Tips and Links

Tips for University Success

1. Always have your homework assignment read, annotated, and be ready to ask and answer questions about it.

2. When emailing your instructor, always use a salutation (Dear…), identify yourself by your full name, and use a closing (Sincerely…).

3. Do not wait until the last minute to write and print your papers. 

4. Attend class punctually.

5. Get to know at least three other people in each of your classes.

6. Be familiar with Blackboard and all its features.

7. Visit the office hours of each of your instructor at least once per term.

8. Have a system for saving copies of all the papers you write for every class, either on your own computer or on a flash drive.

9. Use a calendar to keep track of all your deadlines and assignments.

Standard Academic Usage

1. Titles of books, films, magazines, websites and newspapers are in italics: Macbeth, Amazon.com, New York Times, The Godfather. See PSM sec. 23c.  Use quotation marks only around titles of short works such as poems, articles and reviews in magazines, or chapters in books.  See PSM sec. 20b.

2. Write out all numbers, cardinal and ordinal, that are two words or fewer: one hundred, 352.  The exceptions are dates, addresses, the time of day, percentages, Roman numerals, and decimals. See PSM sec. 23b.

3. Put all foreign words in italics, mise en scène. See PSM sec. 23c.

4. The first time you refer to a person, use his or her full name; after that use only the last name.

5. Avoid slang, clichés, and sexist language. See PSM sec. 9.

6. Always assume that you should use third person (he, she, it, one) rather than the first person (I, we) or second person (you), unless you check with the instructor first.

7. Place punctuation inside quotation marks.  E.g. Shakespeare wrote, “To be or not to be.”  Not, Shakespeare wrote, “To be or not to be”. See PSM 20d.

8. Use quotation marks only around words that are direct quotation.  Do not use them for irony or emphasis.

9. Be sure that pronounces match their antecedent in number and gender.  E.g. A critic must defend his or her negative review of the play.  Or Critics must defend their negative reviews of the play.  Not: A critic must defend their negative review of the play.

Tips for Reading Shakespeare

Be patient.  Shakespeare's English (Early Modern English, we speak Modern English) is different enough to be difficult, but similar enough to get the hang of pretty quickly.  Always read the introduction to the play.  It will give you general ideas about the play and usually alert you to difficult passages.  Give yourself enough time to read everything at least twice.  Try to read the first time without looking at the footnotes.  Keep a pencil in your hand to mark or underline difficult passages or items of interest.

            Much of Shakespeare is written in verse.  It was meant to be spoken out loud.  Try reading out loud and listening to yourself.

            Your edition of the play is well-glossed and annotated.  But its primary audience is high school teachers, so often the notes are sanitized so as not to shock teenage readers.  Therefore it is often useful to double-check definitions.  The best dictionary for Shakespeare is the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).  It is a huge, fifteen volume set in the reference section of the library.  It is also available on-line via the library’s homepage.

Rasmussen's Rule: If you cannot understand a particular passage, it is probably about sex.

McGuire's Dictum: Always remember you are reading playscripts intended to be spoken, not read silently.

Tips for Writing about Shakespeare

There are standard practices that nearly everyone follows when writing about Shakespeare and literature in general.  I have briefly outlined them below and I expect you to learn and follow them. 

            When briefly summarizing or describing the action in a particular scene, always write in the present tense.  "In the closet scene, Hamlet is speaking to his mother, unaware that Polonius is hiding behind an arras."

            When you use a quote from a play, cite the quote’s location in parentheses after the quote.  Give the act, the scene and the line numbers in Arabic numerals, all separated by periods. 

"To be or not to be" (3.1.55).  Do not use page numbers.

1. Always italicize the title of the play.

 2. Identify the act, scene, and lines of the play using Arabic numerals in parentheses at the end of the quotation, after the quotation marks, before the period.  (1.2.23-59)  If the number is over one hundred, only give the last two digits. (1.2.123-55) but (1.2.190-210).

 3. If a quotation of prose is four lines or fewer, put it in quotation marks like a typical quotation.

The Porter believes he is at the gates of hell, “If a man were porter of hell-gate.” (2.3.1).

