academic+essays

In general there are three types of academic essays: persuasive, analytic, expository. Here's [|a good overview of them and examples of the types of thesis statements] from the OWL at Purdue.

After reading your first one-draft essays, here are some things I think need improvement:


 * Organization**
 * Have an introduction that incorporates all of your essays ideas, but don’t just restate the prompt.
 * Title your essay; it serves the purpose of having another [|thesis statement].
 * Make sure your introduction and thesis statement address all parts of the essay prompt.
 * Don’t try to do address too much in your thesis and introduction. You only have 40 minutes. It’s better to go into plenty of detail about a few points rather than glossing over too many points generally. This is a case of “less is more.”
 * Use paragraphs. Have a topic sentence for each paragraph.
 * Avoid arrows, scratch outs, notes in the margin of your essay.


 * Usage** - Learn the difference between commonly confused words:
 * Loose/lose, choose/chose
 * Affect/effect
 * who/whom
 * use the correct relative pronoun //("who" when referring to people: The narrator is the character **who** helps others the most.)//


 * Spelling issues**
 * Spell composition-specific words correctly (e.g. persuade, writer/writing/written, narrator, argument, opinion)
 * Spell out all words (abbreviations and codes are okay when you text a friend but not in the academic essay)
 * Write legibly. If your handwriting can’t be read, how can it be assessed?
 * Write all one-draft, in-class essays in pen.
 * Underline (or italicize) titles of longer works like books, movies, CDs; put shorter works like short stories, poems, and songs in quotation marks.
 * Use terms correctly. For example, to illustrate means that an author specifically states a point and then uses examples to illustrate that point.
 * Always use specific examples, incorporating direct quotes from the text into your discussion seamlessly. Don’t say “my earlier examples also support…” State at least an abbreviated excerpt the example again if that’s the case.