ESSAY ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

WHAT YOU MUST TURN IN:

You must turn in your essay using the following format. All credited work must have the professor's initials and date on it. The essay and its parts are worth 100 points:

1) In-class Cluster or Brainstorming exercise (10 points)
2) Outline (10) points
3) First body paragraph (10 points)
4) Draft of essay (50 points)
5) Typed draft of essay: 20 points
6) Evaluation sheet (evaluation sheets will be provided)

Your essay and its parts must be enclosed in a two-pocket folder.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR ESSAY'S CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION:

One of the most important aspects of writing an academic essay is the critical analysis, development, and evaluation of your topic.

Hook/Motivation: These three sentences should work to attract your reader and get them interested in your topic.

Thesis statement: The essay's logic is found in its thesis - your reader should be able to follow the thesis all the way through the body paragraphs to the conclusion.

Subtopics and supporting details: The development of your topic exists in the body paragraphs, in which you provide proof or you support your thesis statement using explanation, examples, facts, statistics, data, anecdotes, quotes, and/or historical background. You must ask yourself if you have developed your topic clearly and intelligently.

Transitional phrases or words: You should remember to use transitions in your essays, between paragraphs and between sentences to show the reader you are taking them from one idea to another or expanding on an idea. Examples of transitions are: such as, for instance, for example, however, therefore, in contrast, additionally, etc.

For more information on transitions, go the following weblink:

http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/trans1.html

Conclusion: Your conclusion is made up of two parts: the restated thesis and the insight. The restated thesis is important because it reminds the reader of the essay's purpose. Like a summary, it must be paraphrased or rewritten, using new words to repeat the same idea. Remember: a restated thesis never repeats the same language as your thesis statement.

Because the insight is the final sentence of the essay, it should leave your reader with a lingering and powerful perspective of your topic. Many writers use proverbs or saysings to close their essays. Some writers offer an insight into the future of the topic. The insight should not, however, offer new or contradictory information on the topic. It should still be relevant to the main idea. Like the hook or the motivation, the insight is used to keep your critical evaluation of the topic in the reader's mind for a very long time.