1. Last Minute Paper Tips
Humanities 8

2. Remember… 12 font Time New Roman, Arial font 1 in or 2cm margins
Double spaced
Indent paragraphs
Same spacing between paragraphs
Have a title
Put your name on the paper
me a copy

3. Color Coding
Paraphrased information will be in black (should be cited)
Direct quotations will be in red with quotation marks (should be cited) or referenced.
Your original ideas will be in blue, common knowledge will be in blue. No need for citations

4. Basic Mistakes to Avoid
No use of first person, no I statements, no reference to yourself! Only okay if in an anecdote
Spell out number that are less than 100.
Seventy-five percent
Do not use contractions, no can’t, don’t, won’t etc. Spell it out!
No use of the word get
Look at your verb structures, if two verbs are together do they need to be? Can you say it in a way with one?

5. Basic Revision of Internal Citation
Internal citation comes at the end of the sentence with the citable information
You cannot use one citation for two sentences, either combine them or cite both
You cite in parenthesis then add the period
You cite author page number (Smith 24). For books.
You cite website title if no author (CIA World Factbook).
No Indiastat
Look at the MLA guide online to be sure your internal citation is correct, it is very easy for me to see when it is wrong and really, no excuses for mistakes!

6. Works cited
It is alphabetical, it mixes all of the different types of sources
The second line is indented
Use

7. Work Cited : Your Title
WORK CITED Braun, Joachim. "Accelerating Progress towards Reducing Child Malnutrition in India." Child Malnutrition in India. January International Food Policy Research Institute. 20 Apr 2009 < rition.pdf>. "India." CIA - The World Factbook. 9 April, Central Intelligence Agency. 15 Apr 2009 < world-factbook/geos/in.html>.

8. Your Paper and the Paragraphs
Vary sentence length
Order your arguments, use your strongest first, weakest second, and second strongest last.
Do the same with the order of your paragraphs, start with your strongest reason first, weakest second, and second strongest last.
Do you have transitions?

9. Your voice and another pair of eyes!
Go home, make your edits
Read it out loud to yourself, what mistakes do you hear?
Fix them
Give your paper to a parent or older sibling
What mistakes can they find
Fix those
Walk away
Look at it one more time, fix those mistakes
Have it printed when you arrive to class in color