Writing Essays for Sophomore English Mrs Klaus Title
- Slides: 10
Writing Essays for Sophomore English Mrs. Klaus
Title Page • Your essay needs a cover page that contains the title of your essay (centered 1/3 of the way down the page) and your name, class title, and the date (centered at the bottom): Lessons in Night Jenny Klaus Sophomore English February 14, 2015
Double Space! • I can’t grade your essay easily if you do not double space…your teachers will all require this format in the future. • Let me show you how to do it… • Remember to get rid of extra spaces between paragraphs!
Formal English • Please use your best vocabulary in your essays. Avoid words like “stuff, ” and avoid slang like “kinda. ” • Please do NOT use contractions: – “can’t” cannot – “he’s” he is – Etc. In formal writing, contractions are not appropriate.
No Personal Pronouns • “I” and “you” are NEVER acceptable in literary analysis essays or the kinds of research papers we will write in English class. Please proofread carefully to avoid them so you do not lose points!
Other words to avoid • “Quote” • “Essay” and “In this essay…” • “In conclusion…”
Literary Present Tense • For historical research papers, we will write in PAST TENSE. • Whenever we write about books/literature, we will write in LITERARY PRESENT TENSE. Write as if Elie Wiesel is still experiencing the horrors of the concentration camps, and as if Guy Montag is still trying to stop censorship.
Quotations • Never begin or end a paragraph with a quotation, unless it’s your intro hook. • All quotes need lead-ins, as we have practiced. • Long quotes: – Try to limit quotes to 40 words or less. – If you cannot do this, there is a special format: • Indent 10 spaces from the left and drop the quotation marks! • Quote-within-quote format: – Use an apostrophe within the quotation marks to show that a character is speaking within the text.
Titles • What do we do to – Novel titles? – Short story titles? – Poem titles? – Magazine titles? – Newspaper articles? – Encyclopedia titles? In general, SHORT works get “quotation marks. ” LONG works get italics.
Two Last Things • Be SURE that you have a clear thesis statement in your intro that DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THE PROMPT. This should be the second to last intro sentence. • Be SURE that you have a clear support sentence that lists your three supporting reasons/examples in the order you will discuss them! This is your last intro sentence.