Summer 218 Writing Assignment Instructions

General Information about Essays

The 100-point essays will generally require you to develop papers of between 4-5 full typed pages in standard MLA format (see below) to adequately cover the topic. You'll want to use specific examples whenever possible. Feel free to draw on personal experience, but that's generally not enough to support your thesis. Content is most important with these essays, but I will look closely at the form of the essays as well, so you'll need to edit and proofread to eliminate as many of the spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax errors as possible to earn a high score.

NOTE: these are not just personal opinion papers.

These are, for the most part, literary analyses. You'll need to locate themes / issues / ideas in the work(s) you are discussing; generate a clear, focused thesis; build your essay with clear observations supported and illustrated by documented quotations.

For more information on how to Write about Literature, click the button below:

MLA Essay Format

Save a copy

always keep copies of all of your assignments. If there is a problem with either e-mail or snail-mail, you will need that copy to re-send for credit.

Formatting in WORD

to change the left and right margins to 1" select the FILE tab then PAGE SETUP; there is a space where you can change the 1.25" margins to 1" quite easily
double spacing your paper is done by selecting the FORMAT tab; then select PARAGRAPH; in the "line spacing" box where you will select "double"
the header (your last name and the page number 1/2" from the top right of each page) is handled using the VIEW tab then selecting HEADER/FOOTER; click the "right justify" button, type in your last name, and click the "#" button

Attaching your File

save your file; naming the file something descriptive (such as, "Essay 2", will help in case you need to search for it
in your e-mail program click ATTACH; a dialogue box will appear; there is a BROWSE button you can click to locate your file; click OK when you find the file you want to attach
remember to put your name, the class, the assignment in your e-mail (or on the subject line) and send it to jrcorbally@gmail.com

All essays must be in standard MLA (Modern Language Association) format; this is the format you should have learned in English 101. College and university academic standards require that papers written in the humanities (there is a different format for scientific papers) be submitted in this format.

For complete information on what this format looks like, refer to an MLA style manual or any standard college writing handbook.

NOTE: for our class the font you must use is Times New Roman size 12.

You can also find information on the MLA format and more general information on academic writing at the following web site:

Purdue's OWL

Please look over the format of your essay before you submit it. You will lose points for incorrectly-formatted papers; in some cases, essays will not be accepted if the format is too far from the MLA standards.

How to Submit your Work

Your essays will be submitted to me as attachments to e-mail. Write the paper in standard MLA format in WORD, save your paper on your hard drive or on a floppy disk, and attach the file to an e-mail addressed to me. When sending assignments, your e-mail message should include your name, the class number (English 218), and the name of the assignment which is attached (this is in addition to the heading information that you'll have on the attached essay itself). Send your e-mail to me at jrcorbally@gmail.com.

NOTE: If you do not have Microsoft WORD on your computer, you must save your file as either a Word (.doc) file or as a rich-text-format (.rtf) file before attaching it. My WORD software can translate files from a number of other word-processing programs, but there are many that it cannot. If you do not save your file as a .doc file or a .rtf file, then the formatting will likely be lost; in some cases, the text is completely unreadable by my software.

Late Essays

Try to get all work in on time. Late essays will always (unless there's some problem with my server on the day the work is due) be penalized. A late essay will lose 10% of the total score. NOTE: Any essay that is more than one week late will receive no credit! To avoid a late penalty (or a zero), it's a very good idea to submit work early. Always keep a copy of your work in case it gets lost in transmission.

Revisions

One essay may be revised one time for credit as long as you do so within one week of receiving your original back. Remember, revision is just that--a new vision of your paper. Minor corrections and occasional phrase changes will not usually change your grade. If your second version is worse than the first (highly unlikely), you will receive the higher grade.

Getting Further Help - GREAT NEWS!

We are trying something new this summer; LAHC has the opportunity to try out an onlilne tutoring system that will allow you to get extra help with your essays. NetTutor will allow you to ask questions online and submit drafts of essays to tutors for feedback. I highly recommend you give it a try AND provide us feedback at the end of the semester; let us know what you liked best, what you'd like to see changed or added. This is certainly not a requirement, but it's a nice way to get extra help and suggestions when it comes to writing essays.

To access NetTutor click the link below. You will need to register (click "register now" on their site and follow the steps), get a password through your e-mail, sign in, click that you ACCEPT terms of service. Following a quick browser check to make sure you have software that works with NetTutor, you can click on the online tutorial to see all of the features available

Keep in mind that I don't have any personal connection with NetTutor, so if you have questions about features and functions, you need to ask them; I just don't have those answers. In any case, I hope this ends up being a helpful tool for you all. Now here's he link you click to get started:

link to NetTutor Writing Lab

Writing Assignments