1) Please don't use a cover sheet or a folder of any kind. Just a staple in the upper left hand corner of the first page is fine. Please don't use paper clips. Please do not fold the corners of your papers together. If your paper is too thick for a staple, then please use one of the little black things called "binder clips," available in any book or stationery store. Do not attempt to hand me an essay that is not fastened together by either a staple or a binder clip. And do not attempt to turn in your essay as an e-mail attachment, unless you and I have reached some explicit prior agreement that this would be acceptable; unless otherwise stated, all assignments in my classes are to be turned in on paper at the start of the class period on the day they are due.
2) Unless I state otherwise, your paper should be double-spaced and in a 12-point, variable-spaced, serif font such as Times, Bookman, or Schoolbook. The margins should be one inch on all sides.
3) Write a paper of the proper length. Years ago, in the days before word processors, college students generally knew that a "page" was equal to about 250 words. Thus, when a teacher said, "Your paper should be 1000 words," students knew that meant about 4 pages. Even though many students no longer know that "a six-page essay" means 1500 words, that still is what it means. (Try it yourself. Set your word processor to 12-point Courier, which is the font on most computers that corresponds to the look of typewritten text. Set the margins to 1-inch all around. Then fill a page with double-spaced text, and do a word count. You'll have between 200 and 250 words.) Unless I explicitly say otherwise, papers that exceed the assigned length will not be read or graded.
4) Cite all of your sources.
a) Remember that any time you refer to an idea that is not your own, you must tell the reader where you got that idea. If you don't, it's called plagiarism. It doesn't matter if you are using a direct quotation or are "putting it in your own words." If you didn't think it up all by yourself, then you must tell the reader where you got it.b) Include a bibliography. The citation references that you use in your paper work together with your bibliography. Everything you cite in your paper must be included in your bibliography; everything listed in your bibliography must be cited in your paper. The bibliography always begins on a new sheet of paper at the end of your essay.
c) You must follow a "style manual," which is a book or pamphlet that tells you what your citation references should look like and how to format your bibliography. I prefer that you follow the style manual of the American Psychological Association, usually referred to as "APA Style," but you might choose to use the Chicago Manual of Style or that of the Modern Language Association (MLA). Again, you must use one, you must follow it "to the letter," and you must use it consistently. These style manuals can be referred to at the information desk in the Undergraduate Library, and parts of them may be accessed on-line. But if you expect me to take you seriously as a college student, then you need to purchase at least one such manual.
d) EXCEPTION: If you are writing a "Reading Practice" or "Reaction Paper" or "Take-Home Midterm" in C205, there is no need to include a bibliography, and a simple page number in parentheses (p. 25) is sufficient for citing your sources.
5) If you are using sources from the Internet, do so with caution. A general rule of thumb is that if the Internet source does not "point you to paper," avoid it. In other words, the best use of the Internet is to quickly locate and, in some cases, download sources that already exist on paper somewhere else. If the information, quotation, or data you've found seems only to exist in cyberspace, I would suggest highly that you do not use it. At the very least, look on the WWW page for the same sort of information that you ordinarily would find in a book. You wouldn't use a book that didn't list an author or a publication date; similarly, you should not use information you get from the Internet unless it lists an author and a "publication" ("posted" or "last updated") date.
6) Format long quotations correctly. A good style manual will tell you how to do this. If you're not sure how to do this, I will be glad to show you.
7) Check your spelling and grammar. Do not rely on your word processing program to do this for you. If you have had several teachers in the past comment specifically on how well you write, then please proofread your own work. If you have not had several teachers in the past comment on how well you write, then please ask someone whose writing routinely is praised by teachers to proofread it for you. Or, better yet, visit Writing Tutorial Services -- they offer a variety of services that many students have found extremely helpful.
8) If you do not own a copy of Strunk & White's Elements of Style, please purchase one immediately. In the meantime, you can consult this handy on-line version.
9) If your paper is more than one page long, number your pages.
10) Tell Microsoft Word not to color hyperlinks blue. For some reason, some engineer at Microsoft thought it would be a good idea if Word automatically colored hyperlinks blue. That engineer was wrong; it is not a good idea. Unfortunately, this is the default setting for Word. You must turn this setting off before you begin to work on a paper for any of my classes. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Under the "Tools" menu in Word, open "Auto Correct."
