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Essay Checklist

This is a checklist specifically designed for British Literature students, but which will be useful to any students writing an essay in MLA format.

This list pertains to MLA formatting and compiled with the help of:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/1/

http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla

Font:

Ø Times New Roman 12 point or Tahoma 11 point, the same size throughout the paper.

Ø Do not make periods or any punctuation marks a larger font.

Ø No bolding, highlighting, or all capitals.

Spacing:

Ø Double spaced throughout paper.

Ø Leave only one space after periods and other punctuation marks.

Ø 1”, non-justified margins on all sides.

Ø Beginning of each paragraph is indented ½ inch from the left margin (by pressing the tab key).

Ø Block quotes are indented 1” from left and right margins.

Ø All text (except for the title of the paper) is aligned to the left side of the page.

Proper header:

Ø In the title, capitalize all words except for prepositions and articles, unless they are the first word.

Ø Your title should fit on one line.

Ø Mark pages consistently in the upper right hand corner of the page with your name and the page number. Note: some professors may want you to omit the number on the first page, so it is best to check this with each professor.

Example header and title: �� Last Name 1

Universidad de Costa Rica, Sede de Occidente

Student name, ID #

Professor’s name and title

Course number and name

Date

Title

Parenthetical or in-text citations: In the MLA style, writers briefly reference the source and page number of each quote or paraphrased idea within the body of the text. The complete citation is found on the Works Cited page at the end of the essay. These parenthetical references should be as concise as possible.

Ø Parenthetical citations include the author’s last name and the page number(s) or line(s) of poetry on which the information was found.

Ø Do not separate name and number with a comma.

Ø The whole citation should be within parenthesis ( ).

Ø Punctuation, such as a period at the end of a sentence or a comma at the end of a clause, comes after the parenthesis.

Ø Insert the citation where a pause would naturally occur, preferably at the end of the sentence.

Ø Electronic or online sources are cited as a book would be. If there are no page numbers in the online source, omit the number.

Ø If you mention the author’s name in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthesis.

Ø Large works, such as books, movies, plays, epic or full-length poems, music albums, magazine titles, newspapers titles, etc., should be italicized or underlined.

Ø Short works, such as short stories, essays, short poems, songs, chapters, TV episodes, etc. should be “placed inside quotations.”

Example:

The features of simplicity and repetition are both “characteristics of oral improvisational and formulaic poetry” (Anderson 76). or

Literary critic Anderson writes that the features of simplicity and repetition are both “characteristics of oral improvisational and formulaic poetry” (76).

Quotations:

Ø Quotations should never stand alone. You should always lead into or give context to a quotation by preceding it with your own writing. Usually, quotations are offset by a comma.

Ø Punctuation, such as a period at the end of a sentence or a comma at the end of a clause, comes inside the quotation marks unless the quotation marks are followed by a parenthetical reference in parenthesis, in which case the punctuation comes afterward.

Ø When quoting from poetry, different lines or stanzas should be marked with a backslash (/).

Ø In quotations that are four lines or longer use a block quote. Block quotes are indented 1” from left and right margins and maintain double spacing.

Ø Unlike shorter in-text citations, block quotes citation falls outside of punctuation.

Example:

Sir Gawain sought this same religious pursuit after falling into despair searching for the Green Knight. His sadness is characterized by the following lines, “of hearing Christmas mass and honoring / Mary’s son, born to end / Our sorrow...” (Sir Gawain 751-753).

Footnotes:

Ø For the purpose of the British Literature paper, your professor suggests that you insert a footnote after the first citation from your primary text. The first line of all footnotes should be indented. The following lines are not indented. An example is as follows:

1 All quotes within this work unless otherwise noted, are from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Works cited page:

Ø At the very end of your essay, on a separate page, you should have a “Works Cited” list.

Ø At the top of the page type and center the title: Works Cited

Ø Underneath the title, list your sources. Sources should be aligned to the left side of the page.

Ø The first line of each source should not be indented, but every line after the first should be indented.

Examples:

Books:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Book- One author:

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Putnam, 1955.

Another work, same author:

---. Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited. New York: Knopf,

1999.

Two authors:

Cross, Susan, and Christine Hoffman. Bruce Nauman: Theaters of

Experience. New York: Guggenheim Museum; London: Thames &

Hudson, 2004.

Editor (anthology or collection of essays):

Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite Helmers, eds. Defining Visual Rhetorics.

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.

Journal article, one author:

Matarrita-Cascante, David. "Beyond Growth: Reaching Tourism-Led

Development.” Annals of Tourism Research 37.4 (2010): 1141-63.

Web page:

Cornell University Library. "Introduction to Research." Cornell University

Library. Cornell University, 2009. Web. 19 June 2009

<http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/intro>.

To learn how to cite from other types of sources go to this webpage: http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla or search MLA citation format online.

Introduction:

Ø Attention grabber: anecdote, quotation, question, facts or statistics

Ø Smooth transition from attention grabber to background material

Ø Relevant background material

Ø Declarative thesis statement that contains the theme you will discuss and the three literary elements you will use as body paragraphs

Body paragraphs:

Ø Does each contain a topic sentence that describes how the literary element is related to the thesis?

Ø Is each paragraph united by one controlling idea?

Ø Do you have three literary quotes in each paragraph?

Ø Does each quote have proper citation (see citation section above)?

Ø Did you analyze each quote and explain how it relates to the topic sentence?

Ø Do you have a concluding sentence bring the paragraph to a close by doing one of the following?:

o Restates topic sentence in new language.

o Uses a connector sentence to transition to the next paragraph.

Ø Are all body paragraphs significantly different from one another?

Ø Does the ordering of the paragraphs (with the help of transition sentences) logical? Would your argument be better if the body paragraphs were in a different order? Remember, your last body paragraph should be your strongest.

Ø At least two of your body paragraphs should be one page long and the third is allowed to be one and a half pages (though one page is preferable).

Conclusion:

Ø Does your conclusion bring closure to the essay? Is it clear that this is the end? Are there any thoughts or questions left undeveloped or answered?

Ø You can exhibit your own opinion in the conclusion. Show the reader why what you wrote about is important today? How does it apply to today’s world? Do the themes you’ve covered impact our lives today?

Ø Your last few sentences should be some of the strongest in the paper.

Works Cited:

Ø Follows MLA format outlined in the citations section.

Ø Is its own separate page at the end of the essay.