Assignment 4 : Significance of the Mechanics of Writings in Research Project : 22416 - Paper 209 : Research Methodology

• Name : Nirav Lalitbhai Amreliya

• Batch : M.A. Sem. 4 (2021-2023)

• Enrollment N/o. : 4069206420210002

• Roll N/o. : 18

• Subject Code & Paper N/o. : 22416 - Paper 209 : Research Methodology

• Email Address : niramreliyaunofficial@gmail.com

• Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English – Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University – Bhavnagar – 364001

• Date of Submission : 30th March, 2023

Significance of the Mechanics of Writings in Research Project

Introduction : In the book titled as 'MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers' (seventh edition) (2009) published by Modern Language Association of America has the valuable, useful, and crucial guidelines which are advance in helping the research project writing. The books has been published into most recently nine editions whose year-wise list is : (i) 1977 (ii) 1984 (iii) 1988 (iv) 1995 (v) 1999 (vi) 2003 (vii) 2009 (viii) 2016 (ix) 2021. We are having the seventh edition of this book wherein we find content-division into seven main chapters which are :

(1) Research and Writing

(2) Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

(3) The Mechanics of Writing

(4) The Format of the Research Paper

(5) Documentation: Preparing the List of Works Cited

(6) Documentation: Citing Sources in the Text

(7) Abbreviations

All the aforementioned seven chapters have subsidiary chapters within them, here we want to discuss the third chapter titled as 'The Mechanics of Writing' will all its subsidiary chapters coming under it.

The Essential Role of The Mechanics of Writing in Research Project Writing :

The generally observed fact that goes that there is only one way for any source to function in the world - this includes the appropriate amount of degree and the proportionate amount of energy in order to function it in desired way. For instance, plethora of knowledge filled in our brain by travailing of so many years of reading, listening, brainstorming, etc., we need a proper and powerful medium to communicate our knowledge to the world for the sake of spreading the incandescent light of knowledge. The way we require proper mechanical machine which is technically well-crafted with touch of perfection can only be proven the apposite medium to express and excert the amount of energy to desired way for functioning in the world. In the third chapter titled as 'The Mechanics of Writing,' there are eight subsidiary divisions into it :

1. Spelling

2. Punctuation

3. Italics

4. Names of Persons

5. Numbers

6. Titles of Works in the Research Paper

7. Quotations

8. Capitalization and Personal Names in Languages Other Than English

Amongst from the aforementioned milestones, let us understand few to add to our understanding.

1. Spelling :

Spelling of the words is the base for the writing, for spelling leads to statement, statements to paragraph, and paragraphs to writing. The consistency in spelling should be maintained, the way it is grammatically written, it must follow the same pattern, otherwise if it is not done so, the writing will look like merely a note written in jargon which signify nothing in academic field of research project.

Word division is also important. Word divided between lines is something difficult to read. Hyphenation helps in division of words which cannot be clubbed together as there are many exception to it. For instance, words such as 'Post-Colonialism,' 'Big-Hearted,' etc.

Plurals of the singular words are also taken in consideration, in order to find proper passage to information, plurals must be appropriate. There are certain words which find its inevitability in only to be used as plural in most cases. For instance, the words such as 'phenomena,' 'alumni,' 'data,' 'bacteria,' etc. are plural forms of 'phenomenon,' 'alumnus or alumna,' 'datum,' 'bacterium,' etc. respectively.

The uniqueness of foreign words should be maintained in the writing if we use quotes, sentences, phrases, words, and letters. As it is written in foreign language so it must be put in the writing of any language. For instance, if one wants to quote a poem couplet from Gujarati language in one's English writing, then that couplet will be as same as it is written in Gujarati language, sameness of script, signs, punctuations, and other pertaining mechanics must be written as they are found in the language one wants to quote from. This is what makes writing authentic and real in terms of technical accuracy.

2. Punctuation :

Punctuation sets the roughly written sentence into meanings. Punctuation marks are generally used to denote breaks between words, pause, additional information, emphasis, imperatives, interrogation, etc. in order to make the writing meaningful and denoting some kind of general sense to properly understand it. There are many punctuation marks amongst from which 26 are generally used :

(1) . Period

(2) , Comma

(3) : Colon

(4) ; Semi Colon

(5) ? Question Mark

(6) ! Exclamation Mark

(7) - Hyphen

(8) — Dash

(9) ( ) Round Brackets or Parentheses

(10) [ ] Square Brackets

(11) * Asterisk

(12) ' ' Single Inverted Commas

(13) " " Quotation Marks

(14) { } Curly Brackets

(15) < > Angle Brackets

(16) ' Apostrophe

(17) / Slash

(18) ... Ellipses

(19) & Ampersand

(20) • Bullet Point

(21) # Pound Symbol

(22) ~ Tilde

(23) \ Backlash Symbol

(24) @ At Symbol

(25) ^ Caret Symbol

(26) | Pipe Symbol

Let us get acquainted with few of the punctuation marks with its significance in writing to make it striking and meaningful :

(1) Period : Period is used to denote the end of the statement.

