Tutorials

WELCOME TO THE ACADEMIC TUTORIAL HOME PAGE

This section was designed to assist NHS students in a variety of subjects.

If you would like to see a tutorial on a specific subject, please send an email to Mr. Pluma at: [email protected]

New sections are being added each day.

Go Lancers!

HOW TO CITE SOURCES

If you are using someone else's work or quoting someone in your papers, you must give credit where credit is due. You may be accused of a serious offense called plagarism if you don't. The Modern Language Association (MLA) has come up with with one such method to avoid just that.

When you are using the MLA style, you briefly credit your sources in the text and then you give a complete description of the source in the Works Cited page. Below are a few common examples of how to do this. Check with your teacher to find out what method of citation they prefer.

QUOTATION IN TEXT
You must give the name of the author and the page number where you found the material quoted in the text: Lack of sleep is a major hindrance for teenagers ' abiltity to learn (Douglas 10).

For all non-print sources (film, interviews, web listings, etc.), use the last name that identifies the source int the Works Cited page.

WORKS CITED PAGE
Set the left and right margins to 1 inch and the top and bottom margins to 2 inches. Type the title: Works Cited in the top center of the page. Alphabetize the sources by the first letter of each entry (last name or title). If the entry takes up more than one line, indent the subsequent lines with 5 spaces.

EXAMPLES
Book:                          Doe, John U. American Presidents.
                                        New York City: MacMillan, 2001.

Periodical:                   Doe, Jane S. "A Great Country To Live In."
                                            Time Magazine 12 Dec. 2000: 20-21.

Scholary Journal:         Doe, Jim A. "The Constitution."
                                            American Law 3 (1998): 30-45.
Personal Interview:       Smith, John: President ASA.
                                            Personal Interview. 25 August 2006.

Interview/Web Sources: Jones, John B. Undergraduate English Resoures.
                                            20 Nov. 2005. Johnstown University.
                                            5 Oct.2006<www.johnstown.edu/english/overview.html.

HOW TO WRITE A PAPER

At the outset of a new writing assignment you may feel overwhelmed, not knowing how to accomplish this or even where to begin! No worries, it's a piece of cake. Below are guidelines to help you write a great and fun paper.

1. GETTING STARTED

*Make sure you understand the assignment.

*When is it due?

*Is this a fiction or non-fiction based assignment?

*Do you choose your topic, (see next page), or is chosen for you?

*Set deadlines for each of the following steps.

*Start early- this is a key factor in making the paper fun.

2. FINDING FOCUS

You may be excited about your topic and want to start writing right away. Slow down. First you need to FOCUS.

Your topic may be animals, but the length of your paper may be restricted to four pages.Which particular animals, or what aspect about those animals do you want to research?

3. GATHERING INFORMATION

This is the fun part about of the process-think of it as a treasure hunt.
Clues may be found in: books, periodicals, CD-ROMs, encyclopedias, the Internet and even through personal interviews.

*Take organized notes as you read.

*Remember to keep track of where you found each piece of information.
It is very important to document the sources used in your paper.

*Once you have gathered your reasearch notes it is time to organize them and formulate the MAIN POINT of your paper.

4. WRITING THE PAPER

Are you on track? Review the purpose of the assignment.

*Create a rough outline. The 'flow' of your paper will help the reader follow your logic as you set out to achieve your main point.

*Create a rough draft.

*Proof-read and feedback from your parents and friends.

*Is your mainpoint and supporting information clear?

*Does the 'flow' of your paper make sense?

*Did you achieve your main point?

*Incorporate this feedback and your own final revisions into your final draft.

PARTS OF SPEECH

NOUN: Names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Common nouns refer to any non-specific person, place, thing,
or idea and are not capitalized.

PRONOUN: Replaces a noun, a noun and its modifiers, or another pronoun.
The element replaced is called the antecedent. There are many types of
pronouns: personal, impersonal, relative, demonstrative, interrogative,
reflexive, intensive, reciprocal, and indefinite. There are three kinds of
pronouns: subjective- subject of the sentence, objective- object of
the verb or preposition, and possessive- expresses ownership.

