Essay Pointers
Essay Grading Rubric
 Composition (25%)
 Subject Knowledge (25%)
 Contribution (25%)
 Reference and Citation (25%)
Composition:
Common Grammatical Errors
 Commas
 Place commas when listing a sequence of items
and before conjunctions when combining two
complete sentences
 Correct: I bought eggs, flour, and sugar at the store.
 Correct: I wanted to go to the concert, but I didn’t have
enough money to buy a ticket (Notice, the two sentences
could stand alone).
 Incorrect: I wanted to go to the concert but didn’t have
enough money to buy a ticket (Notice, the latter part of
the sentence doesn’t contain a verb; therefore, you don’t
have to place a comma before the conjunction).
Composition:
Common Grammatical Errors
 Semicolons
 Semicolons are used to combine two complete and related
thoughts.
 E.g., I bought a car; the car is silver.
 Subject - verb agreement
 See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
handouts/esl/eslsubverb.html
 Incorrect: The user has the option of downloading any CD
they have onto iTunes.
 Correct: The user has the option of downloading any CD
he/she has onto iTunes OR Users have the option of
downloading any CD they have onto iTunes.
Composition:
Common Grammatical Errors
 Abbreviations/Acronyms
 Write out the full meaning of the abbreviation
and/or acronym the first time you use said
abbreviation/acronym, and from that point
forward, only use the abbreviation/acronym
 E.g., I recently bought a personal computer (PC). I
decided to purchase a PC rather than a Mac because…
 Be aware of homonyms!! (e.g., to, two, too;
there, their, they’re)
 Spell check and proofread!!!
Subject Knowledge
 Stay on topic
 Understand what you’re talking about you’re the expert!!
 Use correct terminology
Contribution
 Insight - Do you contribute to the
reader’s understanding of the topic?
 Analysis - Do you explore the topic in
depth?
 Argument - Are your
arguments/opinions backed up with
facts?
Reference and Citation:
Authoritative Sources
 Essay requirement: At least one authoritative/primary source
 What makes an authoritative source?
Reputable author (e.g., a university professor)
Reputable company (e.g., Microsoft or Apple)
Reputable journal, magazine, etc. (e.g., Time Magazine)
Date of publication/copyright date
 Secondary sources permissible (but only in addition to an
authoritative/primary source)
 E.g., Wikipedia
 Why is Wikipedia a secondary source?
 Free encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers
 Like any other wiki, anyone essentially can add or delete
information from the articles; therefore, you can’t be certain
the information is valid.
 Key - trustworthiness. You want the reader to trust what you have
written. You want the reader to know that your words are valid based
on your sources.




Reference
(aka bibliography)
 Why provide references?
 To acknowledge and give credit to someone else’s work (i.e.,
so as not to plagiarize)
 So the reader can identify where you, the writer, found the
given information
 So the reader can further investigate the situation should
he/she choose to do so
 MLA style preferred (see http://www.liu.edu/CWIS/
CWP/library/workshop/citmla.htm - link available in the syllabus
on Angel)
Reference
 What should be included in a reference listing?
 Author (No author - authoritative source?).
 Title of the article
 Publisher (if applicable - won’t always be listed on websites)
 Date of publication
 Alphabetize your references by the last name of the author; if
there isn’t an author, then alphabetize based on the first word in
the reference (usually the title).
 Placement of references: Listed at the end of the paper.
Citation
 What is a citation?
 Information used to identify specific material listed in your
references
 Thus, every reference that you list should be cited at least
once in your essay.
 Why cite?
 Same reason you provide references - see slide 9
 What should you cite? Everything that isn’t general knowledge
or your opinion.
 If in doubt, cite.
 If you’re giving your opinion, say so… (In my opinion, I think, I
believe…)
Citation
 What is included in a citation?
 Author’s last name (or the first 2-4 words of the title) and page or
paragraph number in which you found that information
 Citations can appear mid sentence or at the end of the a
sentence.
 The punctuation goes outside of the parentheses if the citation
ends a sentence.
 E.g., Scientists have programmed a four pound dinosaur, known as
Pleo, to respond to its environment and owner as a pet might (Lee 12).