The Beauty Industrys Influence on Women in Society Discussion Paper Research EssayFollow MLA 8th edition style guidelines; info on MLA can be found on the

The Beauty Industrys Influence on Women in Society Discussion Paper Research EssayFollow MLA 8th edition style guidelines; info on MLA can be found on the OWL Purdue website.Include personal info on the first page of your essay (there are no title pages in MLA). You must include: your name, your instructor’s name, the class name, and the date. You will be marked on your adherence to MLA guidelines, so take a look at the sample paper on OWL Purdue to ensure your formatting is correct.Include a header with your last name and the page number. Ex. Bradbury 1.Do not add in any extra spaces between paragraphs.Double space your entire document (including the works cited) and use Times New Roman, 12 pt. font with 1” margins throughout.Indent every new paragraph.When referencing sources in-text: book titles, journal titles, and movie titles should be in italics; chapters of books and journal articles should be in quotation marks. English 100 Guide to Essay Writing
Prewriting:
• Create an essay map to organize your ideas. Within your essay map you should have: a
working thesis statement, three supporting points, at least three pieces of evidence from
secondary sources, and three pieces of analysis (one for each point).
• Create an audience profile. Who will be reading your essay? You need to understand who
your audience is and what their needs are if you hope to write an effective essay.
Remember to consider the rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, and pathos) in relation to your
intended audience.
Title:
• You will be expected to create a two-part title for your final paper. Use the below format
to create a unique, original title.
• Indirect: Direct or Clever: Serious
• Ex. Cats in Cages: The Dangers of Keeping Lions in Captivity
• The first part of your title is meant to intrigue the reader; the second part is meant to tell
your reader what your essay topic is about.
• Do not bold, underline, italicize, or increase the size of your title.
Introductory Paragraph:
• Start with a hook statement (startling statistic, thoughtful question, bold statement,
definition). Remember to be specific and make your opening line(s) interesting – you
need to grab the attention of your reader(s)!
• You may want to include your research question (but ensure it is specific and that your
thesis is able to answer it).
• Provide necessary information (context) for your reader to understand the
relevance/significance of your argument.
• Include your thesis statement and briefly list your supporting claims in the order in which
they will appear. This is your essay map – a.k.a. a chance to show your readers what’s to
come in the following paragraphs.
• Avoid generalized statements and broad claims such as, “Society says…” or “In today’s
society…”
Thesis:
• Your thesis statement must come at the end of your introductory paragraph. It can be
more than one sentence long, but the argument must be clear.
• Don’t be afraid to use first person in asserting your thesis statement. Ex. “In this paper, I
will argue that…”
• Your thesis must be an argument (which means it must be able to be disputed). Think
about the opposing argument – if there isn’t one, it would be wise to choose another
angle. Ex. Fast food can cause a variety of health problems ? no one can argue against
this thesis.
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If you are struggling to come up with an argument, you may want to consider creating a
“for” and “against” chart. By doing so, you can consider both sides of the argument and
then decide where the strongest points lie.
Think about whether or not there will be enough textual evidence to support your point. It
is a good idea to do some general research before you settle on a thesis and begin the
writing process so that you don’t waste your time.
Ensure that your thesis statement is clear and concise; it is your main argument, and your
supporting points will be your topic sentences in the body paragraphs that follow the
introductory paragraph.
Topic Sentences:
• Each body paragraph must begin with a topic sentence. A topic sentence supports your
main argument. You cannot dive into textual evidence and analysis right away; instead,
you must introduce the idea that you will be discussing in each particular paragraph.
• Topic sentences must reinforce your thesis. Each topic sentence should have something
in common (i.e. the main theme of your thesis) so that you can easily shift from one idea
to another.
• Again, you need to consider whether or not you can support your argument (and topic
sentences) with textual evidence. If the answer is “no,” then you are speculating and this
will detract from your essay’s credibility.
Textual Evidence:
• All textual evidence must be cited correctly (review MLA requirements).
• Ensure that the textual evidence you are including is not only relevant to your arguments,
but also that it is strong (i.e. that it is the best evidence to support your point).
• Textual evidence must be accompanied by context; you cannot simply insert a quotation
into your essay. Explain who is saying it, why, when, etc. (think about the five W’s and
H). Your context can be more than one sentence, but ensure that you are not simply
summarizing the text. All you need to do is explain the context/circumstances
surrounding your textual evidence. Sometimes it is necessary to establish credibility as
well. Ex. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi discusses his desire to merge his three religions
(Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity) with several people, including spiritual leaders of the
respective religions. After encountering some resistance from the leaders about
reconciling the three religions, Pi states, “Bapu Ghandi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just
want to love God” (Martel 76).