4. If a quotation is longer than four lines, separate it from your text by indenting it five spaces, type it double-spaced.  Do not use quotation marks, but don’t forget the act, scene, and line numbers.

The Porter, who is most likely drunk, believes that he is in hell,

Here's a knocking indeed! If a man were

porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the
 
key.  Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i'

the name of Beelzebub? (2.3.1-4).

5. If you quote a single line of poetry or less, put it in quotation marks like a typical quotation.

Once he is alone, Macbeth wonders, “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” (2.1.44).

6. Do the same with two or three lines’ worth of poetry, but use a slash (/) to indicate where one line ends and another begins.

Once he is alone, Macbeth wonders, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/The handle toward my hand?” (2.1.44-45).

7. If you quote four or more lines of poetry, set them off as would four or more lines of prose.  Indent the quote five spaces from the left, do not use quotation marks, and don’t forget the act, scene, and lines.

                Once he is alone, Macbeth wonders:

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (2.1.44-51)

8. If you quote dialogue from a play, follow the format for a long quotation.  Begin each portion of the dialogue with the speaker’s name indented five spaces from the left, typed in all capital letters, and ended with a period.  Then type the quotation, indenting all the speaker’s lines an additional five spaces.  When another speaker begins, follow the same format.

     MACBETH. Speak, if you can: what are you?

FIRST WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of

Glamis!

SECOND WITCH. All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of

Cawdor!

THIRD WITCH. All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king

hereafter!

BANQUO.  Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show?  (1.3.50-57)

Length of the Quote

Avoid using long quotes.  It is rare that a long quotation will support a specific point you are trying to make.  If you have to use a long quote, paraphrase the quote instead.

            Do not write about Shakespeare as if he were a person we can know and judge.  We know he wrote the plays, but not much else.  Merchant of Venice may have strong anti-Semitic elements in it, but we can't say Shakespeare the person was anti-Semitic.  We do not know what his motives were in writing the plays so choose your words carefully.  Analyze the plays, not the author.

Links

Son of Citation Machine
http://citationmachine.net/
This website gives you a form to fill in and it will generate a MLA style works cited entry for most of the research you will be doing at Cal.  In the upper left hand corner, click on MLA and follow the directions.  Remember to proofread your works cited page and to put a period at the end of each entry.

Internet Shakespeare Editions
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/index.html
This website is maintained by the University of Toronto and has content created and edited by a wide range of international Shakespeare scholars.  The "Library" section has versions of all the plays and poems, edited and annotated, along with material on their historical contexts. You will find especially good material here on Shakespeare's biography.  The "Theater" section has material related to the performance of Shakespeare's plays, films, and illustrations.

Complete Works of Shakespeare On-line
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
This website has all of Shakespeare's plays in html.  There are no notes, but the individual texts are searchable using your browser's search function.

Matty's Complete Works of Shakespeare
http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/
Another site that uses the same text, but allows you to search multiple texts.

The Oxford English Dictionary
http://dictionary.oed.com
This is the main entrance to the OED on-line.  You shouldn't have any problem using it if you are on campus.  If you are trying to reach it off campus, you should go through the Library's website (http://www.library.cup.edu/).  Click on "Try these first" and scroll down until  you see the link for the OED.

Pyramus & Thisbe

The Beatles' Pyramus & Thisbe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG9lIaabWgM

BBC Pyramus & Thisbe (1981), Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnOzDfCOXFc

BBC Pyramus & Thisbe (1981), Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyjvYSXeZQY

BBC (1981) 2.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEjMqaakug

BBC (1981) 4.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gleDhAQcYJ0

Peter Hall (1968) 2.1.62-103; 5.1.414-35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssrWYf8SWPE

Peter Hall (1968) 3.1.131-208; 4.1.1-46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDQjEJTPzg

Peter Hall (1968) 1.1.67-231
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRoIxwGsBR0

Max Reinhardt & William Dieterle (1935)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Zn9mPW95s
This scene represents the "dream" that occurs while Titania, Bottom, and the four Athenians have while they sleep after 4.1.46.  Oberon can be seen with the Indian boy.

Adrian Noble (1994) 3.2.294-358
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APDtbZ4NYkQ

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