Consider these questions as you research: did he or she make any campaign promises? Has he or she fulfilled those promises? Did he or she propose, write, sponsor, or co-sponsor any bills or amendments? Was he or she a key vote on a bill or amendment? Did he or she give any speeches or make any statements? You are not required to answer these specific questions in your essay; instead, they are food for thought. In an essay that ends at least on the fourth page (excluding the works cited page and the Essay 3 Form), answer this question: how can this politician improve the most? While this essay may discuss where this politician succeeds, the majority of the essay should discuss your politician’s greatest deficiency. This essay requires at least three reputable sources. When you include quotations, paraphrases, or names and numbers from your sources, you must include an in-text citation and an entry on the works cited page. As for style, this essay is informal, but not as informal as our previous essays, so feel free to use first and second person (I, you, we, etc.), but spell out contractions (can’t, won’t, didn’t, etc. become cannot, will not, did not, etc.) and don’t be too informal.
Content
Must end at least on the fourth page (Each page that the essay is short counts as one error)
Must use an open thesis, not a closed thesis
Must address the essay assignment above
*Must include at least three reputable sources (Each source that the essay is short counts as one error)
Must quote from each source at least once
Must use an introductory quotation incorporation the first time a source is quoted
Must not include floating quotations
Must not include more than one block quotation
Must use a block quotation for quotations that run more than four lines
Must not include a block quotation that exceeds six lines
Must not include factual errors
Must not misspell words
Must not mistake similar words, such as then and than and whether and weather
Must not have any missing words, such as “The United States America”
Must not include outdated or discriminatory language, such as using mankind instead of humanity or mailman instead of mail carrier
Must capitalize all proper nouns
*Must include the Essay 3 Form after the works cited page. There is a 20 point deduction if the form is missing. It cannot be emailed separately.
Organization
The essay begins with an introduction
The introduction must include a hook
The introduction must include a thesis
Each body paragraph must include a topic sentence near the beginning
Each body paragraph must include an evidence section separate from the topic and concluding sentence
Each body paragraph must include a concluding sentence near the end
Adjoining body paragraphs must include a full-sentence transition
The essay ends with a conclusion
The conclusion must prove the thesis
The conclusion must include an unhook
Style
Must not use the words thing and stuff
Must not use concrete adjectives to modify abstract nouns, such as “big deal,” “huge success,” “hard time,” “hot topic,” “cool feature,” “a bit,” “a bunch,” “a lot,” “lots of,” “tons of,” etc.
Must not use three or more prepositional phrases in a row in a sentence
Must not use more than one phrasal verb in a paragraph
Must not use more than one passive voice sentence in a paragraph
Must not begin more that one sentence with an expletive construction in a paragraph
*Must spell out contractions (can’t, won’t, didn’t, etc. become cannot, will not, did not, etc.)
Note: you will not be penalized if your quotations don’t follow these style guidelines.
Format
Must use the Times New Roman typeface
Must use 12 point text
Must use left aligned text
Must be double spaced
Must not include extra line spaces between parts of the essay, such as between the title and the introduction or between two body paragraphs
Must use 0 point spacing before and after paragraphs (See the Paragraph menu in Microsoft Word)
Must use 1 inch margins on all sides of the essay
Must include page numbers on the top right of the essay’s header
Must include your last name before the page numbers
Must include an MLA heading on the top left of the essay’s first page, i.e. not in the header (See Sample Essay 1)
Must include a centered title after the MLA heading
Must indent the beginning of each paragraph with the Tab key
Must cite all information, quoted or not, from outside sources with MLA 9th edition in-text citations
Must include the beginning of the works cited entry either in the citation or in the cited sentence
Must include the location of the information in the citation
Must use paragraph numbers (par.) for the location of text sources without page numbers
Must use timestamps (00:00:00-00:00:00) for the location of audio and video sources
Must include an MLA 9th edition works cited page on the page after the essay ends (This page does not count toward the essay’s length)
Must include the correct MLA 9th edition works cited entry for every source cited in the essay
Must alphabetize the works cited entries
Must use hanging indentations on the works cited entries
Must quote titles of articles, chapters, webpages, videos, and episodes in the essay and the works cited page
Must italicize titles of newspapers, magazines, websites, and databases in the essay and the works cited page
Must include the publisher if it differs from the website’s title in a webpage’s works cited entry
Must include the access date if there isn’t a publication date in a webpage’s works cited entry
Must type Accessed before the access date in a webpage’s works cited entry
The essay will be on Georgia senator Jon Ossoff
