YOU NEED TO READ CAREFULLY THE INSTRUCTIONS AND GRADING RUBRIC.

	Liberty University How to sheets

	Liberty University How to sheets

HOW TO:

WRITING

TIPS

For students who may like to use the Online Writing Center (OWC) in this Blackboard course, my suggestion is to wait until after receiving a grade on essays. The returned essays will have comments that the OWC can use to help in revising them.

Use this address:

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=17176

HOW TO WRITE AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH

The introductory paragraph of short college literature essays should be written in a specific way. This pattern is not the only way to write college essays, but it presents a good formula to master in order to build upon skill mastery for future writing.

Follow a pattern to begin an essay:

· 1-3 general statements that lead into the main topic of the essay

· 1-3 more specific statements that indicate the topic of the essay

· A thesis statement that briefly outlines the body paragraph points by using parallelism (parallel structure)

· Parallel structure is explained in a grammar handbook

The introductory paragraph of a short college essay contains the thesis statement. Place the thesis statement at the end of the first or introductory paragraph.

Remember to write the first part of the introductory paragraph as well.

SPECIFICS ABOUT THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:

· Always write the thesis at the end of the first paragraph, not somewhere else

· Never use quotations / citations in the first paragraph of an essay

· Use your own vocabulary here

· Quotations are material that is used for support / examples / details

· They belong in the body paragraphs.

· Never use dictionary definitions in the first paragraph of an essay

· Use your own vocabulary to explain a word

· Why?—Definitions belong to general knowledge—even when you do not know the meaning of a term/word, the definition still belongs to the realm of general knowledge

· Definitions of special terms / jargon belong in body paragraphs, not in the first paragraph

· Never use 1st and 2nd person pronouns: I / we / me / you / your / our / us

· Why?—the essay explains—this means 3rd person

· Never ask questions in a college essay

· Why?—the essay explains—this means statements instead of questions

· Never write like this: The article says . . . / This article is about . . .

· Remember that the author / poet / playwright / dramatist / writer / researcher gives the information about the topic—a real person communicates to real people (i.e. readers)

Do you see the logic of these writing rules?

HOW TO WRITE THESIS FOR AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:

When writing about only 1 selection

· Author (specific name) uses terminology of literature (from either fiction / poetry / drama) to convey the message that … / to show how … / to reveal the idea that … / to indicate that … (the meaning of the literary work) in the short story / poem / play (name the specific literary work here).

· Thesis statement can be more than 1 sentence.

· SAMPLE THESIS: Robert Frost uses imagery, rhyme, and alliteration to describe the beauty of the sunrise in the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” The changing hues of the daily sunrise convey a message about the transitory nature of daily life.

HOW TO WRITE THESIS FOR AN INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH:

When writing about 2 selections

· Both authors (name them) use terminology of literature . . . to show / indicate / convey the message/meaning that . . . tell the message here.

· BUT, do not draw a conclusion about the meaning in paragraph 1.

· Do not inject I / me / my—this is not a personal opinion piece

· Thesis statement can be more than 1 sentence.

· SAMPLE THESIS: Both Connell and Greene use vivid characterization, brutal conflict, and suspenseful tone to convey the desperation people feel when faced with persistent stress in daily situations. The message of both fictitious stories relates to the pressures many people face in their hectic, modern lives.

WHAT ARE ACADEMIC SOURCES / RESEARCH MATERIAL?

· Academic sources come from the college library databases

· Academic Search database

· Another, subject-specific database from the college library

· Academic sources do NOT include the literary work about which the essay is written

· 5 academic sources = 5 sources in addition to the literary work

· Bible is an additional source

· The story / poem / play is a primary source, NOT an additional source

· Use the following for your own information, but they are NOT academic sources

· Online dictionaries or encyclopedias

· Any type of study guide

· Wikipedia

· Google or any type of search engine

HOW TO WRITE THE BODY PARAGRAPHS

· Body paragraphs of short college literature essays:

· Follow a logical order.

· Have 1 topic only—which is 1 of the major points from paragraph 1

· Support the thesis mentioned in first paragraph.

· Require transitions: to move easily from one point to the next, and to bring the essay to a close.

· Vocabulary usage in college essays:

· Use the terminology of literature to build the essay in support of the thesis stated in first paragraph.

