all those areas is too much for one paper.]

[Instead of having subheads, use good transitions from one paragraph to another.]The Early Years

Before having an in-depth discussion regarding the significance of the early childhood education, it is crucial to identify the actual meaning of the age that satisfies this description. When individuals talk about the early years of a child, they tend to mean the same thing in slightly different means. To some individuals, they tend to mean the years between the birth of the child, and eight years. To others, it means those years before the child goes to school, while the final group refers to the first three years of a child’s life since his/her birth. [Where did you get this information?] One thing that all these periods have in common is that they are comprised of a very crucial or rather a critical stage in a person’s life. In this discussion, the early childhood years discussed are comprised of the period between the birth of a child,[nc] and their entry into the kindergarten year, commonly referred to as the pre-school stage, and the early phase of their kindergarten life (Gormley 878).[Who is giving this definition? Is it a medical one? One used in education?] [Give a quote.] During this period, the most significant thing that people can do is to offer children real opportunities for them to have fun, learn up with other children, and develop skillsduring these years, irrespective of the term that we have used to refer to early years.

[Instead of having subheads, use good transitions from one paragraph to another.]Importance of Pre-Kindergarten Education

Most individuals tend to have reservations when it comes to the significance of pre-kindergarten education. This point was vividly manifested in 2006 when the legislature in the state of California fruitlessly attempted to pass a law which would have made the pre-school education mandatory for every child (Love et al.). Most of the individuals in California did not agree with the significance of having the state take the tax-payer funds and finance the mandatory pre-school programs, as well as some parents wishing to educate their young ones themselves. However, research has exhibited shown that those kids who get enrolled in the Head Start programs significantly benefit through the act of receiving formal education prior to going to kindergarten. [You must show who did the research and give some stats in the research. Also, usually Head Start children are from disadvantaged homes. Is this also true of kids in advantaged homes? Can proactiveparents do a good job of educating their preschoolers at home?]In accordance to various [What studies?] studies, these children that who are enrolled into such programs tend to have higher IQ scores and are more behaved when they are taken into kindergarten, than their counterparts who have no early formal education (Ludwig 8). [Give quote and/or stats.] Similarly, it has been established that these children that who have attended Head Start programs are usually faster learners later in class,[nc] when compared to those ones thatwho were never got enrolled in those early learning programs. [Who established this? What do people on the other side of the issue say? Many parents do not want their children in government-based preschools for various reasons. Are their reasons valid? Is there an element of having children at home being taught by parents that is also good?]

[Who is Ludwig? Why is he/she an expert? You need to set up all your authors in that way. For all your reader knows, Ludwig may be your neighbor.] According to Ludwig (9), what every person needs for them to be successful in life is established before their his or her entry into the kindergarten. {What study?] The study shows that it is during this period when the human brain is going through a rapid development. Moreover, the child at this stage is building his/her cognitive skills, which lays the foundation for reading, science, math, and academics as well as the social-emotional growth, character skills, executive functioning, and gross-motor skills. [Back this up.] These factors comprise of all the child’s impulse control with regard to solving problems. Moreover, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, executive director, Rhian Evans Allvin, adds that during the initial five years of human life, there is an activity explosion which is more profound at that period than any other in their future (Magnuson, Ruhm & Waldfogel 39). [Give a quote by Allvin.] It is therefore advisable to capitalize on this time and maximize the learning opportunities and support if an individual desires to stand a good chance of setting his/her child(ren) on a successful trajectory.

Academic achievement is also one of the major benefits that a child gets from the early childhood learning program. According to Magnuson, Ruhm, and Waldfogel (41)[All source notes go after the material quoted or paraphrased, not here.], those children that who attend early-learning programs learn to exercise their minds to learn when their brain is at its best development level to understand. This means that they are bound to demonstrate higher levels of achievement at school as their brains have developed the ability to capture the material presented in class by their teacher. [Back up information.] Moreover, social adjustment of such kids that who attended pre-kindergarten is at a high level when compared to those ones without formal early education. Their likelihood of repeating a grade or being placed in the classes offering special education is very minimal (Wasik et al. 1688). [Give some stats.] This is because the parent and the teacher can easily identify any learning problems at the early stage to mediate them in time. Moreover, according to the research that was carried by Rivera Miquela (62), kids that who get formal early-learning experiences are highly more likely to graduate from high school. [Give quote or stats or something here.]

