My Name February 6, 2015 3 rd Period Essay Writing Assignment EV CAIN WRITER S HANDBOOK It is very important to present a high quality essay. In order to do that, there are certain formats and rules you should follow. Use this page as a reference to show you what your finished essay should look like. Here are a few tips to remember. EV CAIN STEM CHARTER SCHOOL WRITER S HANDBOOK Format Requirements for Word Processing Proper heading and title in 12 point font, Calibri. Use 12 point font: Calibri (default font). Use 1-inch margins. Double Space. Do not add extra spacing between paragraphs. Align left. Type one tab indent per paragraph do not use space bar. Use formal academic language. ALL evidence must be cited correctly. There are some major errors that you should avoid while writing your essay. Here are a few things to remember. Avoid These Errors Avoid using terms as I, we, they, you. Do not write The End at the bottom of the assignment. Do not say In this essay I will tell you Don t include a word count Don t reference your own essay. For example, don t say, In the second paragraph or I said previously Do not write, My name is If you follow these tips, chances are you are going to write a great essay! A Note about Plagiarism and Cheating Plagiarism is using someone else s ideas or words as though they are your own. Any time you use sources in your writing, whether a quotation, paraphrase or summary, you must credit your sources. All parties in plagiarism are considered equally guilty. If you share your work with another, you, too, have plagiarized.
Graphic Organizer for an Essay INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH HOOK: Grab the reader's interest with an interesting fact or quote. BACKGROUND: Provide information the reader needs to know to understand the topic THESIS Online Writing Resources Grammar Bytes Provides tips and rules, videos, detailed definitions http://www.chompchomp.com/ The THESIS STATEMENT is a sentence that addresses the prompt and expresses the main argument of your essay. It usually consists of 2 parts: THE TOPIC + YOUR CLAIMS ABOUT THE TOPIC Purdue Owl THE BODY PARAGRAPHS argue a series of claims that address the prompt and that are supported by your E sentences. The number of paragraphs will depend on the essay. Offers writing resources and instructional material-great for research and citations https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ Easybib Helps you to create a works cited page for ANY type of document. http://www.easybib.com/ Paperrater THE CONCLUSION will summarize the main points of your essay and restate your thesis. End with a final conclusion: What is so important about this topic? Why is it important? Offers free online grammar checker and plagiarism detector http://www.paperrater.com/
Works Cited Page Format At the end of your paper comes the Works Cited page. Title the page Works Cited and list the references you cited in your paper. Alphabetize your entries MEDIA = the format in which you found the information Double Space Print. Web. Interview. Email. For entries longer than one line, use a hanging indent format. (Format, paragraph, special, hanging) Here are some common sources and the way to reference them on your Works Cited page: 1. Book by a Single Author Author s last name, First Name. Title of Book. Place Published: Publisher, Year of Publication. Media. Jones, Sam. How to Write Super Duper Research Paper. Sacramento, California: Scotten Publishing, 2004. Print. 2. Books with Two or More Authors (includes textbooks) 1 st Author s Last Name, First Name, and 2 nd Authors First Name Last Name. Title of Book. Place published: Publisher, Year of Publication. Media. Jones, Sam and Fred Smith. You Really Can Get an A in Mrs. Smith s Class. New York: Joe Boxer Publishing, 2001. Print. 3. Book with No Author Cited (including Encyclopedia/Encarta) Article Title. Title of Book. Edition. Year of Publication. Media. Automation. Encyclopedia Britannica. 15 th Edition. 1995. Print. 4. Anthology or Compilation Editor s last name, first name, ed. Title of article. Name of Anthology. Place Published: Publisher, Year of Publication. Page numbers. Media. Allende, Isabel. Toad s Mouth. A Hammock Beneath the Mangos: Stories from Latin America. New York: Plume, 1992. 83-88. Print. 5. Magazine and Newspaper Articles Article Author s Last Name, First Name. Article Title Magazine/Newspaper Title. Date of Publication: Page numbers. Media. Flunkee, Joe. How to Sleep Through the Eighth Grade. Teen s Guide to Success. November, 2004: 22-25. Print. 6. Online Sources World Wide Web Author s Last Name, First Name. Title of Item. Title of Website if different. Publisher or sponsor of site if available. If not, use N.p. Date of publication or n.d. for no date. Media. Date accessed. DeStefano, Vince. Guidelines for Better Writing. OWL Purdue. University of Washington. N.d. Web. 21 August 2010. Note: if no author is stated, start with the title of the item. 7. Poem or short story Author s Last Name, First name. Title of Story. Title of Book where story appeared. Ed. Editor s first name and last name. Place published: Publisher, year. Page number. Media. Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York: Dover, 1995. 26. Print. 8. Video on the web Episode or segment title. Title of website. Publisher or sponsor. Media. Date of access. 2009 Commencement. YouTube. YouTube, 27 May 2009. Web. 23 July 2009. 9. Primary Source Document (speech, letter, etc) Name of Document. Author. Date Annexation. O Sullivan, John. 1845. 10. Class Lecture Last name, First name. Lecture Title. Room/School. Date conducted. James, Jeffrey. Underground Railroad. Room 19, EV Cain. February 6, 2014
This is REQUIRED on Every Piece of Your Writing! 1. Spell the Top Ten words correctly a lot there/their/they re two/too/to through/threw because where/were/we re its/it s which/witch know / no your/you re 2. Know the Grammar Grabbers Every sentence must be a complete thought. Every sentence starts with a capital letter. All proper nouns are capitalized. All sentences must have an end punctuation mark. 3. Use Academic Vocabulary in your writing. We needed to provide evidence to support our claim in the essay. 8 Parts of Speech KNOW THESE DEFINITIONS!!!!! 1. A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing or idea. 2. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of one or more nouns or pronouns. 3. An adjective is a word that modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun. 4. A verb is a word that shows action or state of being. 5. An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. 6. A preposition is a word that shows relationship or location. 7. A conjunction is a word that joins words or groups of words together. 8. An interjection is a word that expresses emotion. The content in this packet is a collection of resources from Step-Up-To-Writing, AVID, Dr. Feldman, the expertise of the EV Cain Staff, and the Common Core State Standards. Collected and published in Auburn, CA. EV Cain STEM Charter Middle School, 2013