Printable Copy of Draft III Grading Requirements for Literary Thesis Term Paper (4-10) (Return to "Term Paper" page.)
   
You will be graded on these actual requirements, step by step.  Each of the five sections is worth 20% of your paper's grade, or up to 4 points.
You are expected to meet all of the requirements in a section to get all four points in that section.
I start the grading with 20 points and then subtract points in each section for problems (but never more than 4 points in a section).

1.    CONTENTS: Are the contents as follows?  

• Interpret using one main argument, a main interpretive system or idea that you can quote from legitimate academic sources, and several sections showing supportive reasons why your interpretation is sensible.  State it in the intro and conc.  Throughout your paper, sound logical, balanced, and academic.  Imagine & explain it all to an audience of intelligent students not in this course.  Use clear, sensible reasoning.
    

• Develop 3200+ w. min. (10-12+ full--not partly--typed pages). You may write 1 large paper or 2-3 smaller, shorter ones, as long as the total is 3200+ w. (bib. counts as part of the 3200 w.).  (If you do 2-3 shorter pprs., you still must meet the required minimum numbers of paragraphs and quotations, and you must have a separate bibliography of two sources for each--with all three types of required sources, as below, shown somewhere in the bibliographies.)

• No scriptural stories: interpretation of scriptural stories is not allowed.  (There are a several reasons why.  First, people tend to try to prove or disprove the truth of scripture, but this is not the point of an interpretive thesis, which merely offers an alternative way of seeing a story.  Second, people tend to try to argue the reality of scripture, whereas that is not the point of this course--the point is to see mythic elements in scripture, regardless of its reality or lack of it.  Third, people tend to try to use a belief about scripture, rather than taking an outside theory and logically applying it, step by step.)
   

2a.   SUPPORTING DETAILS: Are the details as follows for your paper?   

·   Intro and Conc.: two strong quotations – one in each.
·   Each section: average of 2+ quotes per page (e.g., one page may have 1 quotation if the next has 3), mostly from literature you discuss.  (2+ paraphrases may replace 1 quote.)  You must also have min. 1+ quote from your theory/comparison source (e.g., from Campbell) in the first paragraph of each body section.
·   All quotes: all quotes meeting mins. above must be substantial (not 2-3 w.).
·   3+ sources: (1) your lit reading, (2) Campbell or another source of theory, & (3) one other academic source (see below).  (You must use Campbell's Hero or another source describing your theory.)  For "(3)," find an additional outside source(s) as backup for what you are saying, but they can ONLY be a history or other background of the author, background about a period of time, or background about an interpretive theory: please do not use Q's from official literary interpretations the author or literature you have chosen.  Also, please do not use literary interpretations by professional interpreters/reviewers--instead, use your own interpretations and avoid others' interpretations/reviews. 

·   Backup sources should be serious academic library/book/journal resources: no religion’s scripture counts, even if you use it for comparison/contrast (because one can prove almost anything from scripture, and it is not considered a purely academic source).  No dictionaries or general encyclopedias are allowed, either, like Wikipedia (except Britannica is okay).  However, subject dictionaries and subject encyclopedias are okay (e.g., Encyclopedia of Literature, etc.), as are histories, autobiographies, and biographies.  Campbell & additional general theory/textbooks are just fine.           

·   2-3 bibliographies and 3 types of sources:  If you write 2-3 shorter papers, then you must have 2-3 separate bibliographies, each with 2+ sources: your lit reading and a source of theory.  In addition, one of them MUST have a third source as described just above in "(3)."
  

2b. WORKS CITED: Use an official, separate-page, double-spaced, alphabetized, MLA "Works Cited" page.  Make it using "NoodleTools" (1^st-time password—"Research") or "Citation Machine": see http://depts.inverhills.edu/English/research.htm (or use a grammar handbook or www.onlinegrammar.org.)  If you have 2-3 papers, use 2-3 separate bibliographies.                     

3.      ORGANIZATION: Does the organization have these parts? (See all below.)
          
·        Title: Make it original, centered, and not the type of ppr. or reading title.    
·        Introduction: Only 1 parag. under 200 w.  (Subtitle optional).
·        Summary: After intro., before body.1 parag. 100-200 w. Undr. Subt.
·        Body: Original Subtitles + topic sentences, & 4 parags. min. per section.
·        Conclusion: Only 1 parag. under 200 w.  Underlined Subtitle.  

