Pre-turning it in TERM PAPER GUIDELINES with thanks to Professor Helen Southworth
Use the suggestions on this check sheet for making final revisions to your draft, and before handing in the final copy of your term paper.
The opening paragraph of your essay is perhaps the most important. Be clear about what you plan to analyze in the course of your paper. Now that you’ve written a complete draft of the paper, return to your opening paragraph and see whether you have indeed done what you initially proposed. Adjust your introduction as necessary to account for the paper you’ve written.
Be sure the beginning of your paper isn’t too general. Tough as it might be, delete sentences that merely pad the word count. Each sentence should provide a piece of your argument, necessary for your reader to get your point.
Break down long run-on sentences. Admittedly, this is a judgment call. Reading your paper aloud can help you identify those sentences that get unwieldy.
Remember that your audience is assumed to have read the text you’re writing about. Refer to the text with enough detail (in a paraphrase or a quotation) for your reader to understand the import of your point. Use the text plentifully to support your arguments, and integrate quotations into your paragraphs. If a quotation is three lines or more in length, “block” it (use block quotation apparatus, with 10 spaces indented on both sides of the block quotation) and single-space it. The rest of your paper, including the “surround” for the block quotation as well as the bibliography, is, as you would expect, double-spaced.
By the way, notice the comma usage in the preceding sentence: be sure to surround your interpolated phrases -- "as you would expect" -- with commas OR (as in this sentence) with dashes. Don't overuse dashes: it's a powerful punctuation. Notice too, in the two sentences that precedes this one, the use of the colon: what follows a colon explains what precedes it. Colons are not the same as semi colons; use a semi-colon to connect two independent clauses, but remember that a semi-colon provides no “thinking” link between your ideas. Other kinds of clause connectors—relative pronouns “that” or “which,” relative adverbs such as “while” or “after”—make meaningful connections between your clauses. And be wary of starting sentences with “and” at the same time that you never put anything of this length into a parenthesis.
Use only MLA style for this paper, i.e., parenthetical citations rather than footnotes. I have two copies of the sixth edition of the MLA guide in my office for reference. In MLA style, footnotes are used only for substantive comments that don’t quite fit into the body of the paper but will help your reader understand your point. Indeed, your paper, while it must include citations to bibliographical resources, may contain no footnotes whatsoever—that’s perfectly acceptable.
Check your spelling and don’t rely exclusively on spellcheck, which cannot discern homonymic errors (for example, their, there; to/two/too).
Note that, in Times New Roman, you get about 300 words per page; with Courier, it’s about 250 words. Use word count over number of pages to determine length. I will read as much as you give me.
Be sure you’ve numbered your pages!
Include a “Works Cited” or “Works Consulted” page that correctly cites, among your critical sources, the text at the heart of your paper. Use “hanging indent” for your bibliographical references.
Be very happy that you have virtually completed a year of literary studies and are launched for your continuing career in the Clark Honors College. Have a wonderful summer!
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