Body Paragraph Tips

1. When you’re writing about literature, after reading the work and looking at the question, you should assemble a list of quotes that support your answer.
2. Your paragraph should move quickly from the topic sentence to a definition or overview of the main idea in that sentence or . . . to a sentence or phrase that sets up your first quote.  Then, you should explain how specific words in the quote prove the validity of the topic sentence.
3. Review the definition of "context" from the course packet.
4. Proofread your work by reading it out loud

Citing Conventions

1. Use the many sample entries in the packet (see Citing Sources in table of contents) to help set up both the in-text citation and works cited entries.
2. Poems and short stories are in quotation marks.
3. Long poems and novels/narratives are underlined or italicized
4. When citing poetry, use / marks to denote a line break. And if you cite more than four lines, break the paragraph and use stanza format.

Example:
Wigglesworth depicts a world full of complacent debauchery: "Wallowing in all kind of sin, / vile wretches lay secure" (lines 8-9).

or

Wigglesworth depicts a world full of complacent debauchery:

Wallowing in all kind of sin,
   vile wretches lay secure:
The best of men had scarcely then
   their lamps kept in good ure (Lines 8-11)

The "security" of the sinners is, of course, part of their sin.

5. When citing poetry, use line numbers instead of page numbers in parenthesis

My Comments
Squiggly lines under a sentence or phrase means more work is/was needed to smooth out wording.

The best way to improve your writing is to 1) run a rough draft by myself or one of the tutors in the college's writing center (R124) or 2) 1) run a rough draft by myself or one of the tutors in the college's writing center (R124) ("Hey . . . this looks just like the first tip. . . ")