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Ima Goodstudent
Teacher name
Class title, period
Day month year
Common Language Guide: Expected Format for Essays
titles feature initial capitalization of all words except articles, prepositions, and
coordinating conjunctions
Paper format instructions: 1” margin all sides, 12-point Times or Arial font, double-spaced, tab
indent for all paragraphs. No extra spaces are between paragraphs. The left top corner contains
a full MLA heading. The running header of last name page number appears on the upper right of
each page. Insert this running header by clicking on “view,” “header and footer”, type in your
last name, and click the ‘insert page number’ icon.
A strong essay’s opening lines in the INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH direct readers’
attention to its purpose with an ATTENTION-GETTING DEVICE. This attention-getter should link to
the essay content by a BRIDGE sentence. Sometimes, writers will need to include brief
BACKGROUND information about the essay’s subject if they assume the audience does not know
necessary ideas of the essay. The writer ends the introduction paragraph with a THESIS which provides
a guide for the writer and reader, and includes these three elements: WHAT (What is the essay’s
subject?); HOW (How does the author use devices, characters, plot to create meaning?); WHY (Why
does this matter? What does he/she want readers to know or understand about the subject?).
A body paragraph begins with a TOPIC SENTENCE that presents the paragraph’s argument,
the purpose of the paragraph. A topic sentence supports the thesis, and, like the thesis, provides a guide to
readers and a structure for writers. The content of the paragraph matches the stated topic sentence idea.
Writers do this by re-reading the paragraph, then revising the topic sentence to make sure it states what
the paragraph actually argues. The body paragraph provides evidence: quotations, examples, and analysis
for the topic. Brief plot action provides CONTEXTUAL SET-UP that surrounds each quotation to
remind the reader of the information needed to understand the example. Writers create QUOTE
WEAVES to place quoted EVIDENCE smoothly in the body paragraph. Writers do this effectively by
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“placing the most important portion of the quote” within the construction of the sentence (Smith 5).
Another effective way is a full-sentence description followed by the quote: “the quotation serves as an
example of the weave” (Brown 55). All evidence, including paraphrased examples, must be cited.
Woven quotations and examples are followed by ANALYSIS. Analysis explains how the evidence
supports the paragraph’s argument. Writers should create flow in body paragraphs using TRANSITIONS
(see list at the end of this document). A body paragraph’s CONCLUDING SENTENCE serves one or
two purposes: to link the paragraph’s point back to the thesis, and/or to transition to the next paragraph.
Each body paragraph begins with a new topic sentence. The topic sentence is followed by 1)
contextual set-up; 2) woven, quoted, and cited evidence; 3) analysis, and 4) a concluding sentence. Good
writers vary sentence length. Some sentences are long and descriptive, while others should be short,
pointed sentences. Also, transitions create a flow of ideas in the essay. Length of body paragraphs varies,
but a well-developed paragraph generally runs about ten sentences. If one of the body paragraphs is
much shorter than the rest, writers should consider if there is enough evidence and analysis. Writers
should also carefully consider any body paragraph running more than a page in length to see if can be
divided into more manageable paragraphs.
The conclusion paragraph begins with a RESTATEMENT OF THE THESIS, using different
words and structure than the original thesis. This is not a repetition of the thesis. Next, writers provide a
SYNTHESIS that brings together the meaning of the entire essay and shows how the thesis applies to the
larger world. The essay ends with a powerful last sentence: the CLINCHER. The clincher, which may
connect back to the attention-getting device, ends the essay in a thought-provoking manner.
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EFFECTIVE TRANSITIONS:
Comparison
likewise, similarly, also, again, in the same manner, in comparison
Contrast
although, but, conversely, despite, even though, however, in contrast, in spite of,
instead, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the one
hand, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, yet
for example, for instance, such as, specifically, in particular, to illustrate, namely,
indeed, in fact, in other words, obviously, of course, simply stated, put another
way, that is
as a result, consequently, since, accordingly, if . . . then, due to this, for this
reason, therefore
and, too, moreover, in addition, additionally, besides, furthermore, next, also,
finally, indeed
as a result, as demonstrated, as the data (examples) show, accordingly, as a
consequence, thus, thereupon, in short
Examples and
Explanations
Cause and Effect
Addition
Conclusion
QUOTE WEAVES:
A quote can be woven in the following ways:
1. Person speaking, situation, and another word for ‘said’
Example:
Frustrated over his father’s lack of understanding, Cory exclaims,
“What you do that for, Pop?” (Wilson 57).
2. Full sentence describing the situation, colon, quotation
Example:
Cory, enraged at his father’s interference, confronts Troy: “What you do that for, Pop?”
(Wilson 57).
3. Drop-in: begin the description, fit the quote right into the sentence
Example:
Cory is upset with Troy because Troy “ruined the one chance [he] had” (Wilson 57).
CITATIONS:
After a quotation or paraphrased text example, cite the source to give credit to the author.
If there is an author of the text, cite the author’s last name and page number(s).
Weave “quote” (Wilson 5).
The quotation marks come before the citation, and the final punctuation comes after the citation.
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BRACKETS:
Sometimes, you will need to add words or change words within the quote to form a grammatical
sentence. Changes are made inside brackets [the non-shift keys located to the right of the letter
“P” on the keyboard]. For example, you may need to change a capital letter to lower case
because in your sentence, the capital letter would be incorrect.
Always use brackets to show this change. See the third example above. The “I” was changed to
“he” to fit the sentence. Because the original quote was changed, brackets were used to show that
change.
Another example:
When Rose informs Troy that Gabe has been taken to the institution, she reports that “[t]hey went
over to Miss Pearl’s and got Gabe today” (Wilson 74).
In the original quote, the ‘t’ was capitalized because it was the beginning of the sentence. The writer
needed to change that to fit it into the drop-in quote weave.
ELLIPSES:
Sometimes you need to cut out part of a quote. Use ellipses to show this.
An ellipsis looks like this: . . .
 Remember, an ellipsis is (space) . (space) . (space).
 A sequence of four periods separated by spaces is only used if your omission runs
over more than one sentence.
 If you are cutting out a large segment of the original quotation, such as full sentences,
bracket your ellipsis like this: [. . . .]
Example:
“I told you I ain’t signed nothing, woman! [. . . .] Hell, I can’t read, I don’t know what they had on
that paper” (Wilson 75).
Attached at the end of the paper:
A WORKS CITED PAGE lists all sources the student actually includes in the essay. The basic entry for
books, internet sites, and periodicals follow. The page is titled “Works Cited” and the title is centeraligned. The entries are in alphabetical order, double-spaced, and created with hanging indents.
Include the running header (last name, page number) at the top right on this page too!
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Works Cited
** USE http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl to check how to write entries for different sources
to create a works cited page! Remember to include all sources that you cited in your paper
and alphabetize your entries.
Books:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Medium of Publication.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.
Websites:
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Sponsor,
publisher, organization affiliated with the site. date of resource creation (if available).
Medium of publication. Date of access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008.
Web. 23 Apr. 2008.*
*although MLA no longer requires it, your teacher may ask that you add on the url at the end of
the website citation.