Essay Number One—You must incorporate Saul Bellow’s work
into your 750-word essay, using proper MLA citations. The
Writing Matters material will help you with this skill, but you may
need to visit the nearest ASC lab, too.
Topic: Reading
What is happening to reading? Are people reading more or less
than in the past? How important is reading? Will other media, such
as radio, TV, computers, and mobile devices make books obsolete?
What might our society lose if people read less? Note: An answer
to one or more of these questions in a single sentence becomes
your thesis statement. The body of your essay defends the thesis.
Remember that an essay must have a title, an introductory
paragraph, several paragraphs in the body of the essay, and a
concluding paragraph. You must incorporate quotes from the
required reading to earn credit for this paper, and you must
incorporate the quotes correctly, according to MLA guidelines.
The last page of your essay is the work cited page, which will list
in MLA format the Bellow text, quoted in your essay.
Note: Use the general writing guidelines as you create your drafts
and final essays for each assignment. Make sure to allow plenty of
time to write and edit your work. I do not take re-writes and grades
are final. In addition, I run all essays through Turnitin.com, so be
sure to submit only original work for this course.
General Writing Guidelines
Your essay should be double-spaced, use Times Roman, size 12
font, include a header, a heading, and a title. Your essay should be
750 words. Below, I put directions for inserting a header.
Nowhere in the paper should there be any double-double spacing.
Use the Tab key to indent and show the beginning of a new
paragraph.
Do not, for any reason other than dialogue, use second person you
in your work. For this essay, you may use first person I or third
person She or He as the point of view.
Be consistent with the tense in your paper. Do not use
contractions. Use proper capitalization. Use the spell and grammar
check in your word-processing program.
Use the works cited page example in this handout. The works cited
page should be the last page of your paper, and it should be on a
page of its own. It should include only the works that you cited in
this paper.
Save Your Paper Correctly
I cannot open any format except .doc, .docx, or .rtf. To receive
credit for this work, you must attach the essay in .doc, .docx, or .rtf
format to the Drop Box Folder.
Your essay should be saved in one of the following forms:
Last name_First name_Essay 1.doc
Example: Fisher_Tim_Essay 1.doc
Last name_First name_Essay 1.docx
Example: Franck_Hosney_Essay 1.docx
Last name_First name_Essay 1.rtf
Example: Pierre_Abed_Essay 1.rtf
Header Directions
Headers and Headings are not the same things, and your paper
requires both items. The header should be found at the top of every
page, including the works cited page, but the heading should be on
the first page only. To create a proper heading, you must follow the
directions below; otherwise, your text will shift and you will have
a mess.
A header in Word 97 is created by following this path:
View_Header/Footer_Right Justify_Type last name and then
space_click the pound sign (#) in the center blue box.
A header in Word 2003 is created by following this path:
Insert_Page number_Top of Page_Template number three_Type
your last name and space_Highlight name and page number_Right
click_ change font to Times Roman and font size to 12_Close
Header/Footer
A header/footer in Word 2010 is created by following this path:
Click on the Insert tab_Go to the 5th column labeled Header &
Footer_See options named Header, Footer, and Page number, and
click on the down arrow right next to Page Number_Click on the
first option, Top of the Page, and then click on the third option,
Plain Number 3_A number should appear at the top right corner of
your paper_Click on Close Header and Footer at the very right of
the Ribbon.
Heading Directions
A heading should be located only at the default top/left margin of
the first page, and it should include your name, class
(ENC1101_Online), number of essay (Essay One), the professor’s
name (Professor XXXX), and the date the essay is due (Month
Day, Year).