Essay length: 1,000–1,200 words (Only including the essay text itself, not references)
1. Find at least four reputable secondary sources and review them carefully. At least three of these sources should be a peer-reviewed journal article.
2. Based on the information you found in your research, as well as your own brainstorming, develop a straightforward thesis that is sufficiently limited in scope (meaning that you can do justice to it in a short essay of 1200 words max).
3. As you write, integrate information from your research. Of the six sources you located and reviewed in Step 2, choose exactly four secondary sources to use within your essay, and then add quotations and paraphrases from them. Every time you paraphrase or quote, follow these four steps to cite and integrate the source properly:
a. Introduce the source.
b. Present the research.
c. Credit the source parenthetically.
d. Discuss.
In other words, include “quotation sandwiches” and “paraphrase sandwiches” in your essay. Don’t just drop in quotations or paraphrases from sources into your essay. (Some experts call these “hit-and-run quotations,” “dropped quotations,” or “floating quotations.”)
4. Create a bibliography that lists every source you cited in your essay. (In MLA style, this page is titled “Works Cited”.)
Classification-Division Essay Topic
Reminder: In a classification essay, focus on identifying and describing types or categories for a specific purpose—and providing examples of each category or type.
Question: Identify a specific movie genre, i.e., horror. Classify and describe three well-recognized sub-genres of horror genre movies. Specifically, focus on the following three sub-genres: supernatural horror, slasher horror, and psychological horror.
Checklist for Expository Research Essay
After you have drafted your essay, use the checklist below to evaluate how well your essay meets the requirements:
• Did you use MLA guidelines to format your essay?
• Is your thesis stated in the last sentence of the first paragraph?
• Is your thesis statement a direct-list thesis statement (i.e., does it contain an essay map or preview statement, a parallel-structured short list of the main points that will support your claim)?
• Did you check that your thesis statement does not contain phrases such as “I think,” “I believe,” “This essay will be about…,” or “My essay will explain…”?
• Does each body paragraph have a topic sentence, at least two supporting points, and a non-repetitive closing sentence?
• Did you use a transitional word, phrase, or sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph? Did you use transitional words and phrases as necessary to connect sentences within your paragraphs?
• Did you integrate research from 4 reputable sources into your essay?
• Did you introduce your sources properly? Did you present your sources according to MLA formatting requirements? Did you credit your sources parenthetically? Did you discuss the quotation or paraphrase? (If you don’t understand these questions, please contact your tutor for help.)
• Does each in-text citation properly match the corresponding entry on the Works Cited or References page? Check this very carefully—remember that the first word of the citation must match the first word of the corresponding entry.
• Did you format the in-text and Works Cited or References entries correctly? Did you check each citation against an example from the Purdue OWL or another reputable up-to-date source?
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|