The Crucible Essay Issues!
Note these errors and make
changes to improve future work!
Literary Present Tense
 When
you write about literature,
you need to write as if the events
are currently happening.
Essentially, the text is timeless.
 “When Abigail is accusing Mary of
being a bird…” NOT “When Abigail
accused…”
Slang
 Use
your words but DON’T use
slang in essays!
 No: “back in the day,” “sleeping
around,” etc.
 Use the formal register- the type
of language you read in your
book - not the words you use to
text your friends!
Agreement
 Pronoun/antecedent:
agree in
number, for example, “If one is to…,
he/she will face the consequences.”
NOT “If one is to…, they will face the
consequences.”
 “One” is always singular. You can
choose he or she instead of putting
both there; but don’t use they!
 “They” is plural!
More Agreement
 Tense
agreement: Keep the same
tense throughout. Especially
within a sentence!
 “When Abigail tries to kiss John,
she is trying to get him to admit
his love.” NOT “When Abigail tried
to kiss John, she is trying to get
him to admit his love.”
“Essay Title”
 The
essay title goes in quotation marks.
It is not in italics, not underlined.
 Do NOT give the title of the book or
short story as your own. You didn’t
write it!
 The name of the assignment is NOT
your title. You need a creative/original
title. Try making one up from your
thesis or conclusion.
Introduction
 See
the power point notes on
introduction, posted online.
 Many of you are missing a hook
or the background. Remember,
you must write like your reader
has not read the story/text you’ve
read. The intro helps fill in this
information.
Spelling Counts!
 It
is absolutely unacceptable to
misspell characters’ names! They are
written for you and you are
supposedly the expert writing about
them!
 Watch out for homonyms: two/too/to,
they’re/their/there, past/passed, etc.
 Use your spell check program. Fix
the errors!
Forbidden Pronouns – Again!
 Academic
literary analysis essays MAY
NOT have the following pronouns in
them: I, we, us, our, ourselves, my,
me, myself, mine, you, your(s),
yourself.
 These pronouns may ONLY be used in
direct quotes from the text!
 You will receive a 0 on your essay if
you use the pronouns! Even one
time!
Extra Credit Opportunity!
 Using
the previous power point slides,
make corrections to your current essay.
(transcendental, romantic, gothic
literature)
 Make notes of the changes you make on
a separate piece of paper and attach the
paper to your essay.
 Extra credit points will vary according to
the overall improvement of your essay.