· Avoid 1st and 2nd person pronouns: I / we / me / you / your / our / us

· The essay explains—this means 3rd person

· Avoid using transitions like therefore / thus in the body paragraphs.

· Concluding words belong at the end of the essay.

· It is not logical to use them beforehand.

· Other paragraph guidelines:

· Do not begin a paragraph with a quotation.

· Introduce it with a sentence / phrase of your own.

· Do not end a paragraph with a quotation.

· Amplify the meaning with a sentence / phrase of your own.

HOW TO WRITE A CONCLUSION

The conclusion is usually shorter than the other paragraphs, but this is not a strict rule.

· The conclusion should judge / assess / evaluate what has been said according to the Bible / common sense / general principle

· The exact nature of the conclusion depends upon the nature / topic of the essay

HOW TO READ LITERATURE EFFECTIVELY

When reading literature texts, a few hints may help students retain what they have read, giving maximum meaning and enjoyment to the experience—

· Take brief notes while you are reading the literary selection.

· Mark off your notebook page with the following terms:

· Characters

· Conflict

· Climax

· Setting

· Plot

· Plot = Summary—Remember that plot summarizes the reading selection—so do not get caught up in repeating the plot when writing the essay.

· Why? - As you explain the meaning, you will be summarizing anyway.

· Remember that writers write deliberately—this means that the plot supports the overall meaning that comes to readers through the other parts (characters, etc.) of the reading selection.

CITATIONS / REFERENCES to the TEXTBOOKS—YES or NO?

Whether or not to cite textbooks can be confusing for students.

· The readings come from the e-texts, but the textbooks are not necessarily academic sources.

Yes, students should cite ONLY the literature selection from the textbook.

Do not cite the entire textbook.

· Literature selections are cited according to the last name of the author / writer / poet / playwright / dramatist.

· Do not cite the literature selections by the last names of the textbook editors.

· Editors do not write the textbooks; they only compile all of the selections.

· Editors do write the explanatory material of the literature textbook.

· This information is for student use; it does not need to be cited in a college essay.

· Students should incorporate this information into the essay in their own vocabulary.

· The reasoning for this is that even though students may be reading the information for the first time, the information is widely known information, available to the public from many sources.

· This type of information is for student use, but not for quoting in an essay.

HOW TO ACCESS THE LIBERTY UNIVERITY LIBRARY

From the Blackboard home page, click on the tab in the upper right-hand side:

JFL Library

Click on “Search Anything”—--------Change from “All” to “Articles”

Then, check boxes for “Online Full Text PDF” and “Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed”

Search by the Title of the literary work

When you see an article that interests you, click on the icon that says “Save this item”

This button lets you save as many articles as you want. When you have collected all the articles you want, enter the folder of saved articles, and email them to yourself. Check the email box that will send the article citations to your email in either MLA / APA / Turabian style—saving you a lot of tedious work!

Another button “Email this item” works similarly, but you will be sending each article to yourself one at a time. “Save this item” saves you a lot of steps.

OTHER HELPFUL GUIDELINES

Keep these guidelines in mind when figuring out how to cite your material:

In MLA style, you will most likely cite according to one of the following formats:

· Article in a scholarly journal (with both volume and issue numbers)

· Article in a scholarly journal with issue numbers only

When you cite any of the short stories / poems / plays from the textbook, you will cite:

· Work in an anthology / collected works

· This may be an essay in a collection of essays, or it may be the literary work in the textbook

Also check out these sheets to see how to cite and reference the Bible

In APA style, you will most likely cite according to one of the following formats:

· Article from an online journal paginated separately by (volume and) issue

· Journal article with (specific number of authors)

When you cite any of the short stories / poems / plays from the textbook, you will cite:

· Article or chapter in an anthology, scholarly collection, or work that names an editor

Also check out the How To sheets to see how to cite and reference the Bible

HOW TO:

FORMATS—

MLA

APA

TURABIAN

BIBLE

CHECK THESE OUT:

1 Atomic Learning tutorials for APA, MLA and Chicago Style.

2 Documentation resources in the Publisher’s Additional Resources folder in ENGL 101 and 102 courses

3 Documentation resources by Library @ http://www.liberty.edu/library/workshops/

4 Online Writing Center Documentation Resources

HOW TO TYPE THE MLA PAGE FORMAT

· MLA format is a specific way to begin any college essay, especially English / literary essays. MLA style indicates the use of the simple present tense when discussing literature (because the discussion is current - do you see the logic of this?) When you refer to past / future action in the story, use it for logical consistency.