Analysis:
• The goal of analysis is to explain how the textual evidence proves your point. Do not
simply re-phrase the quotation; instead, explain why it was chosen. How does it tie into
your topic sentence? How does it tie into your thesis?
• If you are having difficulty analyzing your textual evidence, it may be because a) your
topic sentence and/or thesis is not strong enough or, b) you have not chosen the correct
textual evidence to support your point.
• Your analysis in each paragraph must always further your argument. Ensure that you
relate everything back to your thesis.
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Do not introduce your next idea in your analysis, but provide an opportunity to lead into
it in the next topic sentence.
Ex. Pi’s concern with religion is integral in the text as he attempts to navigate through his
experiences on the lifeboat [End of paragraph].
[Topic sentence for next paragraph] Pi looks not only to religion to help him survive the
many hardships he faces on the lifeboat, however; storytelling also plays an important
role in his ability to survive and thrive on the open sea.
Concluding Paragraph:
• Do not reiterate the introduction, but do restate your argument briefly.
• Explain how and why this topic (and perspective) is important to study.
• Be self-reflexive and critical in your conclusion. This does not mean you can make
sweeping statements such as, “This topic is important because it affects many people all
over the world” or “I really enjoyed writing this essay and I learned a lot about the
dangers of eating fast food.” Address your research question again. Why are you writing
this essay? What kinds of real life implications does it have?
• You may choose to speculate about the future or call your audience to action. Try to
provide some solutions to the issue you have outlined and stress the importance of taking
action. What will happen if nothing changes?
• Remember: this is your closing argument. It is your last opportunity to address the reader
and prove your point.
Formatting:
• Follow MLA 8th edition style guidelines; info on MLA can be found on the OWL Purdue
website.
• Include personal info on the first page of your essay (there are no title pages in MLA).
You must include: your name, your instructor’s name, the class name, and the date. You
will be marked on your adherence to MLA guidelines, so take a look at the sample paper
on OWL Purdue to ensure your formatting is correct.
• Include a header with your last name and the page number. Ex. Bradbury 1.
• Do not add in any extra spaces between paragraphs.
• Double space your entire document (including the works cited) and use Times New
Roman, 12 pt. font with 1” margins throughout.
• Indent every new paragraph.
• When referencing sources in-text: book titles, journal titles, and movie titles should be in
italics; chapters of books and journal articles should be in quotation marks.
Citations:
• When providing any textual evidence, you must cite it; this rule applies to paraphrasing,
summarizing, and direct quoting. If you don’t cite, you’re plagiarizing!
• You must introduce the author(s) by their full name(s) at least once in your essay;
thereafter, refer to them only by their last name(s). If there are two authors, refer to them
as _______ and _______ (ex. Smith and Sutton); if there are more than two authors, use
the first author’s last name and include “et al.” Ex. Smith et al.
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If you begin your sentence with the author(s) name(s), you do not need to cite them in the
in-text citation – just use the page number. Ex. “Smith explains that…” (81). However, if
you are switching from one source to another and you do not specify who the author is,
you must cite the author(s) names in the in-text citation. Ex. “Smith explains that… (81).
On the other hand, some have argued that…” (Taylor et al. 96).
For shorter quotations, use quotation marks on each end. Do not include the period within
the quotation marks but rather, include it after the citation. Ex. Taylor et al. assert that,
“________________” (96).
If you are citing a source within a source (ex. If you are citing a study by Sampson in a
source written by Taylor et al., cite it as: (Sampson qtd. in Taylor et al. 96).
For longer pieces of textual evidence, you might consider using a block quotation. Block
quotations are used for citations that are longer than four lines. Use them sparingly, if at
all. If you want to include a block quotation, end your context with a colon and then, on a
new line, start your quotation. Indent the entire block quotation on by ½ an inch on the
left side. Do not include quotation marks at the start or end of the quotation, but do
include the citation. When using a block quotation, place the punctuation (period) before
the citation. See example below:
The main character learns many lessons throughout his life adventures, one of which is
the interconnectedness of the world around him:
[H]e was excited at his intuitive understanding of the camel driver’s comment:
maybe he was also learning the universal language that deals with the past and the
present of all people. “Hunches,” his mother used to call them. The boy was
beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into
the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and
we are able to know everything, because it’s all written there. (Coelho 76-77)
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Be careful about using block quotations. The goal of including sources is to choose only
the parts that are necessary to further your argument. Use a block quote only if every part
of the passage is vital to your argument. There should be no more than one block quote
per essay.
