English 101 Writing Assignment Instructions

If you selected "Paper 1" from the Schedule, why did you end up here?

You ended up here because it is essential that you read and understand all of the information below before setting up and submitting any of your essays to me. If you do not follow the correct format, your papers will not be accepted (they will need to be redone and will be docked the late penalty you read about on the class Home page); if they are not saved properly, then I won't be able to open and read them (which is a problem). If papers are only 2 pages long, then they will not earn points.

So, yes, I know this is dry stuff; I also know many of you already know this material, but don't just pass it by. The real link to Paper 1 is at the bottom of this page; links on the Schedule will actually take you to those other paper topics.

General Information about Essays

The 100-point essays will generally require you to develop papers of between 4-5 full typed pages in standard MLA format (see below) to adequately cover the topic. You'll want to use specific examples whenever possible. Feel free to draw on personal experience, but that's generally not enough to support your thesis. Content is most important with these essays, but I will look closely at the form of the essays as well, so you'll need to edit and proofread to eliminate as many of the spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax errors as possible to earn a high score.

NOTE: these are not just personal opinion papers.

These are, for the most part, argument essays. Even if you write a personal experience paper, you will be supporting a thesis (the central idea/point you are trying to develop/prove) with examples/evidence--that is the essence of an argument.

If you would like to see sample essays (a solid "B" paper that was revised and turned into an even more solid "A" paper, click here.

MLA Essay Format

Save a copy

always keep copies of all of your assignments. If there is a problem with either e-mail or snail-mail, you will need that copy to re-send for credit. Give it a name that is easy to recognize and save it on your computer where you can easily locate it.

Formatting in WORD

to change the left and right margins to 1" go to PAGE LAYOUT and select the "Normal" template with 1" margins all around (in earlier versions of WORD select the FILE tab then PAGE SETUP; there is a space where you can change the 1.25" margins to 1" quite easily)
double spacing your paper is done by selecting PARAGRAPH (found under the FORMAT tab in older versions); in the LINE SPACNG box select "Double"; also make sure that BEFORE and AFTER are both set to 0, or you will get extra spacing each time you hit "Enter" while typing
the header (your last name and the page number 1/2" from the top right of each page) is handled using the HEADER/FOOTER feature found under INSERT (or VIEW in older versions)

Attaching your File

make sure the file you send me has been saved as a .doc or .rtf file; these two formats are easily opened by most software, and they retain MLA format
in your e-mail program click ATTACH; a dialogue box will appear; there is a BROWSE button you can click to locate your file; click OK when you find the file you want to attach
remember to put your name, the class, the assignment in your e-mail (or on the subject line) and send it to jrcorbally@gmail.com

All essays must be in standard MLA (Modern Language Association) format; this is the format you should have learned in English 101. College and university academic standards require that papers written in the humanities (there is a different format for scientific papers) be submitted in this format.

For complete information on what this format looks like, refer to your Rulebook for Writers. I have also included a copy of a sample MLA paper with some instructions that you can look at here (I've saved the files in two formats; you should be able to open at least one):

Sample MLA Essay in Word (.doc) Format
Sample MLA Essay in Rich-text (.rtf) Format

You can also find information on the MLA format and more general information on academic writing at the following web site:

Purdue MLA format site.

Your English 101 handbook has further information on format, and you can visit the school's Writing Lab (LAC 113a) for more help.

Please look over the format of your essay before you submit it. You will lose points for incorrectly-formatted papers; in some cases, essays will not be accepted if the format is too far from the MLA standards.

How to Submit your 100-point Essays

Note: submitting your research paper is different (see below)

Your essays will be submitted to me as attachments to e-mail. Write the paper in standard MLA format in WORD, save your paper on your hard drive or on a floppy disk, and attach the file to an e-mail addressed to me. When sending assignments, YOUR E-MAIL MESSAGE should include your name, the class, and the name of the assignment which is attached (this is in addition to the heading information that you'll have on the attached essay itself). Send your e-mail to me at jrcorbally@gmail.com.

NOTE: If you do not have Microsoft WORD on your computer, you must save your file as either a Word (.doc) file or as a rich-text-format (.rtf) file before attaching it. My WORD software can translate files from a number of other word-processing programs, but there are many that it cannot. If you do not save your file as a .doc file or a .rtf file, then the formatting will likely be lost; in some cases, the text is completely unreadable by my software.

Submitting your Research Paper

To pass this class you absolutely must get a passing score on your research paper; it is worth 200 points total.

The research paper will not be e-mailed to me; instead, you will be required to drop off the paper and all of its components (see Paper 3 instructions for more details on this) to my office (NEAH 273b), or you must mail all elements to my campus mailbox (Box 120) by the due date. Obviously, if you are going to mail the paper, outline, sources, etc., you will need to finish the assignment early; it needs to reach me by the due date.

All of the details are clearly noted on the Research Paper Final Checklist on the Paper 3 WEB page.

Late Essays

Try to get all work in on time. Late essays will always (unless there's some problem with my server on the day the work is due) be penalized. A late essay will lose 10% of the total score. NOTE: Any essay that is more than one week late will receive no credit! To avoid a late penalty (or a zero), it's a very good idea to submit work early. Always keep a copy of your work in case it gets lost in transmission.

Revisions

One essay may be revised one time for credit as long as you do so within one week of receiving your original back. Remember, revision is just that--a new vision of your paper. Minor corrections and occasional phrase changes will not usually change your grade. If your second version is worse than the first (highly unlikely), you will receive the higher grade.

Extra Credit

Paper 4 is optional. So why would you want to do it?

If you have missed paper1 or paper 2, you will be able to turn in paper 4 to take the place of that missed assignment (in many cases that will make the difference between passing and failing the course). You may also turn in paper 4 hoping to get a score higher than you earned on either paper 1 or paper 2; if you do earn a higher score, that higher score will completely replace the lower score (on the rare chance that you might get a lower score, you would still keep the higher score; paper 4 cannot hurt your grade; it might help it).

Note: paper 4 cannot take the place of the research paper; the research paper is absolutely required of all students wishing to pass the class.

Writing Assignments