2. Choose "Auto Format As You Type."
3. Under "Replace As You Type" ...
4. Un-check the box next to "Internet Paths With Hyperlinks."5. In some versions of word, you must next choose "Auto Format," and then
6. Un-check the box next to "Internet Paths With Hyperlinks."
11) Pet Peeves. These are things that I find particularly troublesome in written prose. It is only fair that I warn you about them in advance. If you're trying to get a good grade from me, please carefully read the following:
a) Punctuation goes inside quotations marks (with very few exceptions, and you should know the exceptions). This is a peculiar error which I have noticed with increasingly frequency in recent years. I cannot explain how it started, but I am doing my best to eradicate it. It also is my #1 pet peeve, so I'll provide some examples:Wrong: "I went to the store".
Right: "I went to the store."
Wrong: I just read a story called "The Tell-Tale Heart".
Right: I just read a story called "The Tell-Tale Heart."
Wrong: Sam said he was "peeved", and I understood what he meant.
Right: Sam said he was "peeved," and I understood what he meant.
Wrong: "Jake said you were 'awesome'."
Right: "Jake said you were 'awesome.'"b) When listing items in a series, always include the comma before "and." Some people will tell you that this comma is "optional." Those people are wrong. Since this is my #2 pet peeve, I'll provide some examples:
Wrong: I ate some bacon, some lettuce and some tomatoes.
Right: I ate some bacon, some lettuce, and some tomatoes.
Wrong: The bucket contained: leaves, dirt, worms, egg shells and pumice.
Right: The bucket contained: leaves, dirt, worms, egg shells, and pumice.c) When using commas to set off parenthetical statements, don't forget the second comma. Also, remember that you need a comma both before and after certain information, such as the year when writing a date. Here are some examples:
Wrong: That building, which is old and decaying is dangerous.
Wrong: That building which is old and decaying, is dangerous.
Right: That building, which is old and decaying, is dangerous.Wrong: December 7, 1941 is a date that will live in infamy.
Wrong: December 7 1941, is a date that will live in infamy.
Right: December 7, 1941, is a date that will live in infamy.d) Generally, decades do not take apostrophes. Those were the 1970s, the 1950s, or the 1990s, not the 1970's, the 1950's, or the 1990's. These all are correct: "Because of the movie Pearl Harbor, 1940s fashions are making something of a comeback"; "Often, the people who survived the depression of the 1930s are thrifty"; "The music of the 1980s often is dismissed as bland 'corporate rock.'" An exception is if you are personifying the year or the decade and making it possessive: "I enjoyed 1957's Chevrolet"; "The year 2000's summer was hot"; "One can see 1942's fashions in the store windows." Note that these constructions often are rather awkward, so it is rare indeed that you will use an apostrophe with a date.
e) Punctuate titles correctly. The titles of short stories, articles, essays, and short poems are always placed in quotations marks. The titles of books, films, plays, journals, magazines, newspapers, and major poems are always either underlined or italicised. (Remember that underlining merely is a sign that is used when italics is for some reason unavailable or inconvenient. Once upon a time, typewriters could not produce italicised print. So when a professional writer was preparing a typescript for a publisher, she or he would underline sections that she or he wanted the publisher to set as italics when the material was printed).
f) Never use "quote" as a synonym for "write" or "say." This error does not seem to be as prevalent as it once was, but I shall provide two brief examples:
Wrong: Relativity, as Einstein once quoted, is in the eye of the beholder.
Right: Relativity, as Einstein once wrote, is in the eye of the beholder.
Wrong: Freud quotes: "The id is all."
Right: Freud says: "The id is all."g) When quoting passages that already contain quotation marks in the original version, the double quotation marks in the original become single quotation marks in your essay. Examples:
In Orignal Source: In physics we learn about terms such as "gravity" and "force."
In Your Essay: My instructor said that in physics "we learn about terms such as ‘gravity’ and ‘force.’"
In Original Source: Neil Armstrong's historic words are sometimes corrected so that they read "that's one small step for a man."
In Your Essay: I have read that Armstrong's words "are somtimes corrected that they read ‘that's one small step for a man.’"
12) Finally, and probably most importantly, read all the comments carefully when you get your papers back, and please come to see me if you have questions.