Writing Tips

Tips for Better Academic Essays
Many of these tips do NOT apply to your monomyth.

The following tips were influenced by common errors on the first three, typed papers that you completed for Enriched English 10. Some students have committed the errors on two or three of the essays even though I commented on those errors in the past. Read my comments carefully so that those errors do not continue to influence your grade.

• Your essay needs a creative title. Using the title of the novel, play, or short story is not okay.
• Make sure you get the title of the book being discussed correct. Look at the cover of the book. Underline book titles and capitalize important words of the title.
• Include the author when discussing the title the first time you mention the book.
• Don’t use numerals for numbers under 10. You have to write them out.
• Your body paragraphs need topic sentences that are tied to your provable thesis statement.
• Your paragraphs need summary sentences and transitions.
• In the conclusion make a connection to the world and the significance of the text.
• You should focus on ANALYSIS instead of on retelling the plot.
• Speaking of analysis, your quotes need to advance your analysis, not prove plot. The explanation of your quotes has to include DISCUSSION—what is the author SAYING? What’s the message? What’s the point? Why is this significant? SO WHAT? You need to take the theme that you are proving to a deeper level.
• Never, EVER, EVER use “I” in a paper (I believe, I think, In my opinion). Just make your claims directly. You can’t write in the second person either. Every time you write, “you,” replace it with “Jackie Roehl” and see if it makes sense. It won’t. Write in the third person ONLY.
• Don’t start or end a body paragraph with a quote. Quotes need to be discussed and used as proof of your argument and to further your analysis.
• Make sure you write the correct genre distinction—novel, play, epic poem (The Odyssey), etc.
• It’s/its. Of/have. Your/you’re. Witch/Which. They’re/There/Their. Whether/Weather. To/Too. Then/Than. Make sure you know the differences. Don’t rely on spell check.
• Don’t forget your friend the apostrophe, but ignore him when he’s not needed.
• Don’t include long quotes in your paper—use only what’s necessary.
• Refer to authors by their last names after you first mention them.
• Double space your paper and also follow the MLA format for internal documentation and works cited.
• Avoid vague pronouns.
• Don’t say things like, “This shows,” or “That is important.” Say what “this” and “that” are.
• Don’t misspell character names. It makes me think you haven’t read the book. And while you’re at it, don’t misspell the AUTHOR’S name. That one’s on the cover of the book.
• Don’t pose questions—the purpose of the paper is to ANSWER questions, not pose them.
• Work on improving your use of active voice. At the very least, don’t use it is, there are, it was, etc.
• Punctuate carefully. Don’t follow Cormac McCarthy’s rules. We’ve spent class time on commas with coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and adjective clauses, so you should have notes in your notebook on avoiding those comma errors. If you do not understand your punctuation errors, especially if you are writing a lot of run-on sentences, see me or visit The Writer’s Block—EHS’s Writing Center just across the hall from our classroom.
• Start examining your pronoun use. Make sure that your pronoun reference is clear and that your pronouns agree in number with each other. Indefinite pronouns like everyone and somebody may seem plural, but they are singular, so you cannot use they with those pronouns.