Everything on this page was taken directly from the 2023-2024 FYP Handbook, pp. 22-37, and is posted here solely for quick reference. If there are any questions or confusion around the requirements provided, please reach out to the FYP Office - fypoffice@ukings.ca.
For further writing assistance, please see the Writing Section of this guide.
The full details of the FYP Style Guide are below, but for quick reference, FYP uses the MLA Style for citation. See some helpful links below:
If there is any deviation between this guide and the FYP Handbook, please refer to the FYP Handbook for the most accurate information.
Formal Requirements for Foundation Year Essays
Your essays must meet academic standards. This means that they must be clear, concise, carefully argued, properly spelled, grammatical, and consistent with the citation practices of scholarly writing. Ungrammatical or otherwise weak writing can affect your grades. With diligence and support, your writing can improve dramatically over the year. Our goal is to instil grammatical and formal skills so well that you will be liberated to concentrate most of your writing energy on creative argumentation in the context of your engagement with the text.
Students must submit their essays online via Brightspace. We will provide detailed instructions on the electronic submission procedure at the start of term. King's employs plagiarism-detection software. Students may opt to choose an alternative method of verifying the authenticity of their work. Students seeking an alternative method must consult the Associate Director, Student Support (Tim Clarke) by 15 September 2023. Any alternative method must satisfy the academic requirements of the program and will be subject to approval by the Associate Director. Essays e-mailed to the FYP Office will not be accepted.
As a format guide, the FYP uses the MLA Handbook, 8th edition. Further resources for essay formatting and style will be provided on Brightspace. At the end of this guide (p. 33), you will find a checklist to ensure that your FYP essay will meet the formal requirements of an academic essay. Please note that failure to adhere to formal requirements may affect your grade.
The formatting of references in a regular FYP essay, which usually refers to only one primary source, is relatively simple. You will encounter more complex formal requirements with your Position and Research papers. This guide lays out general stylistic requirements for most regular FYP essays. Beyond this, if you have any doubts about style or how to cite appropriately, please consult your tutor, the MLA Handbook, and the resources available on Brightspace.
The citation requirements of the FYP essay help show your reader that this is an academic essay. A FYP essay uses quotations as evidence for your argument or interpretation and as a way to bring the reader into closer contact with the primary text. It cites those quotations so that the reader can access the original if they wish to do so. It completes the in-essay citation with a Works Cited page that gives your reader the full account of where the quotation came from, what translation was used, who published it and when, thus completing the scholarly task of revealing your sources as fully as possible.
Below you will find details and examples of (1) how to use quotations; (2) how to cite those quotations within your essay; (3) how to complete those citations with a Works Cited page; and (4) some advice on how to distinguish legitimate scholarly internet resources from more dubious ones.
1. Using quotations
We use quotations in our essays when we want to illustrate and defend a point of argument or interpretation of a text. Quotations are crucial pieces of evidence that substantiate the claims of your analysis; they are not mere decorations. Choose carefully: use exactly what you need to support your case and no more.
Every quotation should fit into the essay so that all sentences are not only grammatically correct but also help your reader to follow your argument as easily as possible.
1.1 Quote accurately
All quotations should correspond exactly to the originals. If you leave words out, let your reader know by indicating words omitted with an ellipsis (three spaced periods). Normally an ellipsis is not required either at the beginning or at the end of a quotation.
If you change anything within the quote, enclose your alteration in square brackets [ ]. For example:
Plato claims that "when it [the soul] focuses on what is mixed with obscurity, on what comes to be and passes away, it opines and is dimmed" (508d).
This kind of editing is normally reserved for cases in which the grammatical subject or object of a quoted sentence is unclear. If you do edit a quotation you must be faithful to the explicit meaning of the text. An ellipsis should not be employed to alter the meaning of what is quoted.
1.2 Punctuate carefully
Place commas and periods inside quotation marks. When, however, you use a parenthetical citation immediately after your quotation, the comma or period goes after the citation. For example:
Virgil describes Dido as being "like Diana" (43).
All other punctuation (!?;:) goes outside the quotation marks.
