Writing Pointers Checklist

Italicize titles of novels, magazines, movies, and plays

Put quotations around titles of poems and articles
Always write about literature in present tense
Dont use slang (open a can of worms, bring to light, etc.)
Citations go at the end of the sentence in () and inside the punctuation
Do not start a sentence with this, that, there, because, it
Do not say basically, very, really, just
Incorporate multiple types of sentencessimple, complex, compound,
compound-complex
Always introduce your author and the title of the work you are
discussing
Do not start multiple sentences in a row with the same word (its
repetitive)
Use incorporative quotes:
o Brutus had the last stab of the conspirators in killing Caesar,
which was the unkind stab of them all (Act III scene ii, lines
183).
Never use 2nd personyou statements
o Dont use we or us either
Avoid subjective statements. They are founded in opinion, not fact.
Always have evidence to support what you are stating
Write out all numbers ten and under
Use active voice, not passive voice
o Passive voiceIn traditional grammar, a type of sentence or clause in
which the subject receives the action of the verb. Example: A good
time was had by all. http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/pasvoiceterm.htm
o Active voiceIn traditional grammar, a type of sentence or clause in which
the subject performs or causes the action expressed by the verb. -

http://grammar.about.com/od/ab/g/activevoiceterm.htm
Dont use contractions or abbreviations
o Contractionsdidnt, dont, couldnt, shouldnt
o Abbreviationsave., etc., rd.
Dont forget to have topic sentences for each body paragraph
o They should give your reader an idea of what the purpose of the
paragraph is about
Make sure you use parallelism, everything must agree
o This afternoon Tom was running, skipping, and playing.
Always put papers for English in MLA format

o Purdue Owl is a great website to chec your MLA format and

answer any quesitons yo might have https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Sometimes its best to pretend your reader has never read the work
before in order to give enough detail for understanding. However,
never give a plot summary!