4.      UNITS OF IDEAS/PARAGRAPHS: Are idea units/parags. well formed?

·       Does each major body sect. start w/1+ parags. explaining theory from source?

·       Are major ideas organized using one or more full paragraphs?  

·       Logic, clarity, and flow: Are major idea units logically ordered, are they introduced and concluded clearly and succinctly, and do they flow well from one to another using transitions?

·       Are there 4+ paragraphs in every body section, with each paragraph at least 2 sentences long but less than 200 words in length?  

·       Each paragraph’s topic sents. & concl. sents.: Does each paragraph start with a topic sentence stating the paragraph’s purpose/content, and end with a concl. sent.—its outcome or point? To do this, add to the 1^st & last sentence of each paragraph a key word or phrase from the Subtitle of its body section.

·      Avoid starting or ending a paragraph with a quotation!   

5.      PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE: Have you edited and printed well?

     5a. MECHANICS (grammar, spelling, punct.):
    

     Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  Especially watch these:

·      “You/your” & “I/my/me/mine”: change/delete, except if in “quotes.”

·     Present tense: Keep to the same verb tense as consistently as reasonably possible.  Generally when writing about literature, you use the present tense to describe what the author is saying: e.g., “In Hamlet, Shakespeare is arguing about the soul.  In Hamlet’s opening stanzas, for example, Shakespeare shows him questioning deep personal meanings.  Hamlet says, “….’”

·     Topic sents.: The 1^st sent. of each main body sect. must sum up whole section.

·     Quote correctly: Lastname says comma "Quotation" (page) period:
Smith says,  "Find  freedom"  (16).  OR  According to Jones,  "Can we be free"  (17)?
OR  The character exclaims,  “Don’t go”  (Smith 16)!   Don’t use author’s name twice.

·     Leaving words out: mid-sent., 4 spaces & 3 dots: “Xxx.    .. .    .. .         ...         xxx.”  End of sent., 3 spaces, a period, & 3 dots: “xxx. .    .. .      ...         ..” or “xxx.     .. .       .. .       ..” (6).  Begin. of sent., Tolkien says that “a fine time was had by all” or Tolkien says, “[A] fine time was had by all.”   

·     Sandwich quotes with lead-in and lead-out explanatory or "point is" sents.

·     Don’t start/end parag. with a quote. Use summary sents. (indented "Q" end OK).

    5b. PRINTING: Have you typed the manuscript formally for academics and/or professionals, according to the following standards?   
     

·     Use Word to type. AVOID MSWorks (as its final drafts get format problems)!  Buy Word cheap: see “Microsoft Promo” at bottom of www.inverhillsbookstore.com.

·     Margins: 1" margins equal on both sides, and about equal top & bottom

·     No Extra-Large Bottom Margins: in Word, highlight whole ppr., right click, click on “Paragraph,” click on “Line & Pg. Breaks,” & uncheck all boxes.

·     Page #s: Use MS Word number system: “Insert” numbers on right of page.  Place the p. # inside the margin.  Do not hand type it before/after the margin.)

·     Page breaks: At beginning of bib. or 2nd ppr., use "Insert/Break/Page Break."

·     True Double Spacing: 15-20 double-spaced lines per every 6".

·     Parag. & subtitle spacing: parags. w/1^st-line indent 8-10 spaces.  No extra line spaces between parags. or around subtitles (just double space throughout).

·     Bibliography: Separate page titled “Works Cited.”.Alphabetize. Double space in, before, & after each entry.  Use “hanging” indents (not parag. indents or numbering)—mark the bib. & go to "Format/ Paragraph/Special/Hanging."

·     Indent all quotes over 4 normal lines by 1" (not ½") on left (not on right)—twice as much as the indent before a paragraph--and double space consistently.

·     Subtitles: Underlined alone on line; no bold, italics, or “:”; even w/left marg.

·     Paper: 20# bond (standard printer paper--this sheet of paper is 20# bond);

·     Style of Print: clean, dark, ragged-right, letter-quality, 12-point font (like this sheet); Times New Roman (like this sheet), CG Times, Ariel, or Garamond