· APA indicates a different use of tenses. If you do not know what this means, I prefer you write according to MLA style.

· Here is an example of an MLA page

Rolfe 1

John Rolfe

Professor Penner

English 1550

April 12, 2010

Once More to the Lake—Center the1-line title with the Center Text button

One summer, along about 1904, my father rented a camp on a lake in Maine and took us all there for the month of August. We all got ringworm from some kittens and had to rub … written by E.B. White

--------------------------------------------------------ﻛ--------------------------------------------------------

use Times New Roman, # 12 font when typing college essays

essay should be evenly double-spaced throughout

HOW TO LEARN MLA STYLE REFERENCES

· Many college courses require students to give the MLA reference list at the end of the essay.

· Writing the reference information is very specific.

· Use an appropriate writing aid to do it correctly.

· Articles from college databases can be emailed to your own email, and you can check a box that sends the citation for the article to you in MLA / APA / Turabian style—saving you a lot of tedious work!

· There is more than 1 way to insert the MLA references into your paper

· Use your writing handbook from a previous course to learn the correct order. This requires you to convert the publication information to the correct formatting as you type it.

· Or, purchase a program that does the same.

· Or, use the library database to print / email the citation information to yourself in MLA format. (You must specify MLA format; otherwise, the library database uses its own order) This saves you a lot of work, but you still need to cross-check the reference for accuracy, capitalization / lowercase lettering or other anomalies from the system.

· Go to the website www.citationmachine.net and insert the required information for formatting. This requires you to choose the correct citation format (article or book, etc.) first.

· The website www.citationmachine.net lets you enter a book title or its author, and it brings up suggestions. This works great for many library books, making the citation more accurate.

· Cross-check the reference for accuracy. These websites are not foolproof.

· Remember - the program can only format the information you give it.

Works Cited (center this line)

Align Text Left to begin the citation.

Then, set the Hanging Indent feature by following these commands:

Paragraph / Special / Hanging / OK.

Notice how the first line begins at the left-hand margin and the following lines are indented by ½ inch. Follow the correct MLA format from the textbook or another source to give the citation. Remember to include all of the publication information.

HOW TO: SAMPLE CITATION FORMATS

I have posted the Liberty University sample citation pages, but to simplify this process, I am adding my own version of sample citations in the 3 styles:

· MLA—Works Cited

· APA—References

· Turabian—Bibliography

I think these simplified pages may be easier to follow because if you realize that all citations follow a pattern, you can discern which parts to change for the literature selection you are using for your essay. you can copy and paste at least part of these samples for your own citations in your essays.

Remember a few facts about citations:

· Citations should accurately represent the literary work: its length and location source

· Complete page numbers must be given for short stories and plays—because they are longer than 1 page in length

· Most poems are only 1 page in length, but this is not always true—so check the textbook

· Give the correct title line for the style you are using

· MLA—Works Cited

· APA—References

· Turabian—Bibliography

· Use the Hanging Indent commands (not the paragraph indent) for the citations

· Paragraph / Special / Hanging / OK

· All citations begin with the last names of authors/poets/playwrights

· Do not cite the entire textbook for only 1 work of literature!

· When giving e-sources for literary works, include the shorter web address (not the 5-12 line long web address)

· The year of publication refers to the newest, most current date, (not the 1578 or 1872 date of original publication). Check your text for the latest date.

· List multiple citations in alphabetical order.

HOW TO: SAMPLE MLA

Works Cited—2 sample short stories

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 8th ed. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Pearson, 2016. 376-385.

Wolfe, Thomas. “The Child by Tiger.” http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/wolfe_tiger.swf Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

Works Cited—2 sample poems

Dickinson, Emily. “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.” http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/dickinson_itsifts.swf Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

Donne, John. “Batter my Heart, Three-Personed God.” Literature and Spirituality. Ed. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt. Boston: Longman, 2011. 496. Print.

Works Cited—2 sample plays

“Everyman: A Morality Play.” Literature and Spirituality. Ed. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt. Boston: Longman, 2011. 265-287. Print.

