Autobiographical Paper and Format Requirements

Dr. Clifton Snider Autobiographical Paper
This paper should be about how a word has been important to you in a moral sense. It must be organized around a thesis (underlined) that comes at or near the end of your first paragraph and names your word. I shouldn't have to guess what your word is. Subsequent paragraphs must have topic sentences (underlined) that support the thesis and include concrete supporting material for your topic sentences (hence, no one-sentence paragraphs). Finally, you need a conclusion.

Choose a word that