Before you submit your essay today, make sure that
- poem and short story titles are in quotation marks. “Poems” and “short stories” look that way, while Books Are Formatted Thus.
- indentations only mark the start of new paragraphs. No indentations after block quotes.
- commas and periods are inside quotation marks. Americans “put commas and periods inside quotes,” while English folks “incorrectly put them outside”. <——that period is unpatriotic.
- parenthetical citations are outside quotation marks. So, if you quote Dr. E, your quote will be formatted thus: “Parenthetic citations are outside quotation marks” (109).
- after the introduction, where you refer to authors by their first and last names, you only refer to the authors by their last names. Never refer to them by their first name only.
- every stand-alone “this” is attached to a noun.
- your essay contains no references to “the reader” (focus on the text instead)
You should also reread your essay for comma splices. A comma splice is a comma that joins two independent clauses, i.e., two complete sentences. Replace the comma with a period.
Your essay should include parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page that follows MLA guidelines.
You can have three “to be” verbs. All other verbs should be active.
Please give your essay a descriptive title.
Language & Literature III 