1. …and other really, really important stuff.
MLA FORMAT
…and other really, really important stuff.

2. THE FIRST THINGS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF WHILE WRITING….
DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?
DOES IT RELATE BACK TO MY THESIS?
DID I CITE EVERYTHING THAT I DIDN’T COME UP WITH?

3. THINGS TO DO (AND NOT DO) TO KEEP MRS. GARRISON FROM LOSING HER MIND:
Do this:
#1 FOLLOW DIRECTIONS
Times New Roman font
FOR EVERYTHING
12-point font
One inch margins all the way around
Delete the extra space from between paragraphs
Heading on first page only
Your name
Class/Block/Teacher
Due date spelled out
Include a Works Cited page
Last name and page number in upper right corner of all pages
Double space everything including heading
In-text citations should match WC page
A woman = one woman; a women = doesn’t make sense
Make sure all words are spelled correctly
Capitalize names; don’t capitalize things that don’t need capitalization

4. Don’t do this: No contractions
No personal pronouns (I, you, me, we, us, our)
Don’t randomly capitalize stuff
No “I believe,” “In my opinion,” “This is why,” “This quote shows,” “In this paper,” “In conclusion,” etc.
No informal language; this is an academic paper!
No quotes or new information in the conclusion
Don’t turn in your paper without reading over it. Simple mistakes aggravate me the most.

5. CITATIONS AND WORKS CITED
Anything that isn’t your own personal information needs to be cited:
If you include a quote
If you include a paraphrase
Citation goes in parentheses after the quote
Period doesn’t end the quote; it goes AFTER the citation (even if your quote is a complete sentence)
Works Cited goes at the very end, on its own page
Should be in alphabetical order by first word (NOT including “The”)
Not an issue with only one source.
Check out easybib.com and Purdue Owl for help on making citations for other sources

6. WHEN IN DOUBT…
Go to the Writing section on the Printables tab of my Weebly. I have EVERYTHING you will need to know about how to write a sweet, sweet paper.