Ingredients for a Successful Paper:

There is no magic formula for an A paper, but there are a few basic categories and principles I keep in mind when grading student work. Here are the major categories, and a sense of what makes for strong or weak performance in each, ranked in order from most to least important:

Argument/Thesis:
You must have an argument, rather than just a topic. A topic is an area of inquiry (> Gk., topos, place ! an argument is an itinerary through that place, a particular chain of relate" claims that takes rea"ers from A to #. Your argument shoul" $e state" early in the paper, clearly an" concisely! it shoul" also $e comple% (that is, having multiple parts an" a"mit of more than one position. &o one 'oul" "ispute this statement()ase$all is kin" of $oring($ecause it*s inargua$ly true. +ell, okay, some people like it, $ut the statement "oesn*t len" itself to a rich argument. ,o ho' a$out this- aseball!s pastoral aspects"its lack of a game clock, its relati#e lack of mo#ement and d$namism, and its emphasis on con%uering space rather than other pla$ers"speak to its underpinnings in nineteenth&centur$ agrarian life. 'ootball, in contrast, e(presses the twentieth&centur$ ethos of industrialism with e%ual clarit$)

Evidence/Analysis:
.he engine that "rives literary critical papers is the tria" /0A12345164&/43A&A0Y,1,. 5irtually every paragraph of a goo" paper contains some version of this tria". .he claim is a simple argumentative statement! e.g., .he 7e" ,o% use e%travagant hair to signify "efiance of $ase$all tra"ition. *#idence is usually a quotation or paraphrase from the te%t! here, 'e*ll imagine a photograph of 2anny 7amire8 ne%t to .e" +illiams in the 7e" ,o% me"ia gui"e. Anal$sis "igs into the evi"ence, pulling out connections or "etails that are not apparent to casual rea"ers! e.g., )y ju%taposing +illiams an" 7amire8, 'ith 7amire8 occupying the upper left part of the page, the cover sets up a su$tle set of contrasts that "efy conventional e%pectations- $lack sits atop 'hite, "rea"s trump 9+hite Guy :aircut ;.<,* an" 7amire8*s raffish grin un"ercuts +illiams*s 9game="ay* solemnity.

Organization
4ach paragraph shoul" have e%actly one topic, an" each paragraph shoul" transition to an" from a"jacent paragraphs. 1f you fin" that your paragraphs coul" $e place" in a totally "ifferent arrangement 'ithout compromising the flo', that usually means that your argument is not, 'ell, argumentative enough- a common symptom of this pro$lem is the 'or" another in the first sentence of a paragraph. An another often signals an ar$itrary transition rather than a necessary, progressive movement through an argument. Generally speaking, paragraphs shoul" have at least three sentences $ut shoul" not, especially in a short paper, $e longer than a page. >inally, a goo" paper shoul" have an intro"uction that clearly states the argument an" orients the rea"er to the paper*s major concerns! the conclusion shoul" not $e a mere restatement of the intro"uction. .he $est conclusions a"vance avenues for further inquiry, suggest a""itional pro$lems implie" $y the argument, telescope out to e%plain 'hy the argument matters in a $roa"er conte%t, etc.

Sentence- evel:
/onsult a style manual like the +,A Handbook or The *lements of -t$le for rules regar"ing grammar an" synta%. 4ven if you have mastere" the $asics, 'riting tight, rhythmic sentences is a challenge for all 'riters at all levels. ?se strong ver$s to "rive your sentences, an" pay close attention to the 'ay su$ject=ver$ pairs sit at the center of sentence synta%. @eep constructions parallel 'henever possi$le. Avoi" nee"less repetition of 'or"s. >inally, vary sentence structure, alternating $et'een simple, compoun", an" comple% sentences.

!ormatting:
1 e%pect all papers to $e "ou$le=space" 'ith one=inch margins at top an" $ottom an" ;.AB=inch si"e margins! .imes &e' 7oman or other stan"ar" ;A=point font! num$ere" pages! an interesting an" "escriptive title at the top (not on a separate page! no quotation marks aroun" it ! your name, the course num$er, an" the "ate $et'een the title an" the $o"y of the paper. An" o$viously 1 e%pect papers to $e carefully e"ite" for correct spelling, citations, an" grammar. 7ecruit a frien", family mem$er, or classmate to help 'ith this! it*s "ifficult to proof something you*ve spent too much time 'ithC