1. Finishing Your Paper 1.After you finish all your paragraphs, go back up to your thesis statement and make sure it covers everything you wrote about. Also add an interesting hook before the thesis to pull in the reader. You might also have to add more sentences to your thesis to make your topic and opinion clear. 2.Go down to your last paragraph and add a concluding paragraph that sums up your paper and restates your thesis.

2. 3. Go back through your essay and add a topic sentence before the top bread/signal phrase of each paragraph. This topic sentence should give one reason for your thesis or the aspect of your thesis that you address in that paragraph. It might also explain what the situation is with the information in that paragraph (like background). Student Example…

3. Do this to every paragraph. Add a topic sentence to the beginning of your original paragraph: Harry Henderson says that there are so many ways the average person can try to convince the public, thanks to technology like the Internet. This author makes a good point because reporting seems to have become something that anybody with a blog can do, whether they are qualified to comment on current events or not. One author explores how the requirements of reporting are changing because of the Internet. Student Example:

4. 4. You must reiterate your thesis in each paragraph of your essay. Go back through your essay, and at the end of every paragraph, add a sentence that restates your thesis or some aspect of it. Student Example…

5. Student Example: One author explores how the requirements of reporting are changing because of the Internet. Harry Henderson says that there are so many ways the average person can try to convince the public, thanks to technology like the Internet. This author makes a good point because reporting seems to have become something that anybody with a blog can do, whether they are qualified to comment on current events or not. This has turned the media into an octopus with way too many tentacles to control. Do this to every paragraph. Add a sentence that restates your thesis or some aspect of it:

6. 5. Warning: You will lose a substantial amount of points… if your essay is one solid body of text with no paragraphs, or if your essay consists of extremely long paragraphs that are full of information but have only one small opinion from you. Instead, your essay should have several paragraphs (sandwiches) that each have opinions from you, as the slideshow has demonstrated.

7. 6. Check for use of apostrophes: Singular possessive words: add 's—no matter what the teacher’s problem Chris’s friend my boss’s wife Plural words (only if possessive): ending in s: add ' –two patients’ clothes –the Smiths’ house not ending in s: add 's –two deer’s thicket Contractions: didn’t, couldn’t, wasn’t, etc. Do not use apostrophes when there is no ownership nor contraction: There were thousands of abortion’s.

8. 7. Check for obvious spelling errors, as well as the following: Their, they’re, there (are they each used correctly?) - “Their” is possessive. - “They’re” means “they are”. - “There” refers to location. Where, were, we’re (are they each used correctly?) - “Where” refers to location. - “Were” is a BE verb. - “We’re” means “we are”. Too, to, two (are they each used correctly?) - “Too” means “also” or refers to amount (too many). - “To” is a preposition or part of an infinitive verb (to run). - “Two” is the number.

9. 8. Check for fragments and run-on sentences. - The best way to catch them is to read each sentence one at a time from the bottom of the page to the top. - Read from capital letter to end mark, checking to see that what is punctuated as a sentence is truly a complete thought. - If there are two complete thoughts separated by only a space or a comma, that is a run-on. You can fix a run-on by inserting a period or, sometimes, by adding a FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Change to a period: The doctor got help from other specialists, they were as unsuccessful as he was. OR sometimes you can insert a fanboys: but The doctor got help from other specialists, they were as unsuccessful as he was. ^

10. Turnitin.com Your paper must be electronically submitted to Turnitin.com. I can tell if you plagiarized even if Turnitin.com doesn’t catch it! I only use Turnitin.com as a tool. If it says you didn’t plagiarize, but you actually did, I will still catch it myself. Don’t worry about the % number that Turnitin.com gives you--what matters is what it highlights in your essay. See next slides…

11. Setting It Up the First Time 1) Go to turnitin.com. 2) If you remember the email and password you used last year, you can click on “Log In” and enter them in the boxes. Then click on “enroll in a class,” enter the info. from Step 4, and then skip to Step 12. 3) If this is your first time using Turnitin.com, click on “Create Account,” but leave the email and password boxes blank, and click on “Student” at the bottom. 4) Enter this under Class ID: 11126321 Enter this Class enrollment password: irish16 5) Enter your first name. 6) Enter your last name. 7) Enter your email. It doesn’t really matter what email you use, but you need it for your login. Write it down, in case you forget. 8) Create password. Write down your password for future reference. 9) Confirm your password by typing it again. 10) Select a secret question, and type in the answer. 11) Click “I agree” at the bottom.

12. Submitting Your Paper 12) Click on “English 3.” 13) Click on the “Submit” button next to American Dream Research Paper. 14) Click on “Cut & Paste Upload” and change it to “Single File Upload.” 15) Type in submission title (e.g. Sylvester’s Research Paper). 16) Click on “Choose from Google Drive” to locate the file to attach. 17) Click on “Accept.” 18) Your Google documents should come up. Click on your Research Paper and click “Select.” 19) Click “Upload.” 20) It will show you the document you just submitted. Click “Confirm” if correct. 21) Click “Return to assignment list.”

13. Checking for Plagiarism It may take 15 minutes or more for your originality report to be accessible. You may have to logout and check back later (to login again: go to turnitin.com, type in the email used above, and type in your password from above). 22) Find your class period on the list, and click on the colored box next to the % number. 23) Your originality report will come up. 24) The % number is the percentage of your paper that Turnitin.com thinks is plagiarized. Don’t worry about the % number—what matters is what Turnitin highlighted in your essay: a. Parts that Turnitin thinks are plagiarized will be highlighted and given a number. b. The numbers correspond to the column on the right, which contains links to sites that have those same words. c. Click on those links and compare your words to the sources’ words. d. Ignore highlighted names, titles, numbers, and things in quotation marks. Instead, focus on the highlighted regular nouns and verbs because those are the parts that will need to be re-worded (see next slide)…

14. e. Open your Google document of your Research Paper and reword the necessary parts, so they are true summaries that don’t use the same words as the article. f. Some links won’t give you access because sometimes the source is a student from somewhere else in the country and his/her paper coincidentally uses some of the same words as you; Turnitin won’t let you see his/her paper. 25) After you have fixed the plagiarized parts of your essay, re-submit it to Turnitin (see next slide). 26) Warning: I can tell if you plagiarized even if Turnitin.com doesn’t catch it! I only use Turnitin.com as a tool. It’s not perfect. If it says you didn’t plagiarize, but you actually did, I will still catch it myself. Just because you did Turnitin, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be penalized for plagiarism.

15. Resubmitting to Turnitin 1) Go to turnitin.com. 2) Type in your email. Type in your password. 3) Click on “English 3.” 4) Repeat Steps 13 through 21 above. You may resubmit your paper as many times as you want, which will overwrite your previous submission. However, when you resubmit, it MAY take up to a day before you can see a new originality report. You may have to login again later.