1.3 Incorporated quotations: e.g., quotations of three lines or less
Incorporate shorter quotations into your sentences. Follow the rule that direct quotations of fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse should be incorporated into your sentences. Show your reader that they are quotations by enclosing them in double quotation marks. When a character speaks within your quote, demonstrate this with single quotation marks. For example:
In the Genesis account of the fall of humanity, we read of how Adam hid from God, and of how God "called to the man, and said to him, 'where are you?'" (Gen. 3:9).
With poetry, when you incorporate lines of verse into your own sentence, indicate the line divisions with a slash. Insert one space before and after the /. For example:
In the opening lines of the Inferno, Dante describes how he had found himself "within a shadowed forest, / for I had lost the path that does not stray" (I.2-3).
1.4 Block quotations: e.g., quotations of more than three lines
Place quotations that extend to four or more lines of verse or three or more lines of prose in a free-standing block of text. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks with block quotations. Maintain double-spacing, Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain the original line breaks. For example:
Before Dante begins his ascent up the mountain of Purgatory, Virgil cleanses him in a scene that recalls the ritual of baptism:
my master gently placed both of his hands -
outspread - upon the grass; therefore, aware
of what his gesture and intention were,
I reached and offered him my tear-stained cheeks;
and on my cheeks, he totally revealed
the color that Inferno had concealed. (Purgatorio I.124-129)
Here is an example of prose:
When the creature meets Frankenstein on the glacier, he offers the following justification for his actions:
I am malicious because I am miserable; am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder, if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts, and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when he contemns me? (Shelley 169)
2. Citing your sources
Textual citation is essential to scholarly writing. It is the formal means by which we acknowledge our sources and participate in academic debate. Formal citation shows exactly where each quotation or paraphrased section of your essay originated. It acknowledges indebtedness to the author and it allows your readers to follow your reference back to its source.
While you do not need to cite matters of common knowledge, if something is new to you, it is best to acknowledge your source. Please note that unsupported assertions (whatever their source) are unacceptable in scholarly submissions.
2.1 Formatting citations in the body of your essay
Since all of the publication information about a text is included on the Works Cited page at the end of your essay, we need only basic information in the citation that follows a quotation or paraphrase from a text. Only give as much information as is required (a) to allow the reader to identify the work on the Works Cited page and (b) to refer the reader to the exact part of the text you are quoting or discussing.
In a regular FYP essay, we ask you to identify the author and the page reference. For example:
In the eighteenth century, Cicero enjoyed a wider popularity than Aristotle (Hume 3).
This parenthetical citation in the body of your text would refer the reader to a corresponding entry in your list of Works Cited:
Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Edited by Eric Steinberg, 2nd edition, Hackett Publishing Company, 1993.
2.2 Citations in an essay that has a single text
FYP essays most often deal with only one text. In this case, you need to cite the author's last name only in the first reference. After that, you can simply note the page number. When the identity of the author is obvious from the context, the page reference alone is sufficient.
In his Enquiry, Hume argues that Aristotle's reputation has dwindled (3).
2.3 Plays
Plays are cited by act, scene, and line numbers instead of page numbers. For example: (Shakespeare 5.1.50-57) refers to Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 50-57.
Works of ancient drama are cited simply by line numbers. For example: (Sophocles 112).
2.4 Poetry
Poetry is cited by line or by book (or canto) and line. For example: (Homer 2.30-35) refers to Book 2, Lines 30-35.
2.5 The Bible
The Bible is cited by book, chapter, and verse. For example: (Gen. 1:1-4) refers to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, Verses 1-4. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for titles of Biblical books; for common abbreviations of these titles see the MLA Handbook, §1.6.4.
In general, you cite a text according to the divisions appropriate to the genre. That said, there will sometimes be anomalies. For example, Plato is standardly cited by a special format called Stephanus pagination. For example: (Plato 534b). Stephanus pagination appears in the margins of most scholarly editions of Plato's works.
2.6 Multiple texts by a single author
Sometimes you will read more than one text by the same author. If your Works Cited page contains multiple works by the same author your parenthetical citation will have to identify the title of the work. A shortened version of the title is acceptable.
By the eighteenth century, the fame of Aristotle had "utterly decayed" (Hume, Enquiry 3).
Here the abbreviated form Enquiry is sufficient to indicate that the work in question is Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The reader can then consult the Works Cited page for more details about the work.
