Essay Guidelines

1. Essay Guidelines

2. What does the essay look like on the page? • Double spaced • Paragraphs • Heading • Title

3. What’s included in the introductory paragraph? • Hook • Title • Author • Thesis – Answers the prompt The thesis maybe used to lay out the organization of the essay

4. How is a paragraph structured? • Topic sentence • Supporting details • Finished feeling

5. What constitutes a supporting detail? • Specific from the text • Some paraphrasing is okay, but you do need direct quotations • Do not settle for the first detail you find that supports your topic sentence. Find the best details.

6. What do you need to do with a supporting detail if you choose to use it in your essay? • Edit it to just what’s relevant—but if you use ellipses, it still needs to make sense. • Embed it in a complete sentence, usually with a brief lead-in (who’s talking, to whom, what’s happening). • Provide the page number. Use MLA format. • Explain why it supports your topic sentence. (This shows that…) Also consider what is significant or interesting or notable or meaningful about it? Ask Why? and So What? • Rule of thumb: At least a sentence or two of this analysis for each supporting detail from the text.

7. Caution! Do not summarize the plot! That’s not analysis. Just use enough of the text to prove the point you’re making; often it’s just a phrase.

8. How to finish the essay • Revisit—but do not just repeat—the thesis. How has your essay developed or expanded on the thesis? • Consider what this discussion has to do with life / the human condition / society / the world. Again, so what? Aim for 2-3 more sentences.

9. Compare this list with the essay you have written, and begin your revisions at home. Have the essay on your home directory or a flash drive when you come to class on Wednesday. You will have time to work on the revision in class.

10. Essay conventions to keep in mind: • Avoid 1st person (I, we) or second person (you). Rephrase. • Write in the literary present tense, i.e., “Hale truly believes he is rescuing Tituba and the girls.”

11. These errors are simply unacceptable and will result in your essay being returned to you for corrections before being graded: • Misspelling the name of the playwright or any of the characters. • Misspellings that would have been caught by a spell check. • Repeatedly ignoring basic capitalization rules.

12. Usage guidelines when discussing rhetoric Do not just plug in terms from the rhetoric handout. Use them in phrases such as the following… • rhetorical devices, strategies, techniques, etc. • follows a slippery slope • makes hasty generalizations or bold assertions • uses sound reasoning (if it is!) • appeals to her sense of guilt, her need for security, her desire to… • frightens her • they consider him a reliable authority on the subject because… • encourages the reader to get on the bandwagon • implies that she is guilty because of her association with… • the implication that this is the cause of the problem is questionable because… • gains glory by his association with… • endorses the idea through testifying about his own experience