Exhibit Drafts

You cannot get a passing grade on this assignment (15% of your overall grade!) if you do not follow the requirements of the assignment. We went over these requirements in class, in my individual appointments with each of you, and they are on the blog. There are no excuses for incorrect formatting or incomplete information.

1. Have you cited your primary document at the top of each page in MLA style?

2. Have you cited a total of three secondary sources throughout your captions and included the full bibliographic entries at the bottom of your page?

3. Have you followed the description of what each paragraph should contain? This also means you should have two paragraphs in your caption, not just one.

If you DID NOT do these things, do not expect a passing grade on your draft.

General Style Comments:

These are problems that the entire class has had and that we have already covered in our previous discussions of writing strategies. I recognize it often takes a while to incorporate changes into your composition, but you must strive to eliminate these common errors. If you need more review, either contact me for a meeting or visit to the resources page on this website and go over the links I have provided for you.

1. Do not use passive voice.

2. Avoid cliches.

3. Try to be as specific as possible. Things that can help you be specific include using quotations from your primary or secondary sources to illuminate particularly inventive uses of language or insightful comments, citing dates, and naming awards or other publications by your author.

4. Write out contractions.

5. Avoid adverbs, as they are rarely used well and often make your writing less direct.

6. Revise so that you do not have prepositions at the end of your sentences.

7. This is a new one: do not use the word "interesting." It does not contribute any analysis to your caption. Delete every instance you have of this word and replace it with an observation.