2.7 FYP lectures
Generally, information gleaned from FYP lectures is held to be common knowledge and need not be cited. However, you may wish to cite a particular argument or direct quote offered by the lecturer. In this case, follow the format of listing the lecturer's name in parentheses in your text, and listing the lecturer, title of the lecture, date of the lecture, and location in your Works Cited page. For example: (Ilkay, "Rise Like a Phoenix), thereafter (Ilkay). In your list of Works Cited:
Ilkay, Hilary. "Rise Like a Phoenix: Italian Lyric Poetry and Performance" Foundation Year Program, 23 November 2023, University of King's College, Halifax.
2.8 Anonymous sources
When the text is anonymous you should use an abbreviated form of the title. For The Epic of Gilgamesh,, a simple reference to Epic or Gilgamesh suffices.
The dispensing of death and life took place, as Utnapishtim tells us, in the assembly of gods (Epic 107).
3. The Works Cited page
The Works Cited page lists all works cited in the body of the essay. It is appended at the end of the essay, beginning on a separate, numbered page with the title of Works Cited. Simply centre the words Works Cited at the top of the page; they are not underlined, italicized, or placed in quotation marks. The Works Cited page is arranged alphabetically, by last name, and should be double-spaced evenly throughout, between and within entries. The first line of an entry begins at the left margin; subsequent lines are indented 1/2 inch. See sample, page 30.
The standard entry format for a single- author book is as follows:
Author's last name, first name. Title of book. Publisher, year of publication.
For example:
de Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Vintage, 2011.
The main variations of this format are the following:
3.1 Books with multiple authors
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Broadview, 2004.
Note in this example that the second author's name is given in normal order.
3.2 Books with an editor or translator
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Edited by Stella McNichol, Penguin Books, 1992.
If there are more than two editors, cite only the name of the first editor, followed by the expression "et al." ("and others"). Citations for a translator conform to the same format:
Sappho. If Not, Winter. Translated by Anne Carson, Vintage Books, 2003.
If a book does not have an author, list it by the editor's name:
Hammond, N.G.L. and H.H. Scullard, editors. Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1970.
3.3 Two books by the same author
In this case, the entries are arranged alphabetically by title ("The," "A," and "An" are not counted). The author's name is included only in the first entry. In subsequent entries three hyphens are used in place of the name, as in the second entry below.
Euripides. The Complete Euripides, Volume IV: Bacchae and Other Plays. Translated by Reginald Gibbons et al., edited by Peter Burian and Alan Shapiro, Oxford University Press, 2009.
---. Euripides V: The Bacchae et al. Translated by William Arrowsmith, edited by David Grene et al., 3rd edition, The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
3.4 Reprints and subsequent editions
For classic works that are reprinted, you may wish to include the original date of publication. Insert that date immediately after the title, followed by a period.
Pisan, Christine de. The Book of the City of Ladies. 1405. Translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant, rev. edition, Penguin Classics, 1999.
In the case of multiple editions, use the following format. Include only the date of the edition you are using:
Cahn, Steven M., editor. Classics of Western Philosophy. 8th edition, Hackett Publishing Company, 2012.
In some cases a text will be referred to as a "revised edition." In that case, use the abbreviation "Rev. edition," following the same format as the previous example.
3.5 Articles in periodicals
Your position paper and your research paper require you to consult academic articles in scholarly journals. Here the bibliographic format is somewhat different:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Journal title, volume number, issue number, date of publication, page numbers.
Gatens, Moira. "The Art and Philosophy of George Eliot." Philosophy and Literature, vol. 33, no. 1, April 2009, pp. 73-90.
If you are citing an article originally published in print but accessed via an online database, add that container information at the end of the entry (see the MLA Handbook, pp. 30-36).
3.6 Articles in edited collections
Snow, Edward A. "Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and the Ends of Desire." Two REnaissance Mythmakers: Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson, edited by Alvin Kernan, John Hopkins University Press, 1977, pp. 70-110.
3.7 The Bible
The Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version, Penguin Group, 1974.
For the Bible, you should include the version information (as above).
3.8 Readings from the FYP Handbook
Arendt, Hannah. "Labor, Work, Action." Foundation Year Program Handbook, Section VI, University of King's College, 2022, pp. 75-82.
3.9 An image (including a painting, sculpture, or photograph)
List the artist's name, the title of the work of art (italicized), the date of composition, the institution where the work is located, and the city. (For artworks viewed online, see §4.4.)
