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If I wrote…
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You should…
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Elab or
Elaborate
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Read your paper and make sure you have included
pertinent details about each source and/or quotation
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Connect to
Thesis
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Read your paper and make sure every single
sentence PROVES your thesis statement.
Many times, the paragraph will discuss the same topic, but the actual
thesis statement is not proven.
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Awk
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Rewrite that section for better wording – the wording
you have chosen is convoluted or difficult to understand.
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No 2nd
person
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Read your paper and remove every second person
pronoun. If it is quoted in your paper
and you are using that quotation as part of your research, you do not have
the right to change someone else’s words, but you also do not have the right
to use second person in your paper. Second
person pronouns include the following: you,
yourself, your, and yours.
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No 1st
person
|
Read your paper and remove every first person
pronoun. If it is quoted in your paper
and you are using that quotation as part of your research, you do not have
the right to change someone else’s words, but you also do not have the right
to use first person in your paper. First
person pronouns include the following: I,
me, myself, my, mine, we, us, ourselves, our, and ours.
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?
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Read what you’ve written – something is very
confusing. You’re missing a word or
what you’re trying to say doesn’t come across to the reader.
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Plurals
vs. Possessives
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Check your plurals and possessives. You’ve made
one or more errors with plurals or possessives – check them all. Helpful link…
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No
contractions
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Read your paper and take out every single
contraction – it is NOT formal language.
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Spacing
|
Look at your spacing. It is wrong. You might have an extra 10 pica between
each paragraph or you might have simply forgotten to indent a paragraph or
had extra space at the beginning of a paragraph.
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Review
punct of titles
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Check every single title in your paper.
Italicized
titles: novels, long poems, movies, television shows, artwork, etc.
“Quotation Marks”: short stories, poems, songs,
episode titles, etc.
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Review Capitalization
(rules)
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Check to make sure that important words in the
titles of works are capitalized. When in
doubt, check the source – if they capitalize it, so should you!
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In text
doc
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Check every parenthetical citation in your
paper. You have made one or more
errors. You have ignored one or more
of the MLA
rules.
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Review
punct of quotations
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Check every quotation and make sure you have punctuated
it correctly. There are specific grammar rules
for quotations.
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Work on
transitions
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Read your paper and check for transitions. Some (or all) of your paragraphs jump
awkwardly into the next thought. Every
paragraph should have a logical (but not overused) transition.
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Work on
organization
|
If you used a list thesis, your paper must
follow that list.
If you didn’t use a list thesis, you still have
some errors in how you’ve organized your paper. Read each paragraph and make sure it is
logical and has obvious organization.
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P/A or
P/A agree
|
Read your paper for any instance of an
indefinite pronoun (list). Singular pronouns take singular antecedents;
plural pronouns take plural antecedents.
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Diction
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Read your paper and look for elementary words or
phrases. A research paper should have
strong, educated diction. “Thing” and “stuff”
and “got” are examples of weak diction.
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“” ( )
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Read your paper and locate every direct
quotation you used. Every direct
quotation MUST be immediately followed by a parenthetical citation. You cannot put the citation at the end of a
paragraph for a direct quotation.
Direct quotation – parenthetical citation.
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R/O
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Look for run-on sentences. This means you have a compound sentence (two
or more independent clauses) without the correct punctuation.
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FRAG
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Look for sentence fragments. You do not have a complete sentence.
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Basic Tips and Guidelines
·
Anything that appears on your Works Cited page means you “cited” it in
your paper with a parenthetical citation. If there is something on your Works
Cited page without any parenthetical citation, you did not “cite” it. Go back and “cite it”.
·
Check the date on your heading – make sure it is in the correct
format.
·
All lyrical lines (poetry, Shakespeare, music, etc) must have slashes
between the lines.
·
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