Title of your essay should be:
• Centered
• Same size font and same style font as the
rest of your essay
• No bold
• or underline
• or Italics
• Capitalize essential/important words (not
a, and etc,)
In your introduction…
• Always mention the author and title somewhere
in your introduction.
• The first time you mention the author in your
essay, use his/her first and last name. After that,
last name is fine.
Thesis
• Always be sure that your thesis statement is a
statement.
• Thesis statement is an argument, even if it isn’t
an argumentative essay.
Using a quote within your essay:
• “This is an example quote” (Heisenburg
36).
• use quotation marks
• page number in parentheses, without any
abbreviations
• period AFTER the parentheses
For the title within the essay, italicize!
Of Mice and Men
(But-this does not apply to your ESSAY title;
see format rules)
• Proper use of commonly confused words:
“Their bodies start to collapse.”
“They’re going to the fair.”
“There is the store.”
• These types of errors are unacceptable, so a list
of commonly confused words is on the class
website. You are expected to edit your essay for
these mistakes.
Proper use of that/who
“Ms. Otte is a teacher who…”
“The car is one that can…”
(People use WHO; things use THAT)
• 11, 12, 45, 100
zero, one, two, three
(spell out numbers zero-ten; use
digits after that)
Age: This can be based on the
instructor’s preference. In this
class, spell out the age.
“So” can usually equal “therefore” and
“therefore” is a much more sophisticated
transition word.
NO contractions!
Can’t = cannot
won’t = will not
Avoid sounding too much like a
thesaurus…use words that are sophisticated,
but not awkward.
Always use PRESENT TENSE when
referring to a novel’s events.
In Anthem’s society, there are many rules. Equality does not like the
rules; therefore, he creates a new society with better rules.
“Entire Novel”
not
“Whole Book”
The “entire novel” sounds much more
sophisticated and formal than the
“whole book.”
In general, use “entire” instead of
“whole” in any circumstance.
Word choice: avoid too much
repetition.
NOT:
Their death
Their life
Their profession
CORRECT:
Their deaths
Their lives
Their professions
Avoid drama/conversational words!
Really, very, extremely, major, huge, totally,
way, basically, like…
These are informal and unnecessary words!
“I will explain…”
“This essay will examine”
“In my opinion”
This is informal and unnecessary. Take
yourself out of it; don’t tell me what you’re
going to do-just do it.
Either say
“In Of Mice and Men…”
or
“In the novel…”
not
In the novel Of Mice and Men…
(you don’t need both—repetitive)
• COMMA USAGE!!!
• Edit carefully!
• The reason why…
Eliminate “YOU, YOUR, YOU’RE”
It is informal; think of a more sophisticated
way to write it
• Do not start a sentence with “Such as…”
• Do not start a sentence with “Which…”
• It always makes an incomplete sentence!
• If you want to use “such as” or “which” it
would come in the middle of a sentence:
– I really like junk food such as candy and pop.
– My birthday is in March which is next month.