Cassatt, Mary.Woman Bathing. 1891, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco.
3.10 Introductions, commentaries, prefaces, and forewords
Sometimes you will find that you want to refer not only to the primary material, but also to an important note or comment made by an editor or translator of a work. In Foundation Year, this will come up most typically in relation to a text like Dante's Divine Comedy, for which translator's commentaries are often a valuable resource. These are important secondary sources. As such, you need to list them separately in your bibliography and indicate whether it is an introduction, commentary, or note you are citing.
Musa, Mark. Introduction. The Portable Dante, by Dante Alighieri, edited and translated by Musa, Penguin Books, 2003, pp. ix-xxxvi.
3.11 Works cited indirectly
You may at some point find it necessary to quote or paraphrase an author's work indirectly, through a quotation or citation in a secondary source:
Nagel, Thomas. "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?" Qtd. in Coetzee, J.M. The Lives of Animals. Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 31.
4. Internet sources
The internet offers a plethora of information, some of it reliable. Print publications issued by reputable publishers and print periodicals are reviewed by academics. Electronic versions of many scholarly journals may be found in the library holdings through databases such as JSTOR, Project MUSE, ProQuest and the Philosopher's Index.
Internet sources for the Position Paper and Research Paper should be discussed with your tutor well before the paper is due. The tutor will have final say in determining whether these sources are acceptable, but here are some guidelines that may help you in locating credible academic sources on the internet:
Your best bet is to locate an online periodical sponsored by a university department and reviewed by an editorial board. For an example of such a site take a look at the journal Animus, sponsored by the department of philosophy at Memorial University (www.mun.ca/animus).
General summaries of texts and stock essays from introductory websites can be misleading. Be careful always to return to the original text and to make your own judgements based on your own direct reading of the text from the FYP curriculum.
If you cut and paste phrases, sentences, and arguments from internet sources without quotation marks are attribution, then you are committing plagiarism.
4.1 Citing internet sources
In addition to citing the author and the title of the work, cite the title of the website, the name of the publisher, the date of publication, and the URL for an internet source. When possible, citing a DOI (digital object identifier) is preferable to citing a URL. For example:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of website, publisher, date of publication, URL or DOI.
4.2 An online book
List the author and the title of the book. If applicable, include the name of the editor or translator. Then insert the title of the website in italics, the name of the publisher, the date of publication, and the URL or DOI. You should also note the date that you accessed the website.
Plato. Symposium. Translated by W.R.M. Lamb, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 2016, doi:10.4159/DLCL.plato_philosopher-symposium.1925. Accessed 9 June 2022.
4.3 An entire website
List the author's or editor's name, the title of the website in italics, the name of the publisher, the publication date, and the URL or DOI. You should also note the date of access.
Raffa, Guy P. Danteworlds. The University of Texas at Austin, 2002-2007, danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu. Accessed 30 Oct 2022.
4.4 An image (including a painting, sculpture, or photograph) on a website
If you viewed an artwork online, then you should include the name, in italics, of the website where you found the artwork, the publisher of the website, the date of publication, and the URL or DOI; and you should also include the date of access.
Manet, Edouard. Olympia. Brightspace, University of King's College, 2022, dal.brightspace.com. Accessed 19 March 2023.
A note on the section bibliographies in the Handbook
The Handbook includes bibliographies for each section. These are excellent examples of scholarly bibliographies and they are there to offer you options for providing yourself with a general knowledge of history. The Foundation Year Program follows a chronological order, as we consider a "history of western culture," but the program is not primarily a presentation of historical facts and events. Lecturers provide some historical background, though their focus tends to be a particular text, work of art, or event. Each coordinator has provided a short bibliography as a resource for you to develop your broader historical knowledge. The works listed in these bibliographies are not required reading, but you will find them to be invaluable resources for historical background or detailed information.
CHECKLIST of formal requirements for the FYP essay
Violations of any of these requirements may result in a grade reduction.
The FYP Essay: Tips For Success
In addition to the formal guidelines set out above, here are some things that your tutors are looking for when they grade your papers. Please keep in mind that writing is a never-ending process and you should never expect perfection from your work! Everyone's strengths and areas for improvement will differ and develop at different rates, so don't be discouraged.
And a final piece of advice... have fun! Writing is work, but it can also be a joy, and we hope that you will come to love the process as you go through FYP.