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Commas Themes Quotes The author believes that ___________ The biggest surprises Commas Themes The author believes that ___________ Quotes

The biggest problems Missing information Gross factual errors Things we haven’t learned yet (parallelism, embedded quotes, MLA formatting, etc.) Jargon

Subject vs. Theme

Subject What a story is about, summed up in a few words: Racism Hope Conformity Identity Bildungsroman

Theme The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work A theme is NOT a topic or subject Themes BUILD on a topic or subject Themes may be major or minor (a theme in a chapter chapter vs. a book-length theme, etc.) Not every literary work has a theme

Theme An abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of its subject matter A main idea about human life stated in a complete sentence

ICE I – Introduce C – Cite (quote) E - Explain

DON’T randomly capitalize The “NO” items DON’T randomly capitalize Proper nouns SHOULD be capitalized Proper nouns are specific things The Atlantic vs. the ocean Christian vs. religion English vs. math

Do a spelling check and fix the mistakes The “NO” items If you see squiggly red lines on your paper, it means you’ve spelled something wrong… Do a spelling check and fix the mistakes

The “NO” items I We Us You Me Our

Informal language (guys, don’t, stuff, pretty, etc.) The “NO” items Informal language (guys, don’t, stuff, pretty, etc.) Nix the “very” bad word Check spelling of character names & locations

Fragments If it doesn’t have a (1) subject, (2) verb, and (3) complete thought, it’s not a sentence!

MLA formatting Book titles are italicized: The Help NO quotations marks or underlines You need a running head, header, and title EVERYTHING is Times New Roman, Size 12 NO bolds, underlines, or italicized words (obviously with exceptions) Citations look like: (Stockett 47). No double spaces You need an actual essay title

Random FYIs Years: ‘60s or 1960s People are “who”s, not “that”s You can cut the nonsense (brilliant, exciting, thrilling, life-changing) Stockett wrote, “‘What happen?’ [Minny] ask[ed] again.” Don’t italicize your quotes

Adding context The Help has sold 10 million copies Your essay will make sense to 10 million people Adding context expands your audience to 7.53 billion people Who?

Unclear pronouns/words The word “IT” is often unclear — who or what is “it”? Same goes for “they,” “he,” or “she” — make sure readers know which character you’re referring to

Paragraph breaks Basic rule: Keep one idea to one paragraph Ask: Does your paragraph focus on ONE person? Does your paragraph focus on ONE idea? Does your paragraph focus on proving ONE point?

Term 2 material: Don’t stress over fixing it in your essay Things we will learn

Transitions Transitions act as “bridges” between ideas in writing They are found between ideas in a single paragraph They are also found between paragraphs

Embedded quotes When Francie learned to read, her world changed. “Books became her friend, and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours.”

Embedded quotes When Francie learned to read, her world changed. The author explains, “Books became her friend, and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours” (Smith 27).

Subject/verb agreement Subjects and verbs MUST AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural) If a subject is singular, its verb must be singular If a subject is plural, its verb must be plural

Subject/verb agreement 1. Apples picked at the beginning of the harvest season (is/are) firm but delicious. 2. Younger students who work well with each other (make/makes) a good team. 3. His unusual strength and surprising speed (make/makes) Tom a challenging opponent. 4. The most interesting paintings that are sold in the museum (have/has) simple composition and limited color ranges.

Parallelism Unparallel: Melvin enjoyed rock music, football, and to collect stamps Parallel: Melvin enjoyed rock music, football, and collecting stamps Unparallel: Susan pushed the hair from her eyes, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and the volleyball was served Parallel: Susan pushed the hair from her eyes, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and served the volleyball

FYI One last thing

What is plagiarism? To steal and pass off another person’s ideas or words as your own To use information without crediting the source To commit literary theft To present as new and original an idea or product created from an existing source

Scanning your papers SmallSEOTools.com/plagiarism-checker QueText.com Grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker