Literary Analysis Ess@y Final Draft

LIT1100 Introduction to Literature University of Northwestern – St. Paul

Final Draft Polishing and Editing Guidelines After you have revised the essay content, review this checklist and apply revisions as needed. CONTENT REVISIONS:

1. Read p. 4 in the “Composition Packet Essay Categories” handout (located at the top of the

course site under “Course Resources”) to direct your reviewing of all feedback.

2. Read through both peers’ critiques and comments.

3. Read through the comments from your instructor.

4. Review the rubric assessment (if applicable, note the category rating on the rubric and then read

p. 3 in the “Composition Packet Essay Categories” handout).

5. Email instructor / post questions for peers to clarify any feedback questions.

6. Review draft according to feedback on content.

EDITING/POLISHING REVISIONS:

1. Look at the instructor’s feedback on the draft regarding any feedback about grammar,

punctuation or spelling errors.

2. Delete any phrases like the following: “In this essay, I will prove,” or “I will discuss.”

3. Delete all references to your readers whether the phrasing directly stated “readers,” directly

addressed readers via command structures (“Consider whether …”) or used 2nd person pronouns

(you, your).

4. Change all contractions to the full wording to maintain formality.

5. Check the spelling of all characters’ and authors’ names.

6. Use present tense when presenting textual examples.

7. Use the appropriate punctuation for your literary work title – short stories are in quotation

marks, and plays and novels are italicized or underlined.

8. Use 1” margins, double-space the paper and spell check the entire paper.

9. Title your paper with a creative and applicable title (not Literary Essay), and do not underline,

bold or place quotation marks around the title.

*SEE THE NEXT PAGE FOR MLA FORMATTING GUIDELINES

LIT1100 Introduction to Literature University of Northwestern – St. Paul

MLA IN-TEXT CITATIONS & WORKS CITED:

1. In-text citations should follow these formatting guidelines for paraphrases, summaries and

direct quotes:

A. Only use the author’s last name in the first citation.

B. Use a citation at the end of a sentence that is cited material.

C. Use the page number without “p.”

D. Punctuation should look like this: “… [end of quote]” (86). If it’s a paraphrase, then it

would look like this: …[end of paraphrase] (86).

2. Only use one direct quote per paragraph to avoid overwhelmingly readers with too many direct

quotes. For paraphrases, reword the original material, putting key phrases or words in quotation

marks for partial quotes (which do not count toward the one quote per paragraph limit).

3. If you are analyzing a poem, drama or short story from the Bedford textbook, use the following

Works Cited format:

Author last name, first name. “Title of poem/short story/drama.” Title of textbook, edited by

[editor name], [#] ed., Publisher name, year, pp. #’s.

4. If you are analyzing Their Eyes Were Watching God, use this Works Cited format:

Author last name, first name. Title of novel. Publisher, year.

5. If you are analyzing A Raisin in the Sun, use this Works Cited format:

Author’s last name, first name. Title of book (play). Publisher, year.

6. If you are analyzing Twelfth Night, use this Works Cited format:

Shakespeare, William. Title of play, directed by [First M. Last name], Production Company,

Performance Date. Films on Demand, [URL].

7. The Works Cited page should look exactly like the following example in terms of title, spacing

and indentation:

Works Cited

Author last name, first name. “Title of poem/short story/drama.” Title of textbook, edited by

[editor name], [#] ed., Publisher name, year, pp. #’s.