Essay Writing and Grammar Stuff that Makes Ben go B-A-N-A-N-A-S

In no specific order:

1) Don't literally mention the class, lecture, screening, or tutorial: i.e. "In the lecture;" "The films we screened in class;" "In that tutorial with all those awkward pauses and I thought you (Ben) were about to cry." write as if your reader (me) does not know anything about the course.

2) Alphabet not Alphabets <-- this is just bananas to me.

3) I heart creative punctuation use, but you have to know the rules before you can break 'em. Picasso can throw paint on a canvas and call it a horse, because he can draw a horse.

What's this? A money, college-approved grammar and punctuation guide? You betcha! Kablam: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/GramPunct.html


4) Affect vs. Effect
• affect is a verb i.e expresses an action, event, or states of being
• effect is a noun i.e person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea

5) Don't be vague, be specific
• state why something was important for various ways
• avoid passive words like essentially, gernerall
• you are making an argument;use more assertive statements

6) "In conclusion" is bad.

7) Avoid cliches like: like the plague.

8) Don't use expressions, esecially as contractions, like etc., i.e., yadda, yadda, yadda

8) It's only ever means it is; its is possessive: its boat, its house, its car. But this doesn't matter because we are going to...

9) Avoid contractions: don't = do not; doesn't = does not

10) If you aren't confident with a term, word, or theory, contact me or bring it up in class; don't just pretend you know how to use it: Sesame Street is good for kids, oh yeah, postmodernism!

11) Don't just cram the article ideas into a single paragraph. You are already largely discussing the aricles, so mention the authors when you are discussing their ideas to prove that what you are talking has been peer-reviewed. Then provide an examples from one of the screenings

12) Do not make up terms or acronyms, or put things in quotes to express sarcasm.