 The words “thing” or “things” should NEVER be put into an essay!  Capitalize proper nouns and the first letter in each sentence!  Indent paragraphs!  By 12 th grade, paragraphs should be 5-8 sentences.  Do not write in the first or second person.  DO NOT USE “I”, “I THINK”, “I BELIEVE”…nothing!  All essays should be typed, double spaced, using 12pt Times New Roman font.  Number your pages with your last name!!!  CHOOSE A SIDE AND STICK WITH IT!  PROOFREAD!!!!!

 Your heading should look as follows: First Name Last Name Ms.Lane English January 2016 You should then place your title. It doesn’t have to be fancy or creative, but you should have one.

 The first sentence of your essay should be GENERAL. Do not mention the work you are writing about AT ALL.  Instead, make a statement about the theme of your essay. What is the overall message you will be discussing?  For example, for your Streetcar Named Desire essay, instead of mentioning the play right away, discuss domestic violence in the 1940s in general. Save the specifics for the next few sentences.

 Make sure to introduce the title, author, and genre (TAG) of the work you will be discussing.  Remember to italicize or underline the work you are discussing. The only titles you put in quotations marks are articles, poems, songs, or short stories.  Thesis – What is the main point of your essay? What will you be discussing in the body paragraphs?

 Think of your topic sentence as a mini introduction. What will you be talking about in this paragraph? What is the main thing you want the reader to take away from the paragraph? What is the claim you are making?  You need an exact quote from the book including a page number!  Then, explain how the quote you provided supports your thesis or proves that your claim is correct.  Remember to introduce your quotes! Just don’t plop them in there! Who said this? Where did you get it?

 Think of a conclusion as a backwards introduction. This is your last chance to prove to your reader that you are an intelligent individual and that they didn’t waste their time by reading what you had to say!  Reword your thesis, don’t restate it. Phrase it differently.  Summarize the key points you discussed in your body paragraph.  End with a general but powerful statement. It should be related to your introductory sentence somewhat.

All acceptable ways to quote a source:  Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).  Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). Taken from:

 When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if possible.  We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change..." ("Impact of Global Warming" 6). Taken from:

 All punctuation, (commas, periods, etc.) belong AFTER the citation. It should not be included in the quote itself.  Quotes shorter than four typed lines can be included in your paragraph.  Quotes longer that four typed lines should go on a new line and be indented one inch from the margin. After the long quote you can continue your paragraph using the original margin. **Use these longs quotes INCREDIBLY SPARINGLY**

 Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.  Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.  Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.  Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.  List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.

 All sources should be listed in alphabetical order by the authors last name, not the order you used them in.  For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD.  Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the, an), prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.  New to MLA 2009: Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles) Taken from:

 Example for a basic one author book:  Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.  Example for a basic web page:  Last, First M. “Article Title.” Website Title. Website Publisher, Date Month Year Published. Web. Date Month Year Accessed.

 Who is your audience and what are you writing about?  Should this paper be more formal or more casual?  To avoid accidental plagiarism, make sure all your sources and quotes are properly cited.  For the love of God, proofread!!!! It is incredibly helpful to take a short break before proofreading. It clears your mind so you can catch your mistakes more easily.