Shakespeare, William. “Othello: The Moor of Venice.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 8th ed. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Pearson, 2016. 962-1060. Print.

HOW TO: SAMPLE APA

References—2 sample short stories

Hawthorne, N. (2013). “Young Goodman Brown.” In X.J. Kennedy and D. Gioia (Eds.), Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (8th ed.). Literature and Spirituality. (pp. 376-385). Boston, MA: Longman.

Wolfe, T. (2016, April 22). “The Child by Tiger.” Retrieved from http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/wolfe_tiger.swf

References—2 sample poems

Donne, J. (2013). “Batter my Heart, Three-Personed God.” In X.J. Kennedy and D. Gioia (Eds.), Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (7th ed.). (p. 496). Boston, MA: Longman.

Dickinson, E. (2016, April 22). “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Retrieved from http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/dickinson_itsifts.swf

References—2 sample plays

Anonymous. “Everyman: A Morality Play.” (2011). In Y. Adu-Gyamfi and M. R. Schmidt (Eds.), Literature and Spirituality. (pp. 265-287). Boston, MA: Longman.

Shakespeare, William. (2016). “Othello: The Moor of Venice.” In X.J. Kennedy and D. Gioia (Eds.), Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (8th ed.). (pp. 962-1060). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Notice the different way of citing an anonymous work in each formatting style.

HOW TO: SAMPLE TURABIAN

Bibliography—2 sample short stories

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." In Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia, 376-385. Boston: Pearson, 2013.

Wolfe, Thomas. “The Child by Tiger.” Pearson. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/wolfe_tiger.swf Web. (accessed April 22, 2016).

Bibliography—2 sample poems

Dickinson, Emily. “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves.” Pearson. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pcp_97542_lit_lu/ebook/media/dickinson_itsifts.swf (accessed April 22, 2016).

Donne, John. “Batter my Heart, Three-Personed God.” In Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia, 496. Boston: Pearson, 2013.

Bibliography—2 sample plays

"Everyman: A Morality Play." In Literature and Spirituality, edited by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, 265-287. Boston: Longman, 2011.

Shakespeare, William. "Othello: The Moor of Venice." In Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, edited by X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia, 962-1060. Boston: Pearson, 2013.

Some students prefer to use Turabian style for essays. As with the APA style, use Turabian for the Bibliography page, and follow the guidelines for writing according to MLA style explained on another page.

MLA and APA - DIFFERENCES in STYLE of ESSAY WRITING

The difference in writing between MLA and APA is the difference between thinking in the humanities and thinking in the social sciences. Bearing mind that literature classes write about characters and social science classes write about human behavior, the difference has to do with fictitious characters in invented situations (that resemble real life) and real people in real life situations. Having said that, use the following guidelines to write essays for this course and for any literature course.

APA style indicates the use of present tense to discuss results (which are NOT part of an essay about literature), and to discuss generally known information (which is probably part of an essay about literature). APA indicates the use the past tense and the present perfect tense for literature review (which is NOT the same thing as writing an English essay about literature), and as part of the signal phrase that introduces quoted material (which is part of an essay about literature). When writing about the referenced material within the essay, APA style indicates that the information should be given in chronological order.

MLA style indicates the use of the simple present tense to write about literature and characters—because the discussion is current. Using the simple present tense allows the writer to narrate the literature with other tenses—when the writer uses other tenses in the narration of the story. When writing about the referenced material within the essay, MLA style indicates that the information may be given in a logical order (of ideas, instead of chronologically).

For this course:

· If you prefer to use APA, use APA only for the citations page.

· Use MLA style for the actual essay writing.

· If you prefer to use MLA, follow the simpler guidelines of MLA style.

Another obvious difference is in the title of the citations page:

· Works Cited is the title for an MLA citations page

· References is the title for an APA citations page

· Bibliography is the title for a Turabian citations page

I hope this makes sense for writing essays for this course. If you have questions about writing style, email me to ask.

CITATIONS / REFERENCES to the BIBLE

MLA style: citing the Bible within the essay

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul explains basic differences between children and adults (I Cor. 13:11-12).

MLA style: referencing the Bible at the end of the essay

The Bible. New International Vers. Bible Gateway,Web. 24 Apr. 2016. http://www.biblegateway.com/

“I Corinthians 13.” Bible Gateway,Web. 24 Apr. 2016. http://www.biblegateway.com/

“The NIV Worship Bible.” Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000. Print. New International Version.

