1. Formatting your paper

2. Add a heading In the UPPER LEFT corner Your Name Teacher Name Class
Date (should be written as 5 January 2018)
** This should only be on the first page.
NOTE: This is NOT written as a heading! Also, make sure it is Double Spaced!

3. Add a header In the UPPER RIGHT corner (Insert – page number)
Last Name Page #
** This should be on every page

4. Appearance Double space the entire text of your paper
Choose a plain font (like Arial or Times New Roman)
The entire essay is size 12—no bigger, no smaller
Make sure you have standard 1” margins

5. Format your title Centered Capitalize important words Not bolded
Not underlined
No wordart
Same font and size as the rest of the essay

6. Authors and Titles
Titles of poems are in quotation marks NOT underlined or italicized!
Check spelling of poem (“The Raven”), author (Edgar Allan Poe), and character names (Lenore)

7. Thesis Statement Clear thesis statement with the following elements:
- Author’s name
- Poem title in quotes
- literary techniques used
- strong “writerly” verb
- specific mood/tone/theme
*** Your thesis should be separate from your body paragraph

8. Check your topic sentence
Make sure you have used key words from thesis in your topic sentence.
Make sure you do not have any quotations in your topic sentence.
Make sure they state the purpose of the entire paragraph.

9. Body Paragraph Topic Sentence Concluding Sentence
Supporting Ideas (one or two)
Evidence for topic (quotes)
Quotations connect to topic and are supported (introduced & explained) –NO FLOATING QUOTES

10. Quotations
Check for floating quotes—a quotation must be PART of a sentence. Part of the sentence must be YOUR words.
Cite your quote: (author stanza #)
Period goes AFTER closing parentheses.
John reveals Abigail’s intentions when he tells the court “she thinks
Your own words part of quote
to dance with me on my wife’s grave” (Miller 110).
part of quote citation with page number
Explain your quote – new insight

11. Check for run-ons and fragments
Start at the end
Read each sentence separately—listen for sentence structure problems
Work backward through the essay

12. Check your Commas
Refer to the comma rules (#1-10) that we went over before break
Questions about commas…ASK

13. Homonym check Check for words you tend to misuse Common offenders:
Then/than
Effect/affect
Their/there/they’re