Improving your paper SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESS

Writing = Revising  Writing IS a process  This paper WILL take hard work to get a good grade (or even to get a passing grade)  You WILL have to make changes from your rough draft to the final draft.  Some will be major changes and some might be minor fixes.  That’s okay and expected.  Typed copy due by Wed. 10/22 at the start of the hour. We will be doing pretty involved peer editing for this paper.  Tentative due date for the final paper is Mon 10/27 at the start of the hour. We are turning papers in electronically.

Disclaimer:  Just because I didn’t make a comment to improve something doesn’t mean what you have is perfect and will get you an A. I can’t catch every mistake. Listen to the following suggestions and think about YOUR OWN paper and see if you are meeting expectations.

Ask questions  I can’t fully explain everything I would like to so if you don’t know how to fix something I may have marked, just ask me for help. It is much easier to just talk with you than to write a novel to explain how to improve.

See me  If something says SEE ME that’s not a bad thing. I would just rather talk with you than write a novel.

No attitude intended  Please don’t read my questions with attitude or snottiness behind them. That’s not my intention.  How does that teach the theme?  How does that prove he is smart?  I’m asking the questions to try and show you where I, the reader, am getting confused

Get rough draft back  Please read my comments  I ended up reading EVERYTHING  Spent 12 hours this weekend giving you feedback  Ask me if you can’t read something  I will then go through the rest of this PowerPoint in hopes it will help answer some of your questions  If you still have questions, you can ask me throughout the week during typing time. (Or come in before or after school)  This PowerPoint will be on my website if you need it.

Quotes  Many people are missing:  Giving context before the quote  Step 1: Intro source  Step 3: Analyze quote-explain how the quote PROVES whatever you’re trying to prove.  Quotes need to PROVE something not just summarize  Your 2 required quotes to show proof:  Cannot be in the same body paragraphs  Cannot be in the intro or conclusion

ANALYZE QUOTES  Still need to analyze your quotes.  Explain how your quote proves ________________ (trait, conflict, theme)  Without this analysis, your quote is pointless

Characterization Paragraph  Keep the SAME traits throughout the paragraph  When you get to the similarity and different section you don’t get to pick new character traits.  Use the same traits or evidence you provided above.

Similarities and Differences  Need one idea to tie thoughts together or you just end up saying random summaries about characters, conflicts, and themes and it’s not clear HOW the 2 ideas are different or the same.  Characterization  Both women are clever. Character A does this. Character B does this.  However the women use their wisdom differently. Character A does this. Character B does this.

Similarities and Differences cont’  Conflict  Both conflicts impact a lot of people. Story A’s conflict affects _____. Story B’s conflict affects ____  The motivation behind the conflicts is different. In Story A__________ and in Story B__________  Theme  Both themes deal with a lack of respect. In Story A__________. In Story B________  The outcome of the themes are different. Story has a more positive outcome because ___________ whereas Story B has a more negative outcome because_______.

Similarities and differences cont’  I may have written: evidence for each?  This means, give an example from each story to prove that similarity or difference.  So if you’re saying both characters are nice. Give evidence from Story A to prove she is nice and then evidence from Story B to prove how that character is nice.  You should have already mentioned this above. Just remind your reader

Similarities and differences (last one)  Shouldn’t be using the SAME similarity/difference ideas between paragraphs. It gets repetitive and your reader will get bored.  Also, it makes it look like you can’t think of any other ideas. Which may be true, but you don’t want your reader to know that  See me if you need help

Use transitions  Remember, your reader will not have the outline.  Use transitions or key words between ideas to guide your reader  The conflict of Story A is______________  The conflict is resolved when______________

Use compare/contrast language  The themes of these two stories are similar because___________________  The difference between these themes is ________________________  If you DO NOT use any compare/contrast language you are NOT comparing and contrasting or making ideas clear for your reader.  If you DO NOT use any compare/contrast language you will NOT get a good grade on this paper.

No YOU or YOUR  Can’t use YOU, even in your theme.  You should be careful who you trust.  Revised: People should be careful who they trust.

Spelling  The children are stealing Aunty Misery’s PEARS not PAIRS.  Threw vs through  He threw the ball.  She went through the door.  We have read many STORIES not STORYS

Miscellaneous comments  Don’t use:  Things  Stuff  They are both VAGUE. Say exactly what you mean. Be specific.  You are writing about STORIES not BOOKS  Don’t start sentences with AND