Drama Essay: General Comments
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grammar, punctuation, spelling
o ** underline plays**
o gods = plural, lowercase (not monotheism)
o woman vs. women; than vs. then
o apostrophe + s for possessives
o no informalities, slang
o no “you” throughout – no 2nd person POV
organization
o Thesis Statement always ends the Introduction
o Classic Example Essay
o Comparison (or Contrast) Essay
documentation
o * prove w/RESEARCH (documented support, not opinion)
o * cite directly quoted information AND cite paraphrased information
o * cite immediately, not eventually
 after every sentence of borrowed info
o (Author’s Last Name + Page Number).
o * always include a page referent
o * if no page numbers appear onscreen, use ‘Subheadings’ or par.#
o see Block Quotes handout for BQ
 no quot. marks, indent all, keep double-spacing, period before PC
o quotes from a play
 place a slash (/) at the end of each line as it appears in our text
 “How dare you say that / to me! Who do you think / you are?!”
 (Sophocles ll.345-46).
o present tense when referring to the play or a source
 Antigone hangs herself, Creon vows, Ismene says
 Dr. Smith asserts, the anonymous author notes
o place [brackets] around anything you alter in the original quote (including ellipses)
o if the quote does not begin with a capital letter, but needs to, place brackets around it
 Smith claims, “[A]fter Antigone is entombed, she’s not seen onstage again” (par.5).
works consulted page
o MLA format
o Publisher, DOP. Web. DOA. <complete URL>.
o dates = in military style (day month year)
o abbreviate all months except May, June, July
o end every citation, regardless of medium, with a period
formatting
o page #1 header
o pages 2+ header
o Title
 Topic + Main Idea
 don’t underline, bold-face, use quotation marks (just center)
 don’t try to be cute
 don’t be vague, unclear
 don’t misunderstand the “grabbing attention” suggestion
 you grab academic readers’ attention by being clear