Structure
- TRANSITIONS: Try to transition smoothly and logically from idea to idea within body paragraphs. One good way to organize ideas is CHRONOLOGICALLY.
- HOOKS: Avoid bland and/or underdeveloped hooks.
- FOCUS: Use topic sentences, and make sure they clearly help prove the thesis.
Content
- EVIDENCE:
- Stop cutting off or cutting up the text evidence in strange or awkward ways.
- Find the best possible evidence, and use MORE of it.
- FOCUS: Avoid making multiple claims at the start of a paragraph or adding more claims when you’re supposed to be doing analysis.
Proofreading
- STYLE: Do not slip into past tense, and do not slip into 1st or 2nd person.
- PRONOUNS: Watch your pronoun/antecedent agreement. You should not be using “they/them” with “one” or “a person” or “someone.”
- COMMAS: Review comma rules. Especially this one: Do not place a comma before a conjunction that lacks an independent clause on the other side of it.
MLA Formatting and Citation
- TITLES:
- Full-length works (like a novel) are italicized; short works, like articles or web-pages, go in quotation marks.
- Don’t forget to include a title at the top of your essay; leave the formatting of your creative title plain.
- QUOTATIONS: You need to set up all quotes with some sort of lead-in statement. You can flow right in, use a phrase and then a comma, or use a sentence and then a colon.
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