There are numerous other benefits associated with the pre-kindergarten education that go far beyond academic prosperity. For instance, the National Institute for Early Education Research director, which is situated in New Brunswick, N.J., at Rutgers University, Steve Barnett, acknowledged that when the children do not get the formal early-learning experiences, the entire society is negatively affected, both socially and economically. He argued that parents and all the stakeholders pay for their failure to invest in their children in terms of the high costs associated with school failure (Rivera 63). [Give a quote.] This is because one in ten kids in middle-income families fail a grade and are required to repeat, and also one in ten never manage to complete high school. [Source?] Such kids are bound to encounter the criminal justice system and/or the high costs prison system, as well as very poor productivity when/if they get employed (Ramey, Bryant & Suarez). [Stats?] Furthermore, evidence exists that show that people still pay for this failure in terms of high costs of health, as many problems associated with health are deeply rooted in the experiences of a child in their early childhood. [Back this up. Can’t say “evidence exists” without giving the evidence.]

It is also important to acknowledge the significance of the early childhood education from the win-win perspective. Various experts have agreed that when an individual is offering support to the early childhood education, he/she is creating a win-win situation for everyone. They Educators argue that it is more than just a mere cliché, that the person will be investing in his/her own future, as the kids will grow up and start to pay for the social security of those people who supported their education (Magnuson, Ruhm & Waldfogel 42). [awk sent] Most importantly, the education creates the foundation on which the kids grow strong enough to become responsible individuals in society, who defend their country.

In the HighScope Perry Preschool Study, the researchers tracked the lives of more than a hundred young children who were born in poverty. They established that those kids from the disadvantaged communities and low-income families tend to gain more from the early education. The study was initiated in 1962 and started to track the participants from a tender age of either three, or four years old, who were divided into two groups. One group was given a high-quality preschool programming, while the other one was not (Ludwig & and Phillips 8). By the time they reached 40 years, the group with the kids who attended preschool were getting very high earnings, were athad a higher chance of getting employment rate, had generally committed very few crimes, and had most likely graduated from high school, when compared to their counterparts in the other group that who never attended preschool. [Do you have stats for this? And you need to give a quote or provide a source note.]

Impacts Associated with Lack of Preschool Education

There are also those individuals that who criticize pre-kindergarten education. They tend to claim that those differences between the children who have attended the pre-school programs and the ones that who have not received any formal education can only be evident or rather felt during the kindergarten, first, and second grade. After this period, and the remainder of the school years, those kids that who did not get a chance to attend formal educational programs before kindergarten perform at the same level and behave just the same way as their peers who were given pre-kindergarten formal education (Ludwig & Phillips 10). [Give a quote here.] Therefore, in this context, it can be saidthese opponents say that Head Start children are only given an added advantage over their peers for only a couple of years at the beginning of school, but later, the performance of their classmates become similar to theirs. [Bring in a quote or something to back this up.]

Another Issue presented by the critics concerning the Head Start programs is that the kids that who are qualifying for such programs are the ones from families that whot live below the poverty line. This means that the Head Start programs are not readily available for the children coming from all backgrounds. However, it is possible for a child to receive formal pre-kindergarten education through other ways than Head Start programs (Love et al.). They can get educated through their parental teachings at the young age or from a daycare. Those who oppose preschool education claim Despite the fact that although children undergoing the daycare programs are able to develop intellectually, they are bound towill benefit the most when they stay at home with their parents, who educate them. [What is the argument against that? Is it proven that children who are taught by parents at home fare worse than those in school?]

How Children Learn

In spite of our ever-increasing awareness of the benefits associated with early learning,[nc] and the negative consequences associated with ignoring it, high-quality pre-school education programs have not been mandated. This makes them very expensive and exclusive, making them out of reach of many Americans. This problem has made people resort to educating their children at home. Since the majority still feel that the government should never compel people to take their children to pre-kindergarten school, it is important for the parents and relevant stakeholders to understand how best their children learn (Gormley et al. 881). [{What specialists? Must name them.] Most specialists in the field of childhood education state that young children tend to learn best when they are not being pushed too hard, when they get a chance to interact with their friends, and when they are kindly treated by their parents and instructors. Additionally, children tend to learn best when they are given instruction and educational activities in a small portion of the day. This part is highly applicable for the kids enrolled in pre-school programs as it is not advisable for the young children to be kept away from their parents for a long period of time (Belfield). [Give a quote.] Also, a child is not going to benefit when they havehe or she has a teacher with no experience, or when he/she is in a huge classroom. {This topic needs to be earlier in your paper.] {If preschool programs are mandated, how will we avoid having large classrooms, inexperienced teachers, etc.? And where will the funds come from to staff and supply these classrooms in a way that helps children learn?]

