Correct Essay Grammar

Your first essay will be about a place that you know very well. The essay should contain an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. It should be typed in a standard 12-point font, double-spaced, and formatted according to MLA guidelines.

Please follow the steps below as you develop your essay:

1. Brainstorm potential topics. The only requirement is that you write about a place, but in order to make your job easier and to increase your chances of producing a quality essay, choose a place that you know very well. The list below contains some potential topics, but please do not limit yourself to them if you have other ideas.

2. Prewrite on your topic, focusing on different aspects of the place as you write. For example, you might start by prewriting descriptively about the place, and then switch to writing about the people associated with it. Please prewrite on each of the following aspects, but do not limit yourself to this list.

Please keep in mind that you will only be using some of the material that you generate, so do not feel as if you need to somehow include everything you write down in your paper; that would most likely result in a wildly disjointed essay that leaps from topic to topic. You don’t want that.

3. Find at least two readings that deal with your topic in some way. Although you may not be able to find anything on your house, you should be able to find something on your neighborhood or town. Work from specific to general. Read and annotate those texts, using KWL+ or any other strategy if necessary.

4. Read through your prewriting and the two texts, and mine them for interesting ideas. Watch for ideas that are related, and for specific ideas that support broader ones. You can mark up your prewriting or rewrite the interesting ideas on a clean sheet of paper.

5. Mine your good ideas for a potential thesis statement. If no thesis exists, reread your material and craft a thesis statement that captures as many of your good ideas as possible.

6. Outline your essay on the form provided. You will have to invent some new ideas to complete the outline, so return to the prewriting stage if you need and free write, list, or cluster until you have each paragraph fully fleshed-out.

7. Write a rough draft. You may handwrite this or type it. Focus on organization and completeness, and do not yet worry about how things are worded or whether or not the grammar is correct. That comes later.

8. Write another draft, but do not delete the rough draft, as I will collect both. In this draft, you can begin to tinker with how you word things, whether or not words are spelled correctly, etc. Format it according to MLA specifications, which can be found online at Purdue OWL and numerous other sites. Cite any facts that you use from your readings.

9. Submit the paper. Please enclose your prewriting, the annotated readings, the outline, rough draft and second draft in a paper notebook. The second draft should be stapled and should not include any handwriting or irregularities.

Your hometown A place to which you travel frequently

Your neighborhood An imaginary world you created

A house in which you lived A parcel of land

A place where you worked A body of water

A school you attended A public place you frequent

A place of business A place of worship

What the place looks like People associated with the place

What the place sounds like Values those people share

What the place smells like Experiences those people share

What the place feels like Traditions those people share

What the place tastes like Things those people do together

The relationship of that place to other places The economy of the place

Problems with the place Benefits of the place