Essay Checklist
Before you turn in an essay, make sure you go through this checklist.
 MLA heading -top left hand side of page o Name o Teacher’s Name o o
Sally Jones
Ms. Meador o o
Subject- Period ___
Due Date (day month year)
 Don’t put extra lines between paragraphs
 Indent the beginning of a new paragraph o English II- Period 5 o 30 August 2015
 Do not use illegal words – I, very, a lot, happy, sad, good, bad, hard, stuff, things, big, small, little, boring, nice, got, you (referring to the reader)
 Do not include slang (ex. “cause”, “gonna”, “hangin out” ), except in dialogue
 Don’t use contractions (didn’t = did not, I’m = I am, They’re = They are)
 Do not abbreviate words (ex. bc, wo, etc.) or symbols ($, %, &, #, @) – NO text language!!!!
 Handwriting- student must write in legible handwriting
 Check for correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization: o Capitalize proper nouns - names o i or i – NO circle or hearts! o (An I with no dot) o i (A lower case i instead of the capital I) o heLp Me write weLl… (Do not randomly capitalize within words) o Capitalize the beginning of a sentence o Misspelling of words that appear in prompts and texts o Misspelling of words that are in the dictionary o Underline- titles of books, plays, movies o Quotation marks around short stories, articles, and poems discussed in your paper
Illegal Word Substitutions very a lot happy sad good bad hard stuff/things big
Small/little boring nice you awfully, dreadfully, exceedingly, exceptionally, extremely, greatly many, several, multiple, bountiful, plentiful, numerous elated, ecstatic, delighted, exhilarated, thrilled, overjoyed melancholy, forlorn, dejected, disheartened righteous, superb, awesome, spectacular wicked, horrendous, repulsive, vile, hideous arduous, daunting, tedious, solid material, supplies, articles, paraphernalia colossal, titanic, immense, gigantic
Lilliputian, diminutive, miniature, tiny, puny, limited, minute prosaic, tedious, tiresome, monotonous amiable, amicable, enjoyable, pleasant one, the reader