Essay Help

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List of Errors for Essay Draft/Revised Essay, CLT3378, Fall 2019

Note that the errors below are not necessarily grouped in order of frequency, nor do the numbers assigned to each error (e.g., 3 or 44) indicate any sort of point value.

1. Spelling or grammatical error. 2. Sentence fragment. (See 9.)

3. Insert comma. 4. Remove comma.

5. Using “I” in place of “me” (or vice versa). 6. Change comma to semicolon (or vice versa). 7. Change comma to colon (or vice versa).

8. Change semicolon to colon (or vice versa). 9. Using “whereas” (or other subordinating word or phrase) to introduce a subordinate clause,

but then providing no main clause after it (e.g., “Whereas Ea kills Apsu.”). 10. Comma splice. (“Ea kills Apsu, Marduk kills Tiamat.” = semicolon needed after “Apsu”) 11. Using “however” as if it were “but.” (= another type of comma splice)

12. Run-on sentence. (“Ea kills Apsu Marduk kills Tiamat.” = semicolon needed after “Apsu”) 13. Possessive error. (“girls bike” for “girl’s bike; “girls bikes” for “girls’ bikes”)

14. Use of pronoun/possessive (he/him/his, she/her, it/its, they/them/their) is unclear/incorrect. 15. Wrong relative pronoun used (“whom” in place of “who” or vice versa). 16. Word choice or phrasing is confusing/incorrect.

17. Argument/point that the student is making is either unclear or needs further explanat ion.

18. Introductory paragraph lacks a thesis statement. 19. Supporting paragraph lacks a subthesis. 20. Subthesis does not refer in some way to both the modern and the ancient works.

21. Supporting paragraph does not discuss both the modern and the ancient works. 22. Supporting paragraph features a quotation/s from only one of the two works, not both.

23. Supporting paragraph lacks a quotation from either of the two works. 24. Essay as a whole features quotation/s from only one of the two works. 25. Essay as a whole lacks any quotations whatsoever.

26. Supporting paragraph lacks sufficient analysis of a given quotation. 27. Supporting paragraph lacks sufficient analysis of any of the quotations.

28. Essay as whole lacks sufficient analysis of any of the quotations. 29. Student does not explain very well the significance of a particular quotation. 30. Quotation is irrelevant and does not support the subthesis.

31. Quotation is not introduced correctly by student (with either a comma or colon). 32. Quotation from work lacks quotation marks.

33. Some important points from the works (that would support thesis/subthesis) are left out. 34. Paragraph contains extraneous/irrelevant information that does not support thesis/subthesis. 35. Essay is too repetitive (i.e., it only makes one or two points over and over).

36. Paragraph is just summary and contains no analysis of the works. 37. Essay as a whole just summarizes works and does not analyze them.

38. Paragraph has fewer than five sentences. 39. Essay has fewer than three supporting paragraphs.

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40. Introductory paragraph (or part of it) is too general or contains too much summary. 41. Concluding paragraph is too general/is just a summary and does not contain anything new.

42. Concluding paragraph resembles a supporting paragraph more than a concluding one.

43. Minor factual error. 44. Major factual error.

45. Essay is a little less than 1500 words long. 46. Essay is considerably less than 1500 words long.

47. Essay is way too long (i.e., well over 2000 words). 48. The ancient work chosen is not from List A on the Essay Assignment guidelines.

49. For modern series (e.g., The Simpsons), particular movie/book/episode is not indicated. 50. For ancient series (e.g. Raven or Anansi myths), particular myth is not indicated.

51. A third work (e.g., Homer’s Iliad) is used that is neither the chosen ancient nor modern work. 52. Particular version of modern work (e.g., Beauty and the Beast: a movie? release date?) is not indicated.

53. Book and movie version/s of a work (e.g., the Harry Potter series) are mixed up. 54. Translation of the ancient work used (e.g., Baal Cycle) is not assigned and/or is unreliable.

55. Discriminatory statements or demeaning attitudes towards cultures are expressed. 56. Argument of essay is very difficult to follow throughout the essay.

57. Student shows familiarity with only one of the cultures/myths/texts discussed in the essay. 58. Student shows essentially no familiarity with either of the cultures/myths/texts.

59. Essay is so poorly written and constructed that it is very difficult to understand. 60. One or two sentences are adapted (almost verbatim) from outside source (e.g., a website). 61. Three or more sentences (or paragraph) are adapted (almost verbatim) from outside source.