Regardless of the differences in opinions that people have about early childhood education, it is undoubtedly clear that children do benefit from getting some kind of education in the early years of their development. We can also conclude that the early years of education refer to the period between the birth of a child, and the time they are in kindergarten. Additionally, it is sound to conclude that there exists no uniform instructions that are fit for all children, as there are those kids who benefit the most from pre-school education, while others get the best from being educated at home. [Isn’t this statement the opposite of what you are arguing? You are arguing for mandated preschool education, not parents teaching at home.] Furthermore, we can also state that most American parents and experts believe that kids benefit the most when they receive educational instruction at home,[nc] from their parent(s). From this analysis, we can conclude without any reasonable doubt that parents need to evaluate their child’s distinct personality before they establish the program that can best suit their child for the most important education in life.{This conclusion does not fit your paper. At first, you were arguing that Head Start children do better than their peers and that the statistics show this. Now you are saying that children do better being taught at home. Which is it? You need to give more hard stats to prove your points.]

WorksWork Cited

Belfield, C. (2008). [How can this be unpublished if you have it? Did you find it on the Internet? Is it a book? You need to clarify this source.] Unpublished analyses of enrollment in any type of center-based program for children who turned 4 (or 3) prior to September of the current school year using data from the NationalHousehold Survey of Education, 2005. {These citations are not in MLA format. You need to redo them.]

Camilli, G., Vargas, S., Ryan, S., & Barnett, W.Set al.. (in press). “Meta-analysis of the effects of early education interventions on cognitive and social development.” Teachers College Record. [incomplete.]

Gormley, W.T., Gayer, T., Phillips, D., & Dawson, Bet al.. (2005). The effects of universal pre-k on cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 41(6), 872-884.

Love, J. M., Kisker, E. E., Ross, C. M., Schochet, P. Z., Brooks-Gunn, J., Paulsell, D., et al. (2002). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families: The impacts of Early Head Start. Volume I: Final technical report. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research Inc.

Ludwig, J., & Phillips, D.A. (2008). Long term effects of Head Start on low-income children. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 40, 1-12.

Magnuson, K.A., Ruhm, C., & Waldfogel, J. (2007). Does prekindergarten improve school preparation and performance? Economics of Education Review, 26, 33-51.

Ramey, C.T., Bryant, D.M., & Suarez, T. M. (1985). Preschool compensatory education and the modifiability of intelligence: A critical review. In D. Detterman (Ed.) Current topics in human intelligence (pp.247-296). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Rivera, Miquela. "The Importance of Quality Early Childhood Education." Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, vol. 74, no. 3, 01 Nov. 2008, pp. 61-63.

Wasik, B.H., Ramey, C.T., Bryant, D.M., & Sparling, J.J. (1990). A longitudinal study of two early intervention strategies: Project CARE. Child Development, 61(6), 1682-1696.

[Formatting problems:

You didn’t include an outline.

Put page numbers on all pages. Use your automatic page numbering (“insert,” “page numbers”)

Grammar:

Commas:

Watch for your comma splices (cs]. That is when you put two sentences together with a comma instead of a period or semicolon. When you write commas, make sure that they separate two independent clauses rather than two dependent clauses. If the clause could stand on its own as a sentence, it is independent. If it is missing something like a subject or verb, it is dependent.

When you have a phrase or word that introduces a sentence, it is set off by commas. Look for words like “while” and “since” and “when” that open up sentences but don’t have independent clauses. Ex:

Occasionally, she ate at a Mexican restaurant.

When he looked at her, he noticed she was staring out the window.

Almost never put a comma with “that.” It means that the next clause is dependent and cannot have a comma. You are also writing fragmented sentences. Ex:
She meant that he was not allowed to go.
Use serial commas (EX: books, tapes, and CDs). Note that there is a comma after “tapes.” That’s the serial coma. Also, when you have two independent clauses joined, they are separated by a comma. Ex:
She came into the door, and he went out the door.


Paper:


A research paper has to be based on research. You have to back up each point in your paper with statistics, examples from sources, quotes, and other data. You are adding page numbers, but these have to be in a source note following the information given from that source. Also, use quotes and statistics to round out your paper.


Your thesis adds more information than you cover in your paper. Rewrite.
Make your thesis more specific. For example, you could have a thesis like this: RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT EXERCISING CAN HELP AN INDIVIDUAL IMPROVE PHYSICAL HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH, AND QLUALITY OF LIFE. In this case, your paper then would first cover “improve physical health, then “mental health,” and last, “quality of life.” Do this to your thesis.
If you have access to any real-life examples of your topic, that would be great. You could interview someone or find one in some of the research you have.
Good use of alternative views.
A research based paper needs to be objective, not subjective. Using words like “I,” “we,” “our,” “my,” etc. are subjective. Stick to facts, not opinions. And don’t use phrases like “I believe” or “I think.” Since this is your paper, the reader already knows that.
In grading your final research papers, I will be looking for how you improved your paper! If your paper is turned in essentially the same as you had in your rough draft, your paper will not get a good grade. I use a computer program feature that compares the rough draft to the final draft in detail.

