Most common errors in Caesar essays
1 LACK OF PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE! Do not say ‘may’ could’ ‘should’
‘might’ ‘seems’. DO SAY ‘certainly’ ‘clearly’ ‘definitely’
2
Write in 3rd person. Don’t refer to ‘you’ or ‘I’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’
3
WRITE IN PRESENT TENSE!!!!!
4
Relative Pronoun + Antecedent- make sure they agree!!!
WHEN Brutus and Cassius are talking about murder and suicide, he
says he does not believe in it. ???!!!!????
clarity folks!!!!
5
Do not use “If” statements in a literary essay. Stick to the
facts. (ie) DO NOT SAY: If Brutus had never listened to Cassius, then
the plot would never have happened because Caesar would not have
been killed.
Instead, speak in certainties- (ie) “Since Brutus is manipulated by
Cassius, he
murders Caesar, thus beginning the plot of the
play.”
6
DO Use clear topic sentences to begin each paragraph. Identify in
these topic sentences what it is you intend to prove. Identify the
purpose of each paragraph right at the beginning in the TOPIC
SENTENCE . SIMILARILY, YOU MUST USE A CLEAR
CONCLUDING SENTENCE TO REMIND THE READER OF
WHAT YOU HAVE PROVEN…but do NOT SAY ‘This has
proven that….
7
DO Introduce each quote. It is not enough to say,
“The rising action starts with an inciting incident: “The firebomb exploded”
(p.25)
You must introduce clearly. Say instead, The rising action in this novel
begins with a clear inciting incident of the bomb going off in the
center of town, “The firebomb exploded, shocking the
neighbourhood” (p.25)
On the same note,ensure that the quote you use actually proves your
point Therer is no sense in using a quote that does not prove or help
to prove the point made in the body REVIEW PROPER IN-TEXT
CITATION!!.
8
Do NOT write “this paragraph will examine…” or “this essay has
proven”, or ‘all inall, this essay shows.’ AND! Do NOT refer to your own essay
within your essay!!!! (Do NOT say, a few paragraphs ago,…..)Your level of
writing needs to be much more creative and professional !
9 DO Make sure each of your points proves your thesis!  EXAMPLE: after
each of your 3 points, ask yourself: “does this help TO prove the thesis ?”
10 Be sure to use commas, semi-colons and colons appropriately. These
are not interchangeable!
INCORRECT:
Kara has a fairly large family, her grandparents, her aunts, her uncles and her
cousins, which she has many of.
CORRECT:
Kara has a fairly large family consisting of her grandparents, aunts, uncles and
cousins, all of which she has many of.
Or
Kara has a fairly large family: grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are all
important to her.
Or
Kara has a fairly large family; it consists of her grandparents, aunts, uncles and
especially cousins, which she has many of.
11 Parallel Structure: Parallel structure means using the same pattern of
words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.
This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level.
INCORRECT:
Additionally, her interests involve listening to music, horseback riding and she
enjoys make up.
CORRECT:
Additionally, her interests involve listening to music, riding horses and applying
make up.
12 Always underline or italicize book titles and movie titles; always
place items that are part of a series in quotation marks (ie) a poem in an
anthology, a show in a series, a short story in an anthology, etc
INCORRECT: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12 can be found in the “Norton Anthology of
Poetry”
CORRECT: Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 12” can be found in the Norton Anthology of
Poetry
INCORRECT: The article How to be a Great Student was found in the June issue
of “Maclean’s” magazine
CORRECT: The article “How to be a Great Student” was found in the June issue
of Maclean’s magazine
13 Conjunctions are used to join sentences together- they should
NOT be used in formal writing to begin sentences.
INCORRECT: We were hungry. So, we got some pizza.
CORRECT: We were hungry, so we got some pizza.
INCORRECT: He used to like eating pizza. However, now he prefers salads.
CORRECT: He used to like eating pizza, but now he prefers salads.
14 THESAURUS USE- stop using words like thing, good, bad, nice, pretty,
very bad – COME ON!!!!!
15 Use logic. In order to prove that a reversal of fortune has taken place, you
must prove that the fortune was there originally. In order to prove that
someone is noble, you must show examples of that person showing his
trait of being noble. It isn’t enough to say it – you must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt!!!!
16 Follow the outline structure- this is why I gave it to you
17 Watch your wording!!!! Brutus suicides. WRONG. Brutus commits
suicide.
18 Apostrophe use: When a name ends in an s, don’t add another s after the
apostrophe (Brutus’s sword). Instead, write Brutus’ sword. Also, do not
use contractions in formal essays –short forms are not professional
19 Use more examples and explain more clearly. Don’t do the bare
minimum. Proving that someone is naïve requires more than one
example, otherwise, you have only shown a moment of naivety.
20 Be sure to clearly itemize each point in the directional statement so that it
is clear that you have three points and that each one can justify a full
body paragraph being written.
1
2
3
4
5
WHERE DID YOU DO BEST? WHAT DID YOU DO WELL IN
THESE AREAS?
WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR LOWEST MARK? EXPLAIN
WHY YOU BELIEVE YOU DID POORLY IN EACH OF THESE
AREAS
WHAT HAS MS. A SUGGESTED YOU NEED TO DO TO
IMPROVE
GO OVER YOUR PAST EVALUATIONS – DO THE SAME
COMMENTS APPEAR? LIST COMMENTS THAT ARE NOT
APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME –
IDENTIFY AT LEAST THREE MAJOR ERRORS OLD OR NEW
OR BOTH –WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO IMPROVE AND
HOW DO YOU INTEND TO DO SO???