Essays composed in fulfillment of requirements for English 2328 should reflect the following standards and conventions: 

Format:
1) Papers must be typed and double-spaced with no coversheet attached. 

2) The first page should include a single-spaced heading on the left with four elements: First line--student's full name; Second line--course name and number (English 2328:xxxx); Third line--exercise number; Fourth--date of submission. 

3) On the same lines as the heading but against the right-hand side of the paper, include your return mailing address. (All exercises will be returned by regular mail within the week after they have been received.) 

3) Double-spaced below the heading and centered on the line should be the title of the paper (appropriate to the topic and not the exercise number). 

4) Margins should reflect the default settings of your word processor and should not exceed 1.25" in width. 

5) Type font should be either New Times Roman or Arial. Use 12 point font size only! 

6) All text in the body of the paper--including quotations--should be double-spaced. Use only one double-space between paragraphs. 

7) Papers must incorporate significant short quotations from the texts in support of claims addressed in the essay. Do not include block quotations. No quotation should exceed three full lines of type. 

8) Essays submitted by mail should be stapled in the upper left-hand corner. 

Development:
Each paper must address one of the specific paper topics included in the instructions for the weekly exercises. Any paper that does not reflect the development of one of the topics will fail. 

Each assignment should be composed as a traditional thesis-support essay with 

1) a one-paragraph introduction (the thesis sentence should come last in the paragraph), 

2) a body including at least four supporting paragraphs; 

Note: Each paragraph of the body of the paper must begin with a claim as a topic sentence which supports, illustrates, argues, or explains a concept related to the thesis. Never begin a paragraph in the body of the paper with a quotation or other reference to the text.

Each paragraph should use information from the text under analysis in the form of quotations, paraphrases, allusions, or brief summaries. After each reference, document the source parenthetically by placing the page number of the reference inside a set of parentheses followed by the period of the sentence. 

3) and, a brief conclusion of three to five sentences (but don't merely summarize!) 

Writing Conventions:
Papers should be free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.  This course presupposes that students have mastered these basic elements.  Students are encouraged to use electronic aids such as spelling and grammar check software during the drafting and editing processes.  Papers which exhibit problems in these elements will fail. 

Grades: 
Papers will receive numerical grades reflecting the following grade ranges: 

90 - 100    = A 
80 - 89      = B 
70 - 79      = C 
60 - 69      = D 
59 - Below   F 

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This page was last modified on January 25, 2001,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes.
.