1. HOW TO WRITE AN AWESOME ESSAY

2. Tip # 1
Follow the steps for essay writing carefully – be thorough in your graphic organizers and outlines

3. Review of Graphic Organizers
Start with your thesis – this is what you have to PROVE in your paper
Decide on organization – how will you divide up your argument?
Create an organizer based on your areas of argument – these will be your subthesis statements.
List, Venn Diagram, T chart, etc.

4. Review of Outline Components - Introduction
General to specific
Attack sentence = TOPIC, general
Summary – intro important plot details and characters you will talk about
Thesis

5. Review of Outline Components: Body Paragraphs
Start with a topic sentence, or SUBTHESIS– this should include one part of your argument from your thesis. End with a conclusion sentence summing up how you proved your subthesis in that paragraph
Use a MINIMUM of three quotes per body paragraph – as a rule of thumb, use as MANY quotes as it takes to exhaust the argument, this will usually take more than three

6. Review of Outline Components: Body Paragraphs, Continued
Make a CLAIM about the argument you are trying to prove, and then SETUP your quote with its context (who is speaking, what is going on) This usually will involve where you are pulling the quote from.
Integrate your quote gracefully and cite it correctly
ANALYZE each quote fully

7. Review of Outline Components: Conclusion
Summarize, in different words, the points made in the essay
You may want to suggest the significance of the thesis
Remind reader of focus of paper
Avoid digression or new topics
Develop implications and further meaning. You might link this to the attack sentence.

8. Tip # 2: Go above and beyond minimum requirements
In most cases, an “A” paper will not only meet requirements, but exceed them.
Analysis should not just tell what your quote says – it should leave no doubt in your reader’s mind WHY your quote supports your claim, and the ARGUMENT you make in your subthesis and thesis. You are proving a point with the text – not just summarizing it

9. Tip # 3 : Use Quotes Correctly
Keep quotes 10 words or less. Any other part of the quote can be paraphrased to integrate smoothly (see examples)
No quotes in topic or conclusion sentences.

10. Quotes Continued
Correct use of Quotes: ONLY around text, not around nicknames, slang
Use single quotes to enclose quotations within a quotation
Do not use an ellipses to introduce quote words. Blend quote into sentence
Use quotes for names of short works (poems, songs, short stories, articles, TV episode)
Names of books, plays, films in italics

11. Quote Punctuation
Follow MLA style for quotations: think of the text in a quote as part of your sentence. Periods, commas, semicolons, and colons should go outside of the quotation marks
Question marks and exclamation points go inside when they apply to quoted material, outside when they apply to the whole sentence.

12. Quotes should support, flow smoothly into your writing, and document source
“ I love writing essays” (67).
Verbs to introduce quotes:
Acknowledge, admit, argue, agree, allege, announce, ask, assert, believe, claim, comment, compare, confides, confirms, cries, declares, denies, discloses, disputes, emphasizes, exclaims, expresses, illustrates, implies, insists, maintains, mumbles, notes, observes, protests, queries, questions, refutes, rejects, remarks, reports, reasons, responds, says, shouts, suggests, supposes, thinks, utters, whispers

13. Incorporate Quote into your sentence
Alexander Pope said that “brevity is the soul of wit” (67).
Make sure the first letter is not capital
Organize quotes – chronological, least important to most, etc.
Use only quotes that are meaningful to your argument

14. Tip # 4 : Polish your style
Vary sentence construction and length as well as word choice.
Choose synonyms carefully – make sure you check definitions, many synonyms have subtle differences make them inappropriate or awkward for certain usage

15. Style reminders continued
Use formal language – no slang, avoid sayings
NO I, you, we, me, us
AVOID “The reader,” “This shows, “This example explains” – these are crutches
Avoid words that suggest uncertainty – “may” “might” “seems” “could mean” etc.
Run a spell check – and check for correctly spelled errors

16. More on style
Use active voice – so that the subject in the sentence is DOING the action, not having it done
The pizza was devoured by the girls (PASSIVE, BAD) The girls devoured the pizza. (ACTIVE, GOOD)
Use ACTION verbs whenever possible – avoid overuse of “to be”, “seems”, “shows”, etc.

17. (from “The Lottery” student essays)
EXAMPLES
OF ANALYSIS
(from “The Lottery” student essays)

18. Weak analysis
Nancy Hutchinson chooses her ticket while her friends “breath heavily” and hope that “it’s not Nancy.” The townspeople hope Nancy does not get the winning ticket.
WHY IS THIS WEAK?

19. Strong Analysis
After Bill Hutchinson’s family is singled out as winners, Tessie frantically exclaims, “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted”. Her distress in an otherwise placid group signifies that something is going wrong, and that the lottery is not nearly as harmless as it seems.
WHY IS THIS STRONG?