Remember, you can pick and choose pieces of a quotation to use – just include an ellipses
between the pieces. Ex. “He was learning a lot of new things…[h]e realized: If I can learn
to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world” (Coelho
46).
You must use square brackets if you are making a change to the original source (see
above example).
Works Cited:
• The works cited comes at the end of your essay, on its own page. Insert a page break to
ensure that your works cited does not somehow end up on the same page as the
concluding paragraph.
• Center the “Works Cited” title at the top of the page.
• The works cited is not part of your word count. You must include the word count after
the concluding paragraph.
• Citations on the works cited page must be listed in alphabetical order by authors’ last
names.
• Citations require hanging indents. This means that the first line is not indented, but the
following lines are. See example below:
Bryce, Carter. “Wooden Bowls and Mixing Spoons.” Essentials in the Kitchen, vol. 1, no.
2, Winter 2002, pp. 5-16.
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•
If your citation is only one line long, there is no need to indent any of it.
The above citation is an example of a journal citation, found in print. You need to
familiarize yourself with the requirements of various sources in MLA. Again, see OWL
Purdue for assistance (or see the tutors!).
To Avoid:
• Plagiarism. This includes not only the theft of words, but also the theft of ideas. You
cannot simply re-phrase someone else’s ideas. Be very careful. Remember that your
essay will be submitted to a database of papers from other sections, both new and old.
Cheating is not worth it. See me if you have questions/doubts about your citations or
content.
• Beginning a sentence with “this” or “it” – be specific! Tie each sentence to the one prior.
• Using he/she or him/her pronouns to address the author(s). Refer to them by their last
name or as “the author(s).”
• Contractions. Spell out the words properly, please.
• Passive voice. Refer back to our PowerPoint on this topic.
• Generalized and/or vague statements that do not contribute to your overall argument.
• Speaking for others. This is your paper and your paper only. Do not say things like, “We
can see…” or, “The reader can then conclude…” Also, avoid using second person
(“you”) and “one.” The only time it is acceptable to speak directly to the audience (and
use second person) is in the concluding paragraph of your paper if you are calling your
readers to action.
• Summarizing entire articles. Again, choose only the parts that are most relevant to your
argument. The bulk of your body paragraphs should be your own words. Do not rely
solely on sources to try to prove your point.
• This point relates to the one above: overuse of quotations. Remember your format (PEA
– point, evidence, analysis). Do not add in any unnecessary textual evidence just to “bulk
up” your body paragraphs.
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Overuse of the thesaurus. Only use words that you know the meaning of and ones that fit
in the context. When in doubt, plain language is best; use language/phrasing that you
know is correct.
Overuse of first person. Yes, this is your paper and you can acknowledge your
subjectivity by using first person within your paper. However, be careful not to overuse
it. Instead of saying, “I think…” or, “I believe…” simply state your point. Your reader
knows you are the one asserting that argument.
Overuse of questions. Do not ask more than one or two questions per essay (you should
really only have one research question and you may ask a question to your audience in
your concluding paragraph). Questions are only valuable to your essay if they are a)
being addressed/answered throughout the essay, or b) asking a thoughtful, rhetorical
question. Even in the aforementioned circumstances, questions can often be turned into
much stronger statements. Ex. “Are humans causing global warming?” Revised: “It is
difficult to say for certain whether human activity is the sole cause of global warming,
but there are many solutions that people around the world can be implemented to slow
the rate at which climate change is steadily increasing.”
To Remember:
• Stay within the word count!
• Again, this is your argument. Don’t simply reiterate what other authors have said. Be
original!
• It is wise to address the opposing side of your argument as it shows that you have
considered all possible viewpoints, but ensure that you are always proving why your
argument is more valid.
• Everything within your essay must be significant to your argument. State your thesis,
support it, and explain why it is important. Follow all necessary steps (as outlined in this
guide) to create a strong paper.
• Leave time for revision and editing. You should look for issues with sentence structure,
word choice, and grammar. Finish your essay before the peer editing class so that you can
get the most out of your peers’ feedback.
• Always use formal language and include transition words (i.e. moreover, additionally,
though, however, nevertheless, etc.).
Marking critiques you may find within your essay:
¶ = New paragraph
Sp = Spelling
Gram = Grammar mistake
WC = Word choice issue
Frag = Sentence Fragment
CS = Comma Splice
TS? = Missing topic sentence or confusing/vague topic sentence
Awk = Awkward word/phrasing
SS = Sentence structure issue

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