Interesting Title: Not Bold, Underlined, Or a Super-Sized Font

Oglestreet 2

Knox Oglestreet

Ms. Casey

American Literature, 2

1 October 2015

Interesting Title: Not Bold, Underlined, or A Super-Sized Font

This first line better be interesting (devoid of clichés or summaries—ever). Yes, you indent the first sentence of every paragraph: one Tab. After the Centered title, everything is Left Justified as it is here. Also, note the spacing between the information block, essay title, and first line. There are no extra spaces between these lines; it’s double-spaced throughout. Don’t forget to save often (every paragraph or so). Save your document to the desktop with a sensible title (like your name). The first paragraph is where your Introduction and Thesis go; some profs prefer the thesis to be the last line of the first paragraph.

The first sentence in a Body Paragraph is a Topic Sentence. This is a general statement you unpack with specifics or pieces of evidence including: statistics, cited research (quotes), analogies, etc. This will flesh out your essay and support your Thesis or Topic. Good papers always back up the thesis and topics with careful research or analyses. Do not create paragraphs that are too short or too long. Five to ten lines are the average size of paragraphs. Also, vary your sentences in structure and length.

Cite research in the MLA Style. Here is one example with the author, page, and quote noted. Paul Johnson’s team at the Institute of Psychological Research discovered that “optical illusions fool everyone and are not dependent on how smart a person is” (Johnson 34). This implies that there are more factors involved than merely looking at something to process an accurate picture. In law, eyewitness testimony is one of the most unreliable sources. Notice where the page number is, there is no “p”, “pp”, or “page”: just a number. Also note where the period goes—after everything.

Always use the Spell/Grammar Check, located in the Tools section of MS Word. This should be done in the Editing Phase, not in the Revision Phase. It makes no sense to correct what you might change later. Make sure you read your essay out loud before printing or submitting: you will find many errors by doing this quick task.