VERB: Expresses an action or a state of being. Action verbs shown action.
Linking verbs link a word toward the end of a sentence with a word at
the beginning of that same sentence. Linking verbs are often a form of
the verb "be". Verbs also identify the time of action (i.e. past, future).

ADJECTIVE: Describes a noun or a pronoun.
Adjectives answer three questions about nouns and pronouns:
which one, what kind, or how many?

ADVERB: Describes verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
It answers five questions: when, where, how, why, and to what extent.
Adverbs are often formed by adding -ly to an adjective.

CONJUNCTION: Connects words, phrases, or clauses together.
Coordination-or, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.
Subordinating-because, if, so, although, since, as, unless, where,
before, than, though, that, when, after, and whereas.
Correlative-both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also,
and whether/or.

PREPOSITION: Indicates the relationship of a noun or pronoun
to another word in a sentence: to, into, across, toward, up, down, at,
in, on, under, over, before, after, during, for, against, with.

INTERJECTION: A word or phrase used independently to
express strong emotion, surprise, or to summon attention.
Interjections are followed by an exclamation point, or by a comma
when the feeling is not as strong.

PUNCTUATION

. ? !  END PUNCTUATION
Every sentence must have punctuation at its end. There are three marks that can be used at the end of the sentence: A period, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
    Example: I don't understand. Do you really mean that? Wow!

,  COMMA
Use a comma if a sentence contains a list of people, things, or ideas.
    Example: Jeff, John, and Andy are in my history class.
Use a comma before conjunctions when the sentences joined by the conjunction both have a subject and a verb.
    Example: The class went on a field trip, but John stayed home.
Use a comma to separate dates:
    Example: I started school on August 1, 2007.

-  HYPHEN
Use a hyphen to make a compound word.
    Example: I got my first ten-speed bicycle as a nine-year-old.
Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun.
    Example: Krusty is a well-known clown.

( )  PARENTHESES
Use parentheses to enclose explanatory or supplementary material that interrupts the normal sentence structure.
    Example: I was born in Boulder (Colorado) on March 20 (the first day of spring).

:  COLON
Use a colon to direct attention to an explanation or summary, a series, or a quotation.
    Example: They brought many items to the party: chips, soda, music, gifts, and games.
Use a colon to introduce a list, at the end of a salutation, or between numbers used to indicate time.
    Example: Dear Kaite: The party starts at 7:30.

" "  QUOTATION MARKS
Use quotation marks before and after direct quotes.
    Example: At the end of the interview she said,"You're hired!"

;  SEMICOLON
Use a semicolon between main clauses not linked by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor,so, yet).
     Example: Listen carefully; the story gets better.
Use a semicolon to separate a series of items which themselves contain commas.
    Example: The pet store sells food, toys, cages; cats, dogs, mice; and an assortment of animal leashes.

{ }  BRACE
Use the brace to group information together, particularly in note taking.
    Example: {Dogs, Cats, Elephants} are all examples of animals.

[ ] BRACKETS
Use brackets around material added to someone else's quotation.
    Example: "We [citizens of the United States] have nothing to fear but fear itself."

/  SLASH
Use slash between terms to indicate that either term is acceptable.
    Example: Sometimes a nap and/or food can put me in a better mood.

'  APOSTROPHE
Use an apostrophe to show ownership or posession.
    Example: Mr. Hansen's gloves are in his car.
Use an apostrophe to show where letters have been left out of shortened words.
    Example: I'll (sha- or wi- have been omitted.)

BASIC HTML (HyperText Markup Language) TAGS or CODES
Note: Click on a tag for an example. If deprecated, ask Mr. Pluma for the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) alternative.

