Be careful not to write a five paragraph essay. This creates paragraphs that are ultimately way too long and eventually are addressing too many ideas within a single paragraph.
Remember, a paragraph focuses on one main idea. When you are finished with your essay, you might want to re-read it and highlight the main idea/focus within each paragraph.
Make sure you have transitions between your paragraphs. Make sure that the paragraphs are related/connected to one another.
Make sure your thesis is indeed an argument. Ask yourself: can one argue with me regarding my thesis?
With the idea of making sure your thesis is an argument, be careful not to write strictly/only an "informative" or "comparison and contrast" essay.
Be certain to show explicitly how the evidence that you are employing supports your argument/thesis.
In your introduction, consider providing your readers with some context to your argument/thesis. This could simply be a way to provide a brief background of sorts to your argument. It helps to "ground" your thesis.
Be certain to document (with in-text documentation) all of your paraphrases.
Be certain that you are, indeed, addressing the writing prompt in its entirety.
Be certain to make specific references to the texts at hand. With this in mind, do not reference contemporary times because it is difficult to support these references without any research (remember, you are to only use the CH 201 texts and your notes from lecture and discussion).
Be sure to Underline (or italicize) all major texts: Such as The Iliad and The Aeneid.
Don't "double, double space" between your paragraphs. Keep everything, simply, double spaced.
Remember, one inch margins--this is proper MLA format.
If you quote from the text, be sure to introduce the quote. Provide some context for the quote.
When referencing lectures, be certain to put the date of the lecture within your in-text documentation.
After you have written your essay, read your essay out loud to yourself. By doing this, you will catch a good number of your minor grammatical errors.
Compiled by David Marquard.