Getting Started

To Get You Started

Want to hit the ground running? The following gives you a preview of the first skills you will practice in this course. Getting a head start on these now will make your first week significantly smoother—and give you a sense of what academic writing in this course looks and feels like.

To introduce yourself to some of the works of the course while you wait for it to begin, visit the Monster Works page.

First Up: MLA Style

At the very start of the course, you will be required to format an essay using MLA Style — the documentation system used by writers in the humanities. You can prepare yourself now by watching the following three video lessons and following their directions in your word processor:

1. MLA Style in Google Docs

2. MLA Style PCIT's

3. MLA Style Works Cited

You will need access to Google Docs to follow the instructions in these lessons. All Cerro Coso students have a college-provided Google account and can access Google Docs for free.

Next: Stephen King and the Rhetorical Précis

One of your first formal assignments will be a Rhetorical Précis—a highly structured, four-sentence paragraph that objectively summarizes the who, what, how, and why of an academic argument. It is a specific and learnable form, and practicing it now will give you a real head start.

To practice, read the following:

• "Why We Crave Horror Movies" by Stephen King. (This essay was originally published in King's book Danse Macabre but can be found through a simple search for the title and author's name.)

Once you have read the essay, try writing a rhetorical précis for it. Your first formal project will ask you to do exactly this — so any practice you do now is time well spent. Don't worry about getting it perfect; just give it a genuine try.