    Defines a comment
<!DOCTYPE>     Defines the document type
<a>    Defines an anchor
<abbr>    Defines an abbreviation
<acronym>    Defines an acronym
<address>    Defines an address element
<applet>    Deprecated. Defines an applet
<area>    Defines an area inside an image map
<b>    Defines bold text
<base>    Defines a base URL for all the links in a page
<basefont>    Deprecated. Defines a base font
<bdo>    Defines the direction of text display
<big>    Defines big text
<blockquote>    Defines a long quotation
<body>    Defines the body element
<br>    Inserts a single line break
<button>    Defines a push button
<caption>    Defines a table caption
<center>    Deprecated. Defines centered text
<cite>    Defines a citation
<code>    Defines computer code text
<col>    Defines attributes for table columns
<colgroup>    Defines groups of table columns
<dd>    Defines a definition description
<del>    Defines deleted text
<dir>    Deprecated. Defines a directory list
<div>    Defines a section in a document
<dfn>    Defines a definition term
<dl>    Defines a definition list
<dt>    Defines a definition term
<em>    Defines emphasized text
<fieldset>    Defines a fieldset
<font>    Deprecated. Defines text font, size, and color
<form>    Defines a form
<frame>    Defines a sub window (a frame)
<frameset>    Defines a set of frames
<h1> to <h6>    Defines header 1 to header 6
<head>    Defines information about the document
<hr>    Defines a horizontal rule
<html>    Defines an html document
<i>    Defines italic text
<iframe>    Defines an inline sub window (frame)
<img>    Defines an image
<input>    Defines an input field
<ins>    Defines inserted text
<isindex>    Deprecated. Defines a single-line input field
<kbd>    Defines keyboard text
<label>    Defines a label for a form control
<legend>    Defines a title in a fieldset
<li>    Defines a list item
<link>    Defines a resource reference
<map>    Defines an image map
<menu>    Deprecated. Defines a menu list
<meta>    Defines meta information
<noframes>    Defines a noframe section
<noscript>    Defines a noscript section
<object>    Defines an embedded object
<ol>    Defines an ordered list
<optgroup>    Defines an option group
<option>    Defines an option in a drop-down list
<p>    Defines a paragraph
<param>    Defines a parameter for an object
<pre>    Defines preformatted text
<q>    Defines a short quotation
<s>    Deprecated. Defines strikethrough text
<samp>    Defines sample computer code
<script>    Defines a script
<select>    Defines a selectable list
<small>    Defines small text
<span>    Defines a section in a document
<strike>    Deprecated. Defines strikethrough text
<strong>    Defines strong text
<style>    Defines a style definition
<sub>    Defines subscripted text
<sup>    Defines superscripted text
<table>    Defines a table
<tbody>    Defines a table body
<td>    Defines a table cell
<textarea>    Defines a text area
<tfoot>    Defines a table footer
<th>    Defines a table header
<thead>    Defines a table header
<title>    Defines the document title
<tr>    Defines a table row
<tt>    Defines teletype text
<u>    Deprecated. Defines underlined text
<ul>    Defines an unordered list
<var>    Defines a variable
<xmp>    Deprecated. Defines preformatted text

If you are running Windows, start Notepad.

If you are on a Mac, start SimpleText.

In OSX start TextEdit and change the following preferences: Open the "Format" menu and select "Plain text" instead of "Rich text". Then open the "Preferences" window under the "Text Edit" menu and select "Ignore rich text commands in HTML files". Your HTML code will probably not work if you do not change the preferences above!

Type or copy the following text:

<html>
<head>
<title>Title of page</title>
</head>
<body>
This is my first homepage. <b>This text is bold</b>
</body>
</html>

Save the file as "mypage.html".

Start your Internet browser. Select "Open" (or "Open Page") in the File menu of your browser. A dialog box will appear. Select "Browse" (or "Choose File") and locate the HTML file you just created - "mypage.html" - select it and click "Open". Now you should see an address in the dialog box, for example "C:\MyDocuments\mypage.html". Click OK, and the browser will display the page.

Example Explained

The first tag in your HTML document is <html>. This tag tells your browser that this is the start of an HTML document. The last tag in your document is </html>. This tag tells your browser that this is the end of the HTML document.

The text between the <head> tag and the </head> tag is header information. Header information is not displayed in the browser window.

The text between the <title> tags is the title of your document. The title is displayed in your browser's caption.

The text between the <body> tags is the text that will be displayed in your browser.

The text between the <b> and </b> tags will be displayed in a bold font.

To learn more codes to add to your website click on our other HTML tutorials.

