Editing Your Paper

1
Editing Your Paper

• Overcoming
• Common Errors
• Mary Ann Egan
• Loyola Academy
• from
• Ms. Mary-Grace Gannon
• Xavier High School

2
Your Heading MLA Format

• In the top left corner of your paper,
  information
• Your name
• Teachers name
• Subject
• Date

3
Your Heading Page Numbering

• On ALL pages including the first page, put your
  last name and page numbering in the top right
  corner. (no comma)

4
Your Title?

• Should be INTERESTING and ORIGINAL NOT the
  title of the literary work we are studying!
• Do not underline your title. If you use the title
  of the work in your title that should be
  underlined.

Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter Blah!!!
5
Spacing

• Is your paper DOUBLE SPACED?
• Did you TAB (5 spaces) at the beginning of every
  paragraph?
• Did you put 2 spaces after every period, 1 space
  after commas, semi-colons, and colons.

6
Titles of Literary Works

• Whenever you mentioned the title of the BOOK,
  (even in a shortened form, i.e. Huck Finn) is it
  UNDERLINED OR ITALICIZED?
• IF you are discussing a SHORT STORY, ESSAY, OR
  POEM, is the title in QUOTES?

7
In this paper I am going to orThe following
essay will

• Cross out all words that TELL what you are going
  to do in your paper.
• Rewrite and rephrase these sentences clearly and
  strongly just say what you need to say.
• Have you used I? Rephrase to make strong
  statements and observations about the literature.
  Avoid talking about yourself in an expository
  essay.

8
Find Your Thesis

• Your thesis should present what you are proving
  in this paper your argument!
• It should be somewhere in your introductory
  paragraph.
• It should be a statement that answers the
  question you are answering.

9
In Your Introduction

• Do you have a grabber or attention getter?
• Did you introduce the main points presented in
  your body paragraphs? (Your blue print)
• If this is a 5 paragraph essay, number your three
  points in the introduction.

10
Body Paragraphs

• Look at the first sentence of each body
  paragraph. Each opening sentence should not have
  the same structure, for example, The first
  reason why The second reason why etc.
  Rewrite and vary your sentence structure.

11
Paragraph Unity

• Each body paragraph should focus on proving ONE
  main point. (already mentioned in your
  blueprint).
• Your point in that paragraph must be supported by
  details.
• Details can be quotes from the story OR a short
  explanation of something that happened in the
  story.
• Cross out any sentences that dont support your
  main point.
• Do not OPEN or CLOSE the paragraph with a quote
  rather, introduce and then explain or analyze
  quotes.

12
Agreement

• Subjects and verbs must agree in number.
  SINGULAR subjects must be paired with SINGULAR
  VERBS.
• Did you use the right pronouns? Pronouns must
  agree with their antecedents.

13
Verb Tense

• When writing about literature, use the PRESENT
  tense. The story can always be right now!
• Your paper should be consistent in the tense
  chosen. If you begin in past tense, stay in past
  tense if you begin in present, stay in present.
• Except in rare instances- avoid the use of
  passive voicethe subject is not the doer of the
  action.
• i.e. The ball was hit by Tommy.

14
NO 1st or 2nd Person Pronouns!

• DO NOT use I, you, we, us in an analysis paper.
  Circle all 1st and 2nd person pronouns
• Pronouns are only used in personal narrative.
  Almost never use I to express your opinion in a
  persuasive paper.

15
Avoid Wordiness

• Read each sentence carefully. Eliminate
  unnecessary words.
• Example there is no doubt but
  that becomes no doubt
• There is no need to praise the author or the work
  you are writing about. Example delete In
  this excellent book

16
Did You

• Spell there, their and theyre correctly?
• Spell to, two and too correctly?
• Use then and than correctly?
• Use proper capitalization rules?

17
Development of Ideas

• Do not summarize the piece you are discussing.
  Tell what happened in the story BRIEFLY (a
  sentence or two at most). Make sure that you use
  that information to make a point about your
  argument.
• Make specific comments and use specific examples
  from the literature to support your argument.
• Avoid vague and/or general statements.

18
Your Ending

• Make your conclusion original do not simply
  repeat everything in your paper!
• You do, however, need to restate your thesis. Did
  you?
• Did you make insightful comments and a further
  conclusive analysis about your topic?

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CITATIONS

• After a quote, use MLA format to indicate your
  source Tyranny, like hell, is not easily
  conquered (Paine 174).
• NOTE the position of the end quotes (BEFORE the
  citation) and the period (AFTER the citation).
• If the quote is 4 or more lines, it should be
  indented 10 spaces, no quotations.
• The last graveyard flowers were
  blooming, and
• their smell drifted across the
  cotton field and
• through every room of our house,
  speaking
• softly the names of our dead.
  (Hurst 554)
• NOTE punctuation
  here!

20
Works Cited

• Consult an online source for exact instructions.
  
• Look up MLA Style.
• Generally, you will list each item as follows
• Last name, First name of author. Title of
  book italicized or underlined. City of
  publication Name of publishing company,
  year.
• DOUBLE SPACE entire page.
• INDENT subsequent lines of each entry.
• EACH ENTRY starts at the left margin.
• ALPHABETIZE list by first word in each entry.