APA style: how to cite the Bible within the essay

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul explains basic differences between children and adults (I Cor. 13:11-12 New International Version).

APA style: how to reference the Bible at the end of the essay:

APA does NOT list the Bible in the References section of the essay.

Turabian style: citing the Bible within the essay

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul explains basic differences between children and adults (I Cor. 13:11-12).

Turabian style: referencing the Bible at the end of the essay

Turabian does NOT include the Bible in the Bibliography section of the essay.

HOW TO:

TRANSITION

TIPS

HOW / WHEN TO USE TRANSITONS

It is best to learn to use transitions in a standard way.

When you master the basics of transitional usage, you will understand how to apply them for more effective writing overall—in this course and in other courses.

Transitional phrases or words give signals to readers of specific changes in the writing.

Here are three basic guidelines for how to use transitions:

1. To begin body paragraphs of a (short) essay

· Each body paragraph in a brief essay usually represents a major point

2. To begin major points throughout a (longer) essay

3. To link thoughts within a paragraph together.

· Thoughts may introduce ideas

· Thoughts may compare or contrast ideas

· Thoughts may explain ideas

· Thoughts may summarize quickly before moving on to the next point

· Refer to Transitions Word / Phrase List, and choose appropriately

· Readers should be able to read them (transitions + sentences) throughout the essay in a logical order

TO MOVE IN LOGICALORDER or TO ADD AN IDEA OR EXAMPLE

First, Firstly, In the first place, To begin with, Second, Secondly, In the second place, Third, Thirdly

Then, For, More important, In conclusion, Finally, to conclude

Again, Also, And, Then, Another way, At the same time, Besides, Equally important, Likewise, With this in mind, For one thing, First of all, First, Second, Third, The third reason, Further, Furthermore, Similarly, In addition, In like manner, In the same way, Moreover, Next, Too, Finally, Last of all

TO INTRODUCE AN EXAMPLE

For example, For instance, Consider the following, As a case in point, As an illustration, Such as, To illustrate, In the following manner, Accordingly,, In this case, Namely, Specifically

TO INTENSIFY MEANING

Actually, After all, As a matter of fact, ,Certainly, Chiefly, Clearly, Especially, In any event, In fact, Indeed, Most of all, Naturally, Primarily, , f course, Otherwise, The point is , To be sure, To tell the truth, Truly, Without doubt

TO CONCEDE TO A DIFFERENT POINT or TO MOVE TO THE NEXT MAJOR POINT

Admittedly, Certainly, Of course, Everyone agrees that, Granted, To be sure, True, It is true that, There is no doubt that, No one disputes the fact that

TO SIGNAL REPETITION

Again, To repeat, As has been noted, That is to say, That is, To be sure, To put it differently, In other words

TO SHOW TIME or TO SHOW PLACE

After, Afterward, As soon as, At length, Before, During, Eventually, Finally, Henceforth, Immediately, In that time, In the meantime, Meanwhile, While, Later, Later on, Next, Now, Presently, Then, Shortly, Soon, Above, Across from, Adjacent to, Behind, Below, Beyond, Here, There, Nearby, Next to, In back of, In front of, On the bottom, On top of, On the opposite side, Opposite to, To the left of, To the right of, Subsequently, Thereafter, Whereupon, As has been said, In brief, In short, On the whole, To sum up, To summarize

All prepositions show place

TO COMPARE IDEAS or TO CONTRAST IDEAS

At the same time, By way of comparison, Correspondingly, Equally, In like manner, Likewise, Similarly, Afterward, Although this may be true, Anyhow, But, Contrary to, Conversely, For all that, However, In contrast to this, Instead, Just the same, Nevertheless. Nonetheless, Nor, Notwithstanding, Or, Otherwise, On the contrary, On the other hand, Still, Unlike, Whereas, Yet

TO SHOW RESULT or TO SUMMARIZE IDEAS

Accordingly, All in all, Altogether, Clearly, The point is , It follows that, Namely, So, For this reason, In other words, From what has been said, Hence, Henceforth, In conclusion, In short, In sum, Therefore, Thereupon, Thus, To conclude, As a result, Consequently, Finally

Highlighted words follow specific punctuation rules – see next page

HOW TO USE TRANSITIONS WITH CORRECT PUNCTUATION

COMMA RULES

The following transitions (coordinating conjunctions) require commas to link 2 independent clauses: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (remember them by the mnemonic FANBOYS).

subject / verb / object, and subject / verb / object.