For more imformation you could also check out w3schools.com

How To Customize Text

If you would like to customize your text, use the following HTML (HyperText Markup Language) tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) attributes.

<font style="font-family: verdana; color: red; font-size: 10pt;">

Only this text will be Verdana, Red, and 10pt.

</font>

Note: Only the text between the open <font> and closed </font> tags will be affected. Feel free to repeat the code to customize any part of your text.

Hello, and welcome to the "Embed Video" tutorial.

Embed Video

Videos can be embedded into your web pages two different ways. One method is to use the <embed /> tag to display your media file. The embed tag does not require a closing tag. In fact, it works much like the image tag. A SRC attribute must be defined by the correct URL in order for the video file to be displayed correctly.

<embed src="videos/mariah_carey.mpeg" autostart="false" />

Video as a Link

You may also simply place the URL of your media files into the href attribute of an anchor tag, much like the concept of "thumbnailing" images.

<a href="videos/mariah_carey.mpeg"> Mariah Carey Video </a>

How To Insert An Iframe

Step 1: To insert an iframe into your webpage, copy and paste the following code between the open<body> and closed </body> tags:

<iframe src http://www.google.com name="any_name" width="100%” height=100%"></iframe>

Step 2: Here is an example of an iframe:

Note: If you want to open another webpage inside the iframe, the hyperlink must point to the iframe using the target attribute and the value of the name attribute like in this example:

<a href="bio.html" target="any_name">Open the Biography Page in the Iframe Link</a>

The IMG (Image) Tag and the SRC (Source) Attribute

In HTML, images are defined with the <img> tag.

The <img> tag is empty, which means that it contains attributes only and it has no closing tag.

To display an image on a page, you need to use the src attribute. Src stands for "source". The value of the src attribute is the URL of the image you want to display on your page.

The syntax of defining an image:

<img src="url">

The URL points to the location where the image is stored. An image named "boat.gif" located in the directory "images" on www.w3schools.com has the URL: http://www.w3schools.com/images/boat.gif.

The browser puts the image where the image tag occurs in the document. If you put an image tag between two paragraphs, the browser shows the first paragraph, then the image, and then the second paragraph.

The Alt Attribute

The alt attribute is used to define an "alternate text" for an image. The value of the alt attribute is an author-defined text:

<img src="boat.gif" alt="Big Boat">

The "alt" attribute tells the reader what he or she is missing on a page if the browser can't load images. The browser will then display the alternate text instead of the image. It is a good practice to include the "alt" attribute for each image on a page, to improve the display and usefulness of your document for people who have text-only browsers.

Basic Notes - Useful Tips

If an HTML file contains ten images - eleven files are required to display the page right. Loading images take time, so my best advice is: Use images carefully.

<bgsound src="music/name_of _song.mp3">

Make a folder to put your music in
It should be named music
The song that is desired as the background song has to be mp3

This is the HTML Rows and Column tutorial. In this demonstration we will be discussing the meanings of the table code.

1. To begin the table you are going to start off the code with :

<table width="xxx" height="xxx" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" border="1">

(you may change the size of your height and width by percentage or pixels)

2. We are now going to create the first row with three columns with the code:

<tr>

<td align="center"> Table 1</td>

<td align="center"> Table 2</td>

<td align="center"> Table 3</td>

</tr>

(<td> creates each table)

3. Now, we are going to add the last two rows of our table,

using the <tr>, it will start a new row.

<tr>

<td align="center"> Table 4</a>

<td align="center">Table 5</td>

<td align="center">Table 6</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td align="center">Table 7</td>

<td align="center">Table 8</td>

<td align="center">Table 9</td>

</tr>

4. To close and finish the table you will use:

</table>

How to Insert Text & Image Links

Step 1: To add a text link to your webpage copy and paste the following code to your web page.

<a http://www.google.com Link To Google</a>

Note: <a> is the anchor tag, href points to the website or webpage, and the Text Link to Googleis just that, a text link.

Step 2: To add a image link to your webpage copy and paste the following code to your webpage.

<a http://www.google.com

<img src="pictures/google_logo.jpg">

</a>

Note: <a> is the anchor tag, href points to the website or webpage, and the <img> tag is the image link.