1. Plan before you write!

2. Follow these simple tips: Re-read the prompt for complete understanding If the prompt is a quotation from an unrelated work, DO NOT use the quotation or its author in your essay Take the CENTRAL idea from the prompt. Use it as your guide for YOUR essay

3. Continuing: Develop a strong thesis in the opening of your essay, then defend/support it in each of the body paragraphs. Incorporate the name of the work and its author in the opening Do NOT summarize the plot of the work! Instead, use events/situations from the plot to show how the work relates to the topic (your thesis)

4. Continuing: Use literary present to discuss literature --Example: Cullen describes the killers as disturbed boys who develop a plan to execute as many of their fellow students and teachers as possible

5. Continuing: Use formal tone! Do NOT use first-person OR second- person pronouns (I, you, us, we, your, our, yourself, my, me, mine, ourselves, yourself, etc.) USE: He, she, they, themselves, their, theirs, his, her, hers, etc. Do NOT use slang: NO: kids, mom, dad, cops, “blew a fuse,” “straw that broke the camel’s back,” etc.

6. Continuing: Watch grammar, especially commas and pronouns Pronoun errors to guard against: --People have “LIVES,” not “LIFE.” --One person cannot become a “they” in the same sentence

7. Continuing: Do not compliment the writer or his ability to write Do not express your person love your devotion to the writer or the work Proofread for odd or repetitive phrasing Vary your sentence length and your vocabulary

8. Winner of the Blooper Award: “When Hannah felt something was not going her way or someone hurt her feelings, she meditated on that one thing and made everything bad in her life boil like a giant cauldron of stew in a tiny little cottage in the middle of nowhere.: