Your first formal writing assignment of the semester is an informative, researched background of the criminal and crime(s) you have chosen to explore this semester. Your essay must be strictly informative. You are not trying to persuade anyone to believe anything as you write this essay; you are simply informing your audience about the background of the perpetrator, the crimes(s), the investigation, and the judicial (or other) outcome. As such, you will include only clearly established facts, not suppositions or theories about the case
You must be very careful as you compile the information for your essay. Since you will be covering a great deal of material, you must choose your details carefully. Although clear and specific details are important in an essay like this one, too many details (or insignificant details) will take you over the maximum word count for this assignment.
You will also need to decide how to approach this essay based upon the number of crimes your criminal was accused of committing. Approaching one crime will be different from approaching multiple crimes and would likely involve differing levels of detail.
Keep direct quotes to a bare minimum, 10% or less of your total word count. Only quote when absolutely necessary, and when and if you do quote, place an in-text citation directly after that quote.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Any paper lacking proper documentation for any piece of outside information will be considered plagiarized and will receive a grade of “0.”
You MUST use proper MLA Documentation (including in-text citations and a works cited page) for all outside information, regardless of whether that information is quoted, summarized, or paraphrased
Your essay must be between 1500 and 2000 words.
You must also follow these specific guidelines:
Length:
Format:
Heading:
No unnecessary use of “I” and related pronouns (me, my, mine, etc.) No 2nd person pronouns (you)
No contractions
Avoid slang / colloquialisms
Complete MLA Documentation for all outside sources 1500 – 2000 words
Introduction (Paragraph #1)
☐ Your first paragraph is an exciting introduction paragraph of five to twelve sentences, ending with your thesis statement.
☐ Your thesis statement is one to three sentences at the end of the introduction.
☐ Your thesis statement is NOT a question. It CAN be the answer to a question.
☐ If you include subtopics in your thesis, they are in the exact same order you discuss those topics in the essay.
☐ Any factual information presented in your introduction is documented with in-text citations.
Body Paragraphs
☐ Each body paragraph is focused on a single point.
☐ Each body paragraph begins with a broad topic sentence that holds all the ideas in the paragraph together.
☐ Each body paragraph includes about five to twelve sentences about the same point (for example: this person’s high school life).
☐ As you move from one paragraph to the next, you include a clear transitional word, phrase, or idea in the topic sentence.
☐ You have documented the source(s) you used for information in each body paragraph with in-text citations. You should have at least one in-text citation in each body paragraph (and probably in the introduction too).
Conclusion (Last Paragraph)
☐ You have brought all the essay ideas back together in a conclusion of five to twelve sentences.
☐ You have included absolutely NO new information in your conclusion. Be sure you do NOT introduce the outcome of the case for the first time in your conclusion.
☐ You ended your conclusion with a very broad and powerful line.