English Composition

Best Practices for First Draft:

• It must be at least 8 full pages but no more than 10 pages (not including title page, abstract,

references page(s).

o If you have less than 8 full pages or more than 10 pages, you will lose points.

• The abstract is on the page after the title page.

• It is on the page that comes before you begin the actual essay.

o If you do not create the abstract, you will lose points.

o If you place the abstract somewhere else, you will lose points.

• Your paper must be planned. This is the entire point of creating the formal outline for the week

6 discussion. The outline is your plan.

o If you free-write your essay with no clear plan or organization, you will lose points.

• Your paper must be written in paragraph form.

o If you do not write developed paragraphs, you will lose points.

o If you include bullets or lists, you will lose points.

• Your paper must be proofread and edited for clarity.

o If your paper includes major or consistent grammatical errors, you will lose points.

• Your paper must include a discussion of one or two opposing viewpoints and the refutation of

the opposing viewpoint(s). You only need one or two paragraphs on opposing viewpoints.

o If you do not include one or two paragraphs on opposing viewpoints, you will lose

points.

o If you include more than two paragraphs on opposing viewpoints, you will lose points.

• You must finish your essay with a conclusion paragraph.

o If you do not include a conclusion, you will lose points.

o If your conclusion is not a developed paragraph, you will lose points.

• You must include appropriate research throughout the body of your paper.

o If you do not cite 10 current and reliable sources in-text, you will lose points.

o If you cite inappropriate sources in-text, you will lose points.

o If your in-text citations and references page citations do not match, you will lose points.

• You must not plagiarize.

o If you plagiarize, you will earn 0 points, and I will report you for plagiarism.

o Plagiarism includes copying, cheating, presenting other people’s ideas as your own.

o Plagiarism includes failure to indicate a source’s exact words.

▪ You must place any of your source’s exact words in quotation marks and cite the

source in-text.

o Plagiarism includes failure to cite your source in-text when you summarize or

paraphrase their words or ideas.

o Plagiarism includes heavily relying on source material to create your paper—even if you

properly cite the source. Although every body paragraph should have one to three

source citations, you cannot simply create paragraphs based on quotes and

summaries/paraphrases. This is YOUR paper. This means you must present your own

writing as the majority of each paragraph. Source citations should validate the points

you are trying to make. Sources should not create your paper.