Ground Rules for All Papers:
• All essays must be typed and double-spaced, with standard one-inch margins and twelve-point font. Quotations should be double-spaced as well.
• Drafts: Almost no one writes an excellent paper without writing it in drafts. I am happy to read and critique drafts of papers at any stage, anytime before the paper is due.
• Late Papers: all late papers will be graded down by one-third of a letter grade for each day late. Exceptions will be made only in the case of an actual emergency, or for those students who have arranged extensions in advance. I am always available to talk to you about extensions anytime before the paper is due.
• Plagiarism: an automatic F for the entire class. See “Honor Code” in the “Spring Schedule of Courses,” and the plagiarism links on our course web page. You are also required to submit a digital version of your paper to turnitin.com by the paper due date.
• Please avoid cover sheets or other covering materials.
A good paper includes the following elements:
• Thesis: the paper has a main thesis or argument, and a series of related points. It is a thesis-driven paper.
• Title: every paper must have a title. It may be an accurate description of the material you cover (e.g. “On Reading Emily Dickinson”). Alternatively, your title can reflect straightforwardly or ironically on your subject (e.g. “Stop Making Sense: Dickinson’s Rebellion Against Meaning”).
• Organization: the paper has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Points are clearly explained, developed, and supported. Paper has focus, unity, and can be understood with relative ease.
• Paragraphs: each paragraph is a mini-paper, with a thesis (the topic sentence), and a body (the supporting material). As a general rule, each paragraph in the body of the paper should have at least one quote as its focus.
• Support: writer gives specific, detailed, clear and appropriate information to support points made. Use well-chosen quotations from the text to support your argument.
• Transitions: are clear from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph.
• Style: sentences are varied and complete. Word choice is accurate, not verbose. Phrasing is graceful. Complex ideas are clearly articulated. Paragraphs are an appropriate length for the ideas they present.
• When describing "what happens" in a text, ALWAYS BEGIN WITH THE PRESENT TENSE, e.g., “Whenever Huck speaks, he uses dialect”; “In the end, gangrene kills Harry”; “Jason Compson behaves like a greedy money-grubber.” When describing a historical person or event, however, use the past tense: “William Faulkner lived in Mississippi.”
• Avoid over-quoting; think very carefully about quoting the same piece of text more than once.
• Avoid under-quoting; as a general rule, each paragraph should have at least one quote (no matter how short) as its subject.
• NEVER use “false quotations” and avoid scare quotes whenever possible.
• Avoid plot summary; rather, structure your argument around your interpretations of specific quotes.
• Avoid grand generalizations; rather, stick to the text at hand.
• Indent quotes that take up more than 4 lines--no quotation marks added if
you indent, unless their part of the original text.
• Quote text EXACTLY as it appears. ALWAYS include the page number in parenthesis after a quote (line number[s] for poetry). If you're using the *assigned edition* of a text, there is no need for a works cited page. If you're using anything OTHER than the assigned edition, however, you need to use a works cited page.
• Always indicate line breaks (use a “/” or copy it exactly as it appears on the page) when quoting poetry or verse.
• Italicize (or underline) the titles of book-length works and scores.
Use quotation marks for shorter works, such as poems, essays, and short stories.
• Make sure that quotes flow smoothly into your own prose; sentences must always be complete!
• You do not always have to use a comma to introduce a quote; sometimes no punctuation is necessary. Punctuate as you would to make a grammatically correct, smooth-flowing sentence.
• NEVER attribute written work to an “IT” (unless the speaker happens to be a robot or a machine). All other text is written by humans; authors, narrators, speakers, editors. “IT” almost never “says” anything.
• For an on-line version of the MLA Handbook, see <http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/sample.html>