AS SOON AS THE PAPER IS ASSIGNED:

1. Choose a topic. If I have assigned a kind of paper of an area within which the essay must fall, be sure your topic falls within that area. If in doubt, ASK ME.
2. Go to the library to see how much information is available on that topic. Check the LINCC catalog, the reference section, News Bank, First Search. Go and browse in the stacks around the call number of your topic -- look in indexes and tables of contents. ASK THE LIBRARIANS TO HELP YOU FIND MATERIAL -- that's why they're in the library. ASK ME if you need more help.
3. Read and take notes on your primary sources -- the poem(s), play(s), story (ies), novel(s) --you will be analyzing in your essay. Write summaries, reactions, etc -- whatever pops into your head about the pieces. If the pieces are short, read them at least once a day for a week or two. If they are very short, tape them to your bathroom mirror, copy them out longhand, memorize them.
4. Preview the secondary information available. Xerox, take notes, check out books, READ, READ, READ. Let the information cook in your head -- follow up on things that intrigue or interest you.
5. Check the Internet for information. BE WARY. Be sure the information comes from a reliable source: a recognizable publisher, a faculty member at a university, a nationally known newspaper, an authoritative research institution.
6. Be sure to collect citation information for anything you're reading, xeroxing or taking notes on. This includes: authors, titles, titles of articles, titles of books, editors, volume numbers (for both magazines and reference works), page number, publishers, places of publication, dates of publications (both the original date of publication and the date of the reprint you're using), distributors (for AV material), URL addresses, dates posted and accessed (for internet sources), etc. Check the MLA Handbook for the kind of material you're using to see what kind of citation is necessary.

DRAFTING THE ESSAY:

1. Narrow the topic down to something manageable within the page limitations of the essay. If you need help to begin to focus the topic, make an appointment and SEE ME.
2. Create a Preliminary Bibliography following the models in your handbook and the MLA Handbook. Do not use articles from general Encyclopedia (i.e. Britannica, Encarta, Americana, Grolier, etc.).
3. Formulate a working thesis sentence and indicate in the thesis paragraph what topics you are going to develop, explain or analyze in your essay.
4. Outline the points you need to cover in your essay to illustrate or prove your thesis.
5. Look for appropriate quotes and specific illustrations in the primary work(s) you are analyzing. Think about how they might be used to illustrate your thesis.
6. Gather ideas and quotes from secondary sources to back up your thesis. In your notes be sure to put quotation marks around direct quotes and indicate where you are summarizing or paraphrasing. Be sure to have all citation information at hand.
7. Begin to compose a draft. Be sure to cite all your sources as you are drafting. This should be easy to do if you have a complete Preliminary Bibliography: just include (Author page#), i.e. (Jones 62), after every quote, idea, or fact you borrow. Better yet, introduce your source [Jones says, "+++++" (62). Or According to Jones, paraphrased material (62). Be sure to put any phrase (two words or more) that you borrow directly in quotation marks. Be sure to give a citation for any idea you borrow even if you summarize or paraphrase what the author has said.
8. When quoting more than two lines of a poem, lineate the poem as the poet has. If you have not indented and lineated the poem, indicate a line break with a /.
9. Go back, read it out loud, start to revise. Look for clear thesis, good backing of thesis, clear organization, understandable sentences, clear integration of quotes. REVISE, REVISE, revise. Draw arrows, cross out lines, cross out extra words, rearrange paragraphs, insert paragraphs, delete unnecessary paragraphs.

FINAL DRAFT

1. Set up your final draft. Use double spacing with one-inch margins on either side. Be sure to number the pages with your last name in the upper right hand corner.
2. All citations in the text of your essay must match the first word (usually the author's last name) in the citation in your Works Cited List. Be sure all citations in your Works Cited List are cited in your essay. Be sure to cite your primary source(s) as well.
3. The cover page should include: the title of your essay, your name, the date due, the course number.
4. Proofread it. Read it through once from beginning to end to make sure everything makes sense -- do this reading aloud.
5. Read it through, sentence by sentence, from the end to the beginning to check for spelling, punctuation, subject/verb agreement, noun/pronoun agreement, etc. Correct any errors
6. Print out 2 copies of the final draft. If at the last minute you find an error, CORRECT it -- I much prefer a crossed out misspelled word with a correction than a neat misspelled word!
7. Staple your essay.
8. Put the second copy in a SAFE place.
9. Turn the essay in on time to avoid 10% late penalty.