E.g., "I wanted to live, but destiny did not allow me. You lived a thousand years."

(2) Comma : Comma is used to denote pause and halt between two connected sentences.

E.g., "You told me that you would come, you did not come."

(3) Colon : Colon is used to give further information about previous statement.

E.g., "I found one person : he was hunter."

(4) Semi Colon : Semi Colon is used to show the relation of a sentence to its previously written one :

"He never visited Susan afterwards; he turned out to be a coward in relationship."

(5) Quotation Marks : Quotation Marks are used to denote titles and the spoken words as they are in writing. E.g., "I asked, "Have you visited her?" Upon which he replied that he did not."

This is how the significance of punctuation marks is seen in every writing.

3. Names of Persons :

When we use person's name in writing, we have to use it fully and accurately as we cite it in the source.

The nom de plume of an author is also accepted as it is written in his/her writing, in order to illustrate :

- Mark Twain for Samuel Clemens

- George Eliot for Mary Ann Evans

- O. Henry for William Sydney Porter

- Molière for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin

- Stendhal for Marie-Henri Beyle

Refer to the characters's names of writings as they are mentioned by the authors, for example, Dr. Jekyll, Father Paneloux, Old Man, Dr. Primrose, etc.

4. Numbers :

Use of numbers in writing is also an area of expertise for it marks the exact amount of its correlated data. There should be precision in writing numbers, they are of any kind, Arabic and Roman are mostly preferred in academic writing. In order to illustrate :

- Use 1, 2, 3,... to denote sequence of things mentioned in list.

- Use i, ii, iii,... to denote subsidiary chapters within main chapters.

- Use 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th... to denote the place of persons, things, or any other material in a sequence.

Cardinal Numbers and Ordinal Numbers are also the parts of this.

E.g., "This is the list of vegetables : 1. Carrots, 2. Tomatoes, 3. Cabbage."

E.g., "In the first part of the play, we find characters such as (i) Greta, (ii) Graham, and (iii) Paul.

E.g., "This is the dashboard : Cleven stands 1st, 2nd is Riner, and Ronda stands 3rd in the race."

This how precision in numbers has its own place in research project writing which - if left unfilled - cannot be filled by any other technical tool of mechanics of writing. Importance of numbers is also there outside from academic writing, especially in day-to-day life for its use is so ingrained that we cannot imagine a world devoid of numerical stratification for the things we all come across on the daily basis in our life.

5. Capitalization and Personal Names in Languages Other Than English :

There are particular methods followed to capitalize the names which vary from language to language each having its specific method for the names belonging to that language to be written in one specified way.

In French language, there are two methods widely accepted to capitalize French titles and subtitles of works, the first method includes capitalizing all the first words in titles and subtitles and all proper nouns in them. For instance, 'La chambre claire: Note sur la photographie,' etc. The second method deals with the titles and subtitles and its relation to the articles, first noun, and preceding adjectives which all are capitalized. For instance, 'Nouvelle Revue d'Onomastique.'

In German language, 'von' is not used with the last name alone, but some exceptions are also there. For example, 'Droste-Hülshoff' for Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, 'Kleist' for (Heinrich von Kleist), but 'Von Braun' for Wernher Von Braun and 'Von Trapp' for Maria Von Trapp are some exceptions too.

Conclusion : Punctuation helps in formatting not inly the writing hut the way meaning is expected to be generated through it is also take care of with precise and accurate use of punctuation marks when the mechanics of writing research project is concerned. This entire chapter of Mechanics of Writing is devoted in giving the finishing touch to the overall performance of research writing which is completely connected with academic realm where form and formation are two obvious aspects which are highly expected from the researchers and scholars to maintain with apposite use of such academic tools.

• (Word Count : 1536)

Works Cited :

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Edited by David G. Nicholls and Rosemary G. Feal, Modern Language Association of America, 2009.