Essay Pointers and Quotation InsertionFor ENG 4U1 and beyond

Essay Pointers – First Impressions• The first impression cannot be

underestimated Creative but academic title

• e.g. The Capitalist Chicken in Canadian

Socialist Society• OrEroding the Stone Angel: Hagar as

an Allegorical Figure• NOT

King Lear Essay(or anything with “Essay” in the

title – it should be obvious to the reader that it is an essay or you’ve got big problems!)

Essay Pointers – First Impressions

Title page format No title page! Information on the first page of the

essay

Perdue 1Ivan Perdue

Prof. X. Smithers

ENG 4U1

12 October 2009

Creative Title

Here you begin the body of the essay

and you amaze your teacher with your skill and

intelligence. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Essay Pointers – First Impressions• Format must be standardized:

– 12 pt. font– Double-spaced– 1” margins on each side– Page numbers in the top, right

hand corner on all pages– Serif and Sans Serif make strong

impressions:– e.g.

I am smartversus

I am smart

Essay Pointers – First Impressions

Hook• Free from errors• Catchy and relevant

– e.g. Throughout history, chickens

have repeatedly balked at socialism.

– OrPride is driven by self interest.– OrAdversity reveals character.

Essay Pointers – Content The thesis must be bold and

argumentative.– Don’t let wishy-washy,

generalized language mar your thesis

– Strong diction takes denotation and connotation into consideration

– Don’t just state the obvious– Keep asking “So what?” And

answer the question

Essay Pointers – Content MLA format must be used for all

quotations Quotations must be properly

introduced:– Introduction to quote, “quote”

(Author page). Analysis of quote – the ‘so what?’ of the quote. Tie quote to thesis.

Same format for paraphrases You must elaborate and explain your

examples. Highlight their importance and explain why you have chosen them to support your thesis.

“Short Story” or Novel

Essay Pointers – Quotations• Quotations shorter than

four lines: Perdue 3

Hagar realizes her own stubborn pride, “Pride is my wilderness, and the demon that led me there was fear” (Laurence 292). Hagar’s epiphany offers her some comfort and she is able to perform her first real acts of empathy. Acknowledgement of her own weakness strengthens her character. Blah blah blah blah. Furthermore, blah blah blah.

Essay Pointers – Quotations • Quotations longer than four lines:

I would have wished it. This knowing comes upon me so forcefully… I must always, always, have wanted that –

simply to rejoice. How is it I never could?... When did I ever speak the heart’s truth? (Laurence 292).

The epiphany forces Hagar to recognize blah

Hagar realizes her stoicism prevents

happiness:

Perdue 5

Essay Pointers – Quotations• Quotations with

embedded quotation: Perdue 2

Hagar’s façade crumbles and her weakness

embarrasses her. Hagar’s tears astonish her,

“My voice is muffled and I have my hands over

my eyes so he won’t see. He must think I’ve

taken leave of my senses. ‘I’ve not heard that

for a long time, that’s all’” (Laurence 292). Blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Essay Pointers – Quotations • Quotations with multiple embedded quotations:

Hagar refuses to “Go gentle into that good night” (Thomas) and struggles until the end:

“You’re so slow – ““Sorry. That better?”“Yes. No. I’m – thirsty.

Can’t you even – ““Here. Here you are.

Can you?”“Of course. What do you

think I am? What do you take me for? Here, give it to me. Oh, for mercy’s sake let me hold it myself!” (Laurence 308).

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Perdue 8

Essay Pointers – Quotations • Poetic quotations follow slightly

modified rules.• Quotations of four lines or less:

Perdue 6

Lear rails at his daughter, finally seeing that he has been blind to her disingenuous nature, “…Yea, is it come to this?/ Ha! Let it be so. I have another daughter,/ Who I am sure is kind and comfortable” (I.iv. 298-300). Ironically, he trusts that Regan will show him filial gratitude; Lear’s ignorance of the true nature of his children further isolates him. Blah blah blah

Essay Pointers – Quotations• Poetic quotations more than four

lines long: Perdue 6

Ironically, physical blinding removes the veil of ignorance from

Gloucester’s eyes:

I have no way and therefore want no eyes.I stumbled when I saw. Full oft ‘tis seenOur means secure us, and our mere defectsProve our commodities……Might I but live to see [Edgar] in my touch,I’d say I had eyes again! (IV.i. 21-27).

