WRITING PROCESS ANALYSIS ESSAY GUIDELINES

(5% of final grade)

Rough Draft Due __________ a paper copy in class)

Final Draft Due ____________  (paper copy due in class)

The Assignment

Write an essay describing your personal writing process.  Tell your audience the steps you take to plan, write, and revise a research paper, or a piece of prose, or fiction.  What are the mental processes through which you go when preparing to write and when writing?  Include details about behaviors and activities you perform during each stage of the writing process.  What are your idiosyncrasies with regard to preparing your environment for maximum comfort and productivity when writing?  There should be some point to the description, so that the reader comes away with an insight into the process or learns from what is described.  Your attitude about the process should also be evident.  Write lively, so the reader does not trudge through your process, but is engaged and compelled to read on!

· The essay should be between 750-1000 words.

· Write in full sentences.

· Do not address the reader as “you.”

· Eliminate contractions unless they occur in quoted material.

· Do not begin sentences with conjunctions.

· Be sure to review comma usage and incorporate them into your text.

Format Guidelines

• Essays will be typed, and in 12-point Times New Roman or Courier font.
• The left margin should be 1 ½ inches.  All other borders/margins should be 1 inch.
• Double space each essay.  (Don’t worry about how many pages your essay becomes.)
• Headers should appear as those shown for the MLA example paper that is on page 321 of your Writer’s Resource handbook.    It is okay to single space name, instructor, etc.,…
• Be sure to include your surname in the pagination header.  Pagination header should be ½ inch from the top of paper and 1 inch from the right edge (flush with the right margin).
• Give your essay a meaningful title. Center the title above each essay and

Put It In Title Case

Essays will be graded for coherence, grammar, punctuation, spelling and overall writing quality.  Addressing the reader as “you” will result in a “0” for the assignment.  Rewrites for you-ing the reader will only be worth a “C,” at best, as a final grade on the essay. Review use of commas in the Writer’s Resource handbook (pp. 523-535/523-529) and use them correctly in the essay.

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HELPFUL HINTS

Get someone from outside of class to proof your essay before you type the final draft.

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To locate “you” in your papers, use the Find command listed on the hanging menu under Edit or in the 2007 Microsoft, Find is on the last tab at the far right when you have clicked on the Home tab.

To put surname and page number (pagination) in upper right-hand corner, see box below.

Pre-2007 Microsoft Word click on View in your hanging menu, then click on the Header and Footer command.  A special toolbar will open at the bottom to allow you to insert the page number.  To do so, put the cursor in header. Click on the icon (in toolbar) for page number and pagination will automatically be inserted on the page.  Use this feature, because if you type the number in, the same number will appear on each page!  You will have to type in your Surname and align the text to the upper right of the header using the align icon.  Make sure there is one space between the surname and the page number.  Use the same sized font as for the rest of the paper.  Do not put surname and page number at same level as header on left hand side.

2007 Microsoft Word Users Click on Insert tab at top. Click on Header. At bottom of pop-up window, click Edit Header. Click the Page Number tab and system will automatically insert page numbers for you.  Choose the option that allows you to place the page number in the upper-right hand corner of the page. Manually, place the mouse cursor in front of the number.  Type your surname and add a space afterward. Then, close the Header feature by clicking the Design tab and the Close command in the upper right-hand corner.