Remember you must develop a clear thesis and support it from your observations and from your reading with quotations, paraphrase or summary that is appropriate and convincing. 

Develop your introduction and conclusion with care. Your introduction should include the thesis statement and a general idea of the scope of your discussion (the points you will offer), but avoid the deadly and boring announcement of purpose: "In this essay I will discuss. . . ." When writing about another piece of writing, the title of the piece(s), the author's name must be included also and all comments are made in the present tense. Your conclusion should provide closure for your readers by bringing your points to a satisfactory end; do not introduce any new topics or ideas. 

Every sentence in your essay must contribute to developing your thesis and hold your reader's attention. Carefully organize and arrange your material so your ideas are presented in logical order (ideally following the general statement of scope offered in the intro). Don't forget to make use of transitional words and phrases--these aid the reader in following your reasoning. 

All reading drafts of the essays, including portfolio submissions, should be no less than 700 and no more than 1000 words in length (all words count in the tally).

All writing, inventions to final drafts, should be saved on your course disk to assist you in the revision process, not only for final drafts of each essay, but more importantly, for the portfolio revisions. 

Four drafts should be written for each essay: #1--rough draft, #2--reading draft for peer group response, #3--teacher's draft, and #4--revised draft for possible inclusion in the course portfolio.

In submitting essays, fold final and rough drafts together lengthwise and write (1) your name, (2) date, and (3) section on the outside. When your essay is returned, place all materials in your loose-leaf folder, including the rough draft, for easy access during the revision process for the course portfolio.

All writing must be the student's original work. 

Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in your paper being returned ungraded, hence, treated as late and subject to the appropriate penalties. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with all these requirements.

Format Matters:  

The computers in the classroom use Word; the program you use outside of class must be compatible. If you have another program at home, you can save your documents in Rich Text Format, which will enable you to open them on our computers. 

Use of Secondary Sources  

Primary and secondary sources (library materials, interviews, or non-print sources), whether paraphrased or directly quoted, must be cited parenthetically and be included in a Works Cited  or References page following the appropriate style sheet for your assignment. 

Photocopies of pages cited (direct quotation and paraphrase) must be submitted along with the teacher's draft.