Analysis, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Essay Pointers – Content• Quotations must support points

and link to thesis• Add smooth, subtle transitions• Prepositions are a class weakness.

Review the purpose of prepositions.

• Pronouns and subjects must agree.e.g. The student has his priorities.*** watch out for the dreaded

politically correct “their” error!

Essay Pointers – Content• Don’t forget the basics:

– Topic Sentences– No rhetorical questions– BW/WW– Formal diction– Active voice– Present tense– 3rd person– Clarity/ AWK– Commas, semi-colons and colons– No “metaessays”– Analyse! Don’t summarize!

Essay Pointers – Finishing Touches• Don’t just spell check, proofread:

Spell Check PoemEye halve a spelling chequer

It came with my pea sea,It plainly marques four my revueMiss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a wordAnd weight for it two sayWeather eye and wring oar writeIt shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maidIt nose bee fore two long,And eye can put the error riteIts rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw itI am shore your pleased two no,Its letter perfect awl the weighMy chequer tolled me sew.

-Sauce unknown

Essay Pointers – Finishing Touches• Writing numbers must be consistent and

follow current MLA guidelines.e.g. numbers less than one hundred are

always written out.e.g. always write out the numbers at the

beginning of a sentence.e.g. use mixed number/word combinations

for large numbers (6 million)e.g. leave numerals in direct quotes.

• beWare CapiTalization errors•

Beware of qualifiers (e.g. all, very, really, etc.).

Students tend to use these words instead of finding strong, persuasive verbs.

e.g. Media are very persuasive and affect all aspects of our lives.

e.g. Media persuade and affect our lives.

Essay Pointers – Time Management• You cannot write,

proofread and edit all in one go (not a level four essay anyway).

• Leave the essay for a day (or two to avoid being too close to the text). Our minds are very strong and can manipulate the text to make it “correct”.

Essay Pointers – Mind GamesI cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg, oh! the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,  the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit  pclae The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a  porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,  but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh.

My Strange Short Forms• General short forms: ñ ↓ ↑ ~ s c ! !!• Other Short forms:• Thesaurusitis• ¶ format• BEING• ↑ text support• SS = sentence structure• gr = grammar• that ≠ who• Prep. Verbing• CAP

My Strange Short Forms• Trans: Transitions – don’t just use

transitions words, but transition using ideas and related language:

e.g. “Blah, blah, blah” (Salinger 201). Esmé’s ignorant, but erroneous use of the word prolific endears her to the narrator. The innocence of Charles and Esmé temper the narrator’s cynicism and melancholy, and remind him why the war must be won.The grim reality of the war, however, quickly destroy’s the narrator’s certainty in the cause. In the depths of his nervous breakdown, and facing the emotional repercussions of his arrest of the minor Nazi official, Sergeant X loses all sense of purpose. Letters lie unopened on his desk and he is unable even to inscribe a relevant quote, “Blah, blah, blah , blah , blah,

My Strange Short Forms• Ñ Cont. = no contractions• //st = parallel structure• IM = indefinite modifiers• SF = sentence fragments• Apos. = apostrophes• ↓ time = remove words like “When” and “Then”• ↓ general./judge. = don’t generalize or be

judgemental. Beware of qualifiers and sweeping nouns (most, usually, excellent, humans, society)

• Rep. = repetitious – you said the same thing• Red. = redundant – you said the same thing in

different words!• Em Dash = a longer dash – like that• En Dash = a hypen• VAR = sentence variation

Essay Pointers• Never underestimate the

words of your elders:– Practice may not make

perfect but it gets you better marks in English (so does editing and proofreading)

– Clarity is key

– Oh! And beware all birds (especially chickens)