EXCEPTION to this rule: subject / verb and verb / object

EX: Researchers studied the symptoms of the disease, and they learned that specific factors caused it.

EX: Researchers studied the symptoms of the disease and learned that specific factors caused it.

SEMI-COLON RULES

The following transitions (conjunctive adverbs) require semi-colons to link 2 independent clauses: however, consequently, therefore, thus, hence, furthermore, moreover, afterward, indeed, otherwise.

subject / verb / object; however, subject / verb / object.

Journalism, a simpler style of writing, uses conjunctive adverbs to begin sentences. All of us read a lot of journalism, but this is not correct for essay writing.

EX: Researchers studied the symptoms of the disease; consequently, they learned that specific factors precede the disease.

NO PUNCTUATION REQUIRED BETWEEN INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

The following transitions (subordinating conjunctions) require NO punctuation to link 2 independent clauses: although, because, if, since, unless, while.

subject / verb / object although subject / verb / object.

Use these rules in conjunction with the transition word list when writing essays for this course.

EX: Researchers studied the symptoms of the disease because they hoped to learn the specific factors that caused it.

HOW TO:

COMPUTER

FORMAT

TIPS

HOW TO PAGINATE A COLLEGE ESSAY

· College essays should be paginated in the upper right-hand corner

· Follow these commands for the Word program to paginate your essay

· Insert / Page Number . . . follow the commands for placement of the page number

· Never press the number 1 key because this will make all pages read as ‘1’

Other helpful hints for word-processing in Word program:

· Use the Word typing program on either a PC or a Mac machine

· Do not use other formats like .pages or .txt or .odt

· They tend to omit the formatting that is required for college essays

To change default spacing (from 1.15 to an even 2):

Paragraph / Line Spacing / 2.0 / Remove space after paragraph

Paragraph indentation :

Use only the TAB button to indent paragraphs by exactly ½”

Make sure the paper is set to Align Left

How to double-space an essay before beginning it:

Type your name at top of paper

Then, follow these commands: Paragraph / Line Spacing / Double / Okay

How to double-space an existing essay:

Press (CTRL button and letter A) – both at the same time

This should highlight All of the text

Then do the same thing as above: Paragraph / Line Spacing / Double / Okay

Click on the shaded color to set the new double-spacing

HOW TO USE THE ‘HANGING INDENT’ FEATURE

· Set the Hanging Indent feature for every citation on the Works Cited page

· The Hanging Indent is the opposite of the paragraph indent (TAB button)

· It automatically indents the citation after the first line and on subsequent lines

· Follow these commands for the Hanging Indent on Word

· Paragraph / Special / Hanging / OK

· When you complete a citation and press the Enter button, the Hanging Indent resets itself for the next entry

.

HOW TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN AN ESSAY:

Turn on the ¶ symbol button at the top of the screen.

This is the Show / Hide button, and it shows what you have done.

When you look at the document now, read the following symbols:

… means you pressed the space bar: each dot = 1 space

¶ means you pressed ENTER to move down to the next line

means you pressed TAB to indent paragraphs ½” exactly

If you use a Mac machine instead of a PC:

You probably know that instead of the CTRL button for most of these commands, the Mac system uses the COMMAND ⌘ button

HINTS FOR WRITING A LOT OF COLLEGE ESSAYS QUICKLY

It may be helpful to students who write a lot of essays to set up a formatted, sample essay page for each course you take. Give it a title like Sample / New / Begin to remember its purpose. Make the formatting and spacing changes required for the course. Add your name and other repeated information to the beginning of it.

When you add 1 character of typing to an existing document, you can go to the commands File / Save As and retitle the document as you wish. In this way, you can title all of the essays due for each course at the beginning of the term. Instead of typing a new essay over and over again, just open up the sample and begin working on it. When you take about 1 hour to set up the assignments for the course, you save yourself several hours of repeated effort.

This pre-course effort helps students focus on the assignment at hand rather than on formatting / technology skills. Success at college level work is partly dependent upon organizational and technological skills.

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