Essay Writing

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Essay Writing
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Essay Writing Checklist

1. Type and double space 10-12 pt. plain font
2. Include your name, class, and the date on page
   one.
3. A title, centered at top do not use the name of
   the book or the assignment topic avoid the words
   "paper," "essay," "assignment")
4. Not a single I or you statement, except in a
   personal or autobiographical essay (includes
   other forms me, my, your, we, us)
5. No informal language or slang (e.g., gonna,
   hecka, wanna, okay, sucks, lame, alright,) no
   email abbreviations (brb) or emoticons like -)
   -( -p
6. Avoid contractions (e.g., won't, can't, they're,
   he's, she'd)
7. Write out numbers up to and including
   one-hundred one, two, three, not 1, 2, 3 also
   first, second, not 1st, 2nd.
8. Proofread - Spell-check programs will not help
   when you make mistakes like there/their,
   where/were/wear, now/know, weather/whether,
   your/youre, then/than, affect/effect,
   though/through.
9. Literary present tense (Romeo loves Juliet
   Curley yells at Lennie).
10. Include a bibliography in alphabetical order
    and not numbered.

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Referring to Titles of Books and other Works
To Kill a Mockingbird or To Kill a Mockingbird
(Books) Romeo and Juliet or Romeo and Juliet
(Plays) Toronto Star, or Macleans (Newspapers and
magazines) Jaws or Jaws (Film and TV
programs) Starry Night (Art) The Boy Who Cried
Wolf (Parables) The Last Piece (Articles from
print or websites) The Raven (Poems) Bohemian
Rhapsody (Songs) Russel, Bertrand Arthur
William."  Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Encyclopedia entries)
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Using Quotations in Essays  
From the moment she appears in the novel, Maudie
Atkinson is portrayed as a kind-hearted woman,
providing a female role model to Scout "Miss
Maudie was the picture of Southern womanhood, and
I studied her every move" (p. 14). It is clear
that Scout sees this relationship as a learning
opportunity. Boo Radley is misunderstood by
the children, who picture him as a monster,
"six-and-a-half feet tall with sharp teeth and
huge claws, ready to eat the raw flesh of any
creature he could catch" (p. 2). Scout's
exaggerations of Boo Radley are obviously
unrealistic, from a mature viewpoint. Atticus
is skilled at helping the children understand
problems, and his advice, "You never really
understand a person until you see things from
their point of view," (p. 31), proves helpful to
Scout on numerous occasions.  
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Note About Quotations...

• The content of quotations is NOT necessarily
  dialogue.
• Quotations are introduced, and are part of the
  sentence that introduces them. There is a comma
  or a colon to separate the introduction from the
  quote itself. Quotations should never begin a
  paragraph.
• Quotations are followed by an explanation or more
  information. Quotations should never end a
  paragraph.
• The page number is in parentheses (abbreviated
  only as "p."), and outside the quotation marks.
• There is no period in the quotation marks.
  Periods belong only at the very end of the
  sentence.

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Punctuation Quotes in Essays
Ellipsis () to indicate words left out. Use
four dots if it is two sentences.
Square Brackets to indicate what you have added,
such as changing a pronoun to a proper
noun. Example Gretzky retired.
Colon () when you use a complete sentence to
introduce a quotation.
Single quotation marks for quotations within
quotations
Indents indent passages longer than 4 lines on
both sides of the quotation
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Essay Writing Little Details

•  1. Do research.
• Any research will do. Newspaper and magazine for
  current events. Books and reliable websites for
  in depth information and statistics.
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• 2. Document the research correctly.
• State where you found your information. (example
  According to John Smiths June 16, 2004 Toronto
  Star article The Last Piece, cakes taste better
  when they are eaten without utensils).
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• 3. Find and Identify the Most Important
  Information in a Story or Book.
• Citations should relate to your thesis. Dont
  just use citations for the sake of having a
  citation.
• 4. Have a Title Page (and a Title)
• An Essay is not a Title. Your title should
  relate directly to your thesis.
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The 3 Phases of Writing an Effective Essay

• Phase 1 The Rough Copy (10-30 minutes)
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• The first copy of your essay should be written
  quickly and easily.
• Do not worry about spelling or finding the right
  word.
• Freewrite, which means, just write whatever comes
  to your head.
• Dont edit.
• Dont stop writing to think more than a few
  seconds.
• Write bad ideas.
• Use shortforms, where possible (e.g. book titles,
  characters names)
• Leave space for corrections and new ideas (e.g.
  double space or leave lots of extra space along
  the side of the page)
• Stop writing when you have more writing than you
  need.
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Phase 2 The Edited Rough Copy (30-120 minutes)

•  Do not write the whole rough essay again as it
  is!
• Edit and add information directly to the rough
  copy.
• Check information is accurate and relevant.
• Change your argument if you have discovered a
  better one or if you change your mind about what
  you want to write.
• Make your thesis a strong statement that you want
  to write about and can prove
• Use a dictionary and a thesaurus to improve the
  level of your language.
• Verify names. Make sure they are spelled
  correctly.
• Do research.
• Find and write out specific evidence that
  supports your essays argument (thesis).
• Find or create each body paragraphs topic
  sentence and put it at the top of the paragraph
  if it isnt already there.
• Create a hook for your introduction, using a
  quotation, startling story or statistic.
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Phase 3 The Master Copy (Good copy) (10-15
minutes)

• Now rewrite the essay, incorporating all that you
  have done to the rough copy.
• Spell out all short forms.
• After you have typed the essay, check for errors.
  The Master Copy should be flawless.
• Have another person read the Master Copy to check
  for errors that you might have missed.
• The Master Copy should be much shorter than the
  original Rough Copy and the Edited Rough Copy.
• Hand it in early to get feedback and be ready to
  improve it.

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Thesis Statement (main argument)

• The thesis statement is an argument or opinion
  that you base on research or literature that you
  have read.
• A thesis should be specific and can be proved. It
  must be proved.
• The thesis statement is the most important part
  of an essay. Really, without one, you have failed
  the assignment.
• Sometimes you will find a thesis easily and
  quickly. Other times you will have to make a plan
  or start writing and find a thesis by looking at
  the evidence first.
• The thesis should appear in two places in an
  essay the introduction and the conclusion.

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The Body of the Essay

• The Body of an Essay is every paragraph but the
  first paragraph (Introduction) and last
  (Conclusion). 
• Each paragraph needs a topic sentence.
• The topic sentence usually is the first sentence.
  The rest of the sentences prove and support it.
• You should be able to rearrange the paragraphs
  within the Body of an Essay and not lose the
  meaning of the paragraph because each paragraph
  illustrates the specific idea or topic described
  by the topic sentence.

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The Introduction and Hook

• The Introduction begins with a statement that
  interests the reader, referred to as a HOOK.  
• The Hook relates directly to topic and thesis.
• The Hook may be
• - a description of a specific event or story from
  history or current event that relates to the
  thesis
• - a description of an anecdote (personal story)
  that relates to the thesis
• - a quotation (what someone once said or wrote)
• - a question that the thesis will attempt to
  answer or address.

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Conclusion

• The Conclusion should respond or relate back to
  the original hook in some way.
• Dont give advice, such as Clearcutting must be
  stopped or opinions Clearcutting is bad)
• Never make a claim that is not proven or
  mentioned elsewhere.
• Restate your thesis.

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Three Parts of a Conclusion

• Restate the main premise
• 2. Present one or two general sentences which
  accurately summarise your arguments
• 3. Provides a general warning of the consequences
  of not following the premise that you put forward
  and/or a general statement of how the community
  will benefit from following that premise.

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Ordering sentences in a conclusion

• Task Put the following sentences into correct
  order. The main premise is that the government
  should spend more money on childcare places for
  the children of parents who study or work.
• a. If we fail to meet our obligations in this
  area, we will be sacrificing our present and
  future well-being merely in order to appease
  out-dated notions of family life and to achieve
  short-term financial savings.
• b. In conclusion, it is essential that we support
  the nation's parents and children by funding more
  childcare places.
• c. Only in this way can we provide the valuable
  learning environments that young Australians need
  while, at the same time, utilising the skills of
  all productive members of our society.
• d. The entire national community will then be
  enriched economically, socially and culturally.
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