The essay Common Mistakes Things to do that will earn you a terrible grade

Common Format Mistakes – 10 pts off Not following the MLA format for set up and spacing Everything is doubled spaced Headers- top right hand side of page- your last name and page number Heading- top left hand side of first page (double spaced) Your name Ms. Tanier English II Date Do not underline the title of your paper. Only underline the title of a novel Margins – one inch all around

Common citation mistakes- 10pts off Not citing information (plagiarism) if the information you used is not original to you, you must cite it- dates of birth, places of birth, list of works ect. Next year any form of plagiarism will result in a 0 for the assignment. All quotes –no matter how small- must be cited Not following MLA format- after you use a quote you put your citation- (last name of author page# if there is one). “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens). - from the internet source “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens 4). - from the book

Citation mistakes – 10 pts off Citing works not on your work cited page. Using a different font for your quotes – everything should be in the same size and type except for italicizing the title of books. The period at the end of the sentence goes after the citation, not inside the quotation marks “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens 4).

Work Cited Page Mistakes 10- pts. off Works listed on work cited pages that were not used in the paper Works not in alphabetical order Works not reverse indented

Style mistakes- 10 pts off Use of first (I, we) and second person (you) Use of contractions

Grammar Mistakes Fragments – incomplete idea Run on - more than one idea in a sentence that is incorrectly punctuated Verb tense problems – use the present tense when writing about literature. The characters are always alive in the book When writing about the historical or author background use past tense

Grammar mistakes Misused words Confused words –your vs. you’re, there vs. their Unclear pronoun usage Misspelling

Content Mistakes in First Paragraph Not stating the work or the author of the work you are writing about Not stating the significance of the work you are writing about Not having a clear thesis statement as the last sentence of your opening paragraph

Common Mistakes in Body Paragraphs Not having a topic sentence – the reader needs to know what this paragraph is about Not setting up your quote – if you use the quotes without putting it in context, the paragraph will be awk. Not analyzing the quote – you need to tell the reading how the quote you just used proves your thesis statement.

Common Mistakes in Conclusion Adding new information – the conclusion is to sum up you ideas, not to give new information Not making global connections – Tell the reader why what you have proven is important Not having a conclusion This will cause you to fail most writing test.