- Find the comic page you need from the "Comics" folder in the shared course folder. When you go to the folder that contains the page you need to open, you double-click on it to open a preview of it in your browser.
- After you have opened the page, click on the Windows button on your computer and start typing "Snipping Tool"--when it shows up in the results list, click on it to open it and move it off to the side so it is not in the way.
- Select the part of the page you want to display in your paper. First, adjust the zoom of the image so that the part you copy is big enough to look good and readable (DO NOT use the whole page). Then click on "New" on the snipping tool so that you can lasso the part of the image you need. Click and drag on the image to surround the part you want. When you do so, you will see a rectangle with a red boundary, showing you what you are selecting. Once the rectangle is around the part you want, let go of the mouse button. The part you selected will then be shown in the Snipping Tool so that you can "Copy" it.
- Now the image you want is on the clipboard, ready to paste into your paper in Google Drive. Next, put your cursor in your Google Doc on a blank, unindented line where you want the image to be. Typically, an image will be after the paragraph in which you refer to it the first time. Just hit "Enter" at the end of a paragraph and make sure the cursor is blinking on the left edge, but not indented like you would a paragraph. Once the blinking cursor is where you want it to be (all the way on the left on a blank line), you can paste the part you selected using "Ctrl+V."
- The next step is to make another blank, unindented line beneath the image you just pasted. So hit "Enter" after you paste the image. On that line, type "Fig. 1. Caption." Later, you will type a caption to describe what the reader is supposed to notice in the image you included. The next one will be "Fig. 2. Caption." then "Fig. 3. Caption." and so on.
- Now you have to resize the image so that it has reasonable dimensions to fit in your paper. Click on the pasted image in your Google Doc. You will see an outline appear. Click on one of the four corners (NOT the sides!) and drag toward the center of the image. This will shrink the image dimensions down to the size you want. Not too big, not too small! If you drag a side, you will distort the image. This is not acceptable, but if you accidentally do it, you can just delete the image and repast it.
- Now, after resizing it (if necessary), with the image still selected, center it using the centering button in the formatting menu.
- After you write your caption, use the the ruler to indent both edges of the caption line so that it looks aligned with the centered image. To do so, pull the triangle notch on the ruler--there is one on the left and one on the right. You will pull both toward the center until the caption text looks good with the centered image.
Also, double-check that your figures are numbered correctly, that you have referenced each figure you create in the paragraph preceding it, and that you have correctly cited the source in your figure citation.
You can find examples of properly formatted MLA figures in this document.