Quotations:

Use the correct MLA format for source notes: (author’s last name page number) or (“article title” page number) Notice that there are no commas in a source note. 
You did a good job of bringing out your ideas, but you need quotes to back up what you say. Every point has to be backed up!
You can’t just say things like “statistics show” or “research says” without giving the statistics and the research. You also cannot make broad statements about society or people without backing it up with quotes from experts or data. A research paper is all about the research.
Where are your source notes? Each quote needs a source note. It should look like this: (Thompson 455). Also, if you refer to any source in some way, you should also have a source note. That includes paraphrases, summaries, facts, dates, data, and even referring to ideas from any source. You cannot give any kind of information from your sources without giving a source note! This is plagiarism. If all the information in one paragraph comes from the same source, put one source note at the end of the paragraph. I put a lot of “need source notes” in your paper. They may not all be needed. If you are using the same source for an entire paragraph, you can just put one source note at the end, unless you are using different page numbers.
When you have paragraphs that have technical information, you have to show where you got this information. If the entire paragraph is from the same source, put the source note at the end. But make sure you reader knows who the expert in the source note is. Introduce your experts the first time you use that source. You only have to explain who your experts are one time in the paper. If the info in the paragraph comes from more than one source, then you will have to have more than one source note in that paragraph. If you don’t credit your sources, you are plagiarizing.
If you mention the author or article title in your paragraph, then your source note would look like this: (55). If this is the case and you don’t have a page number, then you don’t need a source note. Never put the source note inside a sentence.
When you give a quote, you must set it up and then comment on it after you give it. That means telling who gave the quote and why this person or group is an expert. It cannot substitute for what you say. Your quote is your back-up, your proof. The reader wants to know who your experts are.
When using source notes, put the period after the source note, not before. 

When you have quotes of more than five lines, use block format. Indent the entire quote five spaces and take off the quote marks. You need to include at least one of these in your final draft.
When you have quotes of more than five lines, use no quote marks. The indentation takes the place of the quote marks.
Be sure you italicize book and magazine titles and put quote marks around article titles.

Conclusion:

Make your conclusion the best part of your paper because it is the last thing readers remember. Your conclusion should make sense of all the sub-points you brought up in your paper. How do they all add up? Don’t just list them. Give some groups who would help or who would give good information. For example, these are my sub-points: Exercise helps prevent heart disease. A controlled fat diet builds blockage-free blood vessels. Avoiding smoking prevents many heart diseases. What do they mean to my argument or my topic? In my conclusion, I could wrap all this up by emphasizing that how a person lives early on in life makes a huge difference in how he/she lives in later life and the quality that brings to a person’s outlook. That shows how all my points relate to each other. Your conclusion doesn’t fit the arguments in your paper.
Restate your thesis in different words.

Do not bring in new facts in your conclusion. Your body text is the time to do this.
Works Cited page:

On your Works Cited page, single space your entries. Double space between your entries. Use hanging indent.
Put your Works Cited page on a separate page. (“Control enter” for page break) Also do this for your outline.
Put your entries in alphabetical order. If you start your citation with “the,” “an,” or “a,” disregard these when alphabetizing.
You have lots of errors in your Works Cited entries. Your citations are in AP style, not MLA. Change them.
Use the Core Elements chart to correct your citations. 
This is how to do your web source entries.
Author, last name first name. "Name of Article." Title of overall website italicized. Name of the sponsor, Date the article was published, Permalink. Accessed XXX.
This is how you should do yours, including the punctuation in the example. Notice the hanging indent format. This is how you do automatic hanging indent: “format” then “paragraph” then “Special,” then select “hanging.”
Your book entries should look like this:
Name of author, last name first. Book Title. Publishers, year of publication. 
Your journal article entries should look like this. 
Author’s last name, First name. “Title of article in quote marks.” Title of Journal in Italics. Vol no., year, pp. 46-50.
Online magazine article:
Author’s name. “Title of article.” Magazine Title. Site Sponsor, Date published, permalink. Accessed XXX.
Television program on the web: 
“Title of Episode.” Program. Writ. Prod. Dir. Website. Sponsor, Post date, permalink. Accessed XXX.
Film DVD:

Title. Dir. XXX. Perf. XXX, XXX, and XXX. Company, Year film was made. Studio, Year put on tape. 
Government docs can add a lot to this paper. This is for a government doc on the web:
United States. Issuing Agency. “Title of article.” Book, magazine, or other publication title. Web site. Site Sponsor. Publication date, permalink. Accessed XXX.
For a printed government document:
United States or Issuing Government. Issuing Agency.  Title of Publication. By Authors. GPO, year. 
Remember that these samples may be different for your source depending on the information you have available. You may also have more than one container, which adds to the length of your citation.
Go by the Core Elements chart. A U.S. government is considered a corporate author. See that area of you MLA Handbook for more information. Note the hanging indent format above.
Your turnitin.com report came out fine.]

135/150