Pre submission Checklist for Essays

Comparative Literature  
 
Listed below in two sections are items related to essay writing that frequently require additional attention from students. The first section contains items of basic grammar usage. The second section addresses issues of style and formatting. Before submitting your essay, check it against this list. You are responsible for handling these elements of your writing correctly, and mistakes in these areas, especially in issues of basic grammar in the first group, will lower the grade of the essay significantly. Note that additional information on these and other aspects of grammar and style can be found in the excellent reference work listed on the course syllabus–The Bedford Book.

Grammar
—Spelling: Use a dictionary and a spell checker. Spelling mistakes should be very rare.

—Subject verb agreement: In general, verbs agree with their subjects in number and in person.
Potentially confusing situations include words that come between the subject and the verb (e.g.,
the tulips in the pot on the balcony need watering) and compound subjects joined by and, which
are usually plural (e.g., Leon and Jan often jog together).

—Run on sentences: Run on sentences are independent clauses that have not been joined correctly. (An independent clause can function alone as a sentence–meaning it has a subject and a verb.) When two independent clauses appear in one sentence, they must be joined in one of two
ways: 1) with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet); 2) with a semicolon or, less commonly, a colon or dash. Using no connecting punctuation between independent clauses, results in a fused sentence. By contrast, a comma splice occurs when independent clauses are joined by a comma without the necessary coordinating conjunction. Note that the seven terms listed above are the only coordinating conjunctions in English (however is a transitional expression, not a coordinating conjunction).

—Sentence fragments: By the same token, clauses that do not contain a subject and a verb cannot function independently as sentences. These clauses must either be altered to make them independent or combined with another sentence.

—Commas in a series: When three or more items are listed in a series, these items are separated from one another with commas–this applies to the second and third items as well (her hats, shoes, and bags). Items in a series may be single words, phrases, or clauses.

—Commas with parenthetical information: Expressions that provide supplemental or nonessential information are set off with commas. Such expressions are identified as parenthetical (their information is presented in parentheses as it were), and thus they interrupt the flow of the sentence. (E.g., The senator, whose hat had just blown off, began to speak. Note that this sentence will or will not use commas depending upon whether or not the expression whose hat had just blown off identifies this senator among other senators–in which case the information is essential and is not set off–or is simply added as additional information–in which case it is nonessential and is set off, as in the example.)#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#

—Pronoun usage: The noun that a pronoun substitutes for is called its antecedent. Ambiguous pronoun usage occurs when a pronoun could refer to two possible antecedents (e.g., When Gloria set the pitcher on the table it broke) or when its antecedent is so far away it’s difficult to identify.
If a pronoun is potentially confusing, rephrase the sentence or use the name of the person or thing it refers to. Avoid the use of it in ambiguous or indefinite situations. The use of you is only appropriate in informal contexts (not formal essays) when the writer is addressing the reader directly.

—Titles: Titles of books, long poems, plays, Platonic dialogues, and the works of Aristotle are either underlined or italicized. Choose one approach and use it consistently. The titles of short stories, essays, songs, and short poems are enclosed in quotation marks. Custom Thesis，Custom Dissertation，請(qǐng)聯(lián)系QQ：949925041

Stylistics and formatting
—Present tense: Use the present tense throughout an essay as the primary mode of discussing a literary work.
—Avoid personal pronouns: It's best to avoid overuse of personal pronouns in formal essays like the ones you write for this class. Alternatives that work well in place of phrases such as “I think” or “I feel” include: "This passage shows..."; "Here one can see..."; "This speech reveals...," etc. —Avoid personal beliefs and values: You should avoid bringing your personal beliefs into your essays. This is not because these beliefs are not important, but because they don't work in a formal essay context, where the discussion is focused on a text and typically on the attitudes and actions of characters and narrators.
—Quotation usage: Avoid dropping quotations into the text without warning. Use introductory phrases to integrate cited material smoothly with your own words. —Quotation format: Briefer quotations–three lines or less–are integrated into regular paragraph format and have slash marks to indicate the line breaks, with a space before and after the slash, e.g., "But fetch me another prize, and straight off too, / else I alone of the Argives go without my honor. / That would be a disgrace" (Iliad 1.138 140). Note how in this type of quotation the citation of book and line numbers comes after the closing quotation mark, and the final period to the whole sentence comes after the last parentheses. Longer quotations–four lines or more–are indented 8 10 spaces from the left margin, reproduce the text exactly as it appears in the book, and are double spaced like the rest of the text. Quotation marks are not used in this format (since the quote is already clearly differentiated from the paragraph), and the closing punctuation comes before the book and line citation (which still appears within parentheses, after which there is no punctuation). #p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
And finally:
—Simple is often best: Avoid the overuse of complex sentences with numerous subordinate clauses. Simple, declarative sentences are usually most effective. Stylistically, a mix of sentence types is most pleasing.
—Avoid redundancy: Avoid repeating yourself. Eliminate unnecessary words.
—Proofread: It may help to ask someone else to read your paper for you, since it's easier for someone else to spot mistakes. Alternately, try reading the paper aloud to yourself. Many times hearing the words will alert you to areas that need attention.

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