<CAUTION: These handouts must be used in conjunction with class discussion and other course materials. They are not intended to be stand-alone explanations.>

An important part of surviving in English 1C is your ability to follow simple instructions. There are a lot of reasons for our emphasis on paying attention to details in doing your work, but perhaps the most important is that effective problem-solving demands it. <This will be explained at greater length in class.>

The following set of instructions may be at odds with what most of you have been taught in previous classes. However, in order to be fair, I want to establish these guidelines as the ones all of you will be using in this course. <For subjects not covered in our handouts or lectures, please consult a writing handbook of your own selection.>

丕ll papers must be typed using a word processor.

 

冊se standard margins. Left: 1.5. Right: 1.25. Top: 1.25. Bottom: 1.25.

 

主ouble space the text. Four spaces between paragraphs. Indenting is optional.

 

仙ut your name, date and section number on the upper right hand corner of the BACK of your last page. You do not have to type this. THIS MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE FRONT OF YOUR PAPER.

 

丕ll papers should include a title that identifies your paper topic.

 

付f you number your pages, the first page is special.

 

冊se plain white bond. No onionskin. Please, no title pages or plastic covers.

兄ave your drafts. You should be able to produce more than one version of each paper you submit.

 

凸ou are responsible for all errors regardless of who prepared the paper for you.

Your introductory paragraph should begin with your thesis statement <though it does not necessarily have to be the first sentence>. Your thesis must address the question directly. <Again, please make sure you identify the question in your title.> Then you should give an outline of your basic arguments. Each argument should be stated in a separate sentence and each argument should clearly support your thesis statement.

丕ll paragraphs should be composed of at least eight (8) 'significiant' sentences. 'Significant' means each sentence should have logical content as opposed to being filler.

The topic sentence of each paragraph should be at the beginning of the paragraph <though it does not necessarily have to be the first sentence>. In addition, it should follow the outline stated in your introduction.

冉he paper should be free of basic sentence boundary problems, e.g. comma splices, fragments and run-ons. <Remeber that English 1A is a pre-requisite for English 1C.>

All topics will require that your papers be written from the first person singular ('I') point of view. There are logical reasons for this stipulation that will be explained in class. Follow it.

 

主o not shift points of view. "I" should be the only personal pronoun that you should use. Do not use the "you" of direct address as I am doing here.

 

代o direct discourse quotations will be permitted unless absolutely necessary to your argument.

NOTE: References to printed sources or other materials not presented to the class as a whole should not be included without prior approval. Footnotes to course materials are not necessary.

主o not use rhetorical questions <???> or exclamation points <!!!>.

主o not offer advice on how people should or should not lead their lives or words of spiritual or religious wisdom. Do not give advice directly to the "reader." <These kinds of remarks will never be appropriate given your paper topics.>

Any paper not submitted before the end of the class period on the date the paper is due will be considered late and will be penalized accordingly.

We will be following the English Department grading guidelines for English 1C. A statement of these guidelines will be given to you on the first day of class.

To be more specific, I will be looking at the following four areas.

1) COMPLIANCE WITH GUIDELINES FOR FORMAT AND GENERAL CONTENT

2) ORGANIZATION

3) DEVELOPMENT

4) SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND STYLE

Of course, writing an effective paper requires much more than following a set of formating rules. But being able to follow a simple set of finite instructions is a good first step towards the more complex forms of problem-solving that will be the focus of this course.

REMINDER: AS I HAVE STATED IN CLASS, I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PARTICULAR SET OF GUIDELINES IS BETTER OR MORE CORRECT THAN ANY OF THE OTHERS YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN TAUGHT. HOWEVER, THESE ARE THE ONES WE ARE USING IN THIS COURSE, SO I EXPECT YOU TO FOLLOW THEM.

BY THE SAME TOKEN, SHOULD ANOTHER INSTRUCTOR ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, I DO HOPE THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW HIS OR HER INSTRUCTIONS IN THE SAME WAY.