H OW TO WRITE AN 8 TH GRADE PAPER

APPEARANCE Yes, sad as it is, people do judge by appearance. You do not want your teacher to take one look at your sloppy work, groan, and shove your paper to the bottom of the stack. Therefore, in order for your paper to receive a completely unbiased appraisal, your work should be neat, ordered, and balanced.

FORM One inch margins all around the paper HEADING: single spaced, include name, teacher’s surname, class, and date EX: Ima Good Student Abernathy English 8, 3 March 20, 2012

On the first page, create the heading and place it on the left side, 1 inch from the top. On subsequent pages, number the pages with your surname and the page number (in upper right corner). Ex: Goodfellow, 3 Skip one space between the date and the title. Center the title. Do not put your title in bold, underlined, or italic type. Do not use your assignment as your title. If your paper is about a book, movie, etc., do not use that title. Create your own title. Skip one space between the title and the body.

Use 10 or 12 point font; use a standard font. Use of oversized or artistic fonts indicates that you are trying to make your paper appear longer than it is or you are trying ‘dress up’ a poor paper. This is blatantly obvious to your reader and is an insult to her intelligence. Honesty is always best. IF you quote someone or use her ideas, you must give credit for those ideas. Therefore, you must create a Works Cited page. The Works Cited page must be a separate page. Do not tack it on to the bottom of your paper.

FIRST PARAGRAPH The first paragraph must introduce the idea of the paper and include the thesis. The thesis should be the last sentence of the introductory paragraph. If the paper is about another work, the first paragraph must include the title and author of that work. Obviously, the first paragraph should contain more information. This is, after all, an introductory paragraph and the reader should be introduced to ideas and/or concepts. A good introduction will prepare the reader for the coming thesis and argument.

STYLE Use standard, formal English. That means no: contractions (ex: don’t = do not) slang (ex: ain’t) colloquialisms (ex: y’all) chunks of other languages

PARAGRAPHS The body paragraphs of a paper should be of approximate size. Paragraphs that are too brief indicate undeveloped ideas. Paragraphs that are too long indicate an inability to distinguish important from unimportant points OR That the writer simply doesn’t know how to construct a paragraph.

P ARAGRAPHS, CONT.. Elements of a Paragraph A paragraph should contain each of the following: Unity, Coherence, A Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development. Unity The entire paragraph should be about a single idea. If the paragraph begins with one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas. Coherence Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph easily understandable to a reader. Clear sentences that follow a logical sequence make a coherent paragraph.

A topic sentence A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates the paragraph’s idea or thesis. Not all paragraphs have clear-cut topic sentences. Topic sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph. However, an easy way to make sure your reader understands the topic of the paragraph is to put your topic sentence near the beginning of the paragraph.

Adequate development The topic of the paragraph should be discussed fully and adequately. If the paragraph is only a few sentences, the chances are good that the idea is not developed Some methods to make sure your paragraph is well-developed: Use examples and illustrations Cite data (facts, statistics, evidence, details, and others) Examine testimony (what other people say such as quotes and paraphrases) Compare and contrast Evaluate causes and reasons Examine effects and consequences Analyze the topic Offer a chronology of an event (time segments)

P ARAGRAPHS, CONT. WHEN DO I START A NEW PARAGRAPH ? Start a new paragraph when you have a new idea or a new point to make. Start a new paragraph when you wish to contrast your last idea with another. Start a new paragraph when you have finished your introduction or you are ready to conclude your paper.

TRANSITION Ideally, each sentence of a paper should lead smoothly into the next just as The last sentence of a paragraph suggests the paragraph to come and The final sentence of the paper brings the entire paper to a neat and logical conclusion.

QUOTES Quoting: Quotes should never stand alone. Quotes should be incorporated into your own sentences and the sentence should make sense. Do not end a paragraph with a quote. Use your own words to conclude both paragraph and paper. Do not quote extensively; padded papers are obvious and insulting to your reader’s intelligence. Punctuate quotes correctly. Ex: Most of us have pondered whether “[t]o be or not to be” (53).

COMMON MISTAKES TO CORRECT IT is a pronoun and must have a recognizable antecedent. Do not begin a sentence with “it” unless the antecedent is the last word of the preceding sentence. The same rule applies to “this,” “that,” and “there” He/their; one/their; she/their = XXXXXX Singular pronouns must be paired with singular pronouns (or nouns) he/his; one/one’s; she/hers Everyone is a singular noun (everyone/his) Everybody is a plural noun (everybody/theirs)

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES Prepositional phrases Be careful not to string prepositional phrases. They quickly adopt a sing-song rhythm and put your reader to sleep. EX: In the book written by Long, the reader learns that medieval life, with all its problems, was not for the weak in health or spirit. Long’s book proves that medieval life was not for those weak of heart or spirit.

MORE ISSUES Infinitive: a verb + to = to dance, to sing, to weep, to check Split infinitive : “to boldly go” to go boldly to periodically checkto check periodically Beginning/ending sentences with prepositions/linking verbs Suppositionsupposeif Consistency