What My Essay Should LOOK LIKE Rules for English papers.

Format Please! Your heading should include the following: Your Name Teacher’s Name Class Name Due Date * There is no need for a title page! Daisy Spring Ms. Maynard Grade 9 Period 2 January 11, 2011

Follow MLA Format 1 inch margins 12 point font (Acceptable fonts are: Times New Roman or Cambria ONLY.) Double Spaced Title – Something creative!!(No title page necessary) Last name and page number on each page. (I will show you how to do this.) Work Cited page! (Again, I will show you how to do this.)

Internal Citations Short quotes need to be embedded into your paper as part of the paragraph and cited as follows: (In your paper this will be double spaced.) Finally Paul tries to stop Erik’s cruelty and speaks up. “I stood straight and faced them all, like I had seen Luis do. ‘I saw- I heard Erik Fisher tell him to do it’” (Bloor 284). Paul tells the police about Erik’s involvement in Luis’ murder. Long/Block Quotes: Quotes that are over 4 lines (WHEN TYPED) or are dialogue formatted in the text as separate lines need to be indented.

Example for Dialogue: (Again, this will be double spaced in your paper.) Paul remembers when he was little, Erik and his friend Vincent Castor sprayed paint in his eyes leaving him legally blind. “Let me ask you one thing, Mom. When you got home from the hospital that day, did you see the white paint on Erik’s hands?” She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.” “Did you know what happened?” “Yes.” (Bloor 265) Paul’s parents knew that Erik had a part in causing his brother’s blindness and did not tell Paul about their knowing this fact. They also did not punish Erik for hurting Paul.

Work Cited 101: Your Work Cited page should look like this: (Only in Size 12 font) Work Cited Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Bloor, Edward. Tangerine. Orlando: Harcourt, Print.

Grammar & Mechanics 1. Capitalization, spelling, tenses, subject-verb agreement, punctuation! 2. Don’t summarize or lecture, let your examples speak for itself. 3. Topic sentences in ALL paragraphs. 4. Sentences SUPPORT topic sentences. 5. No sentence fragments or run-ons. 6. Language is smooth and fluent. 7. Transitions between paragraphs. 8. Short quotes are interwoven with text. Long are indented. 9. ONLY 3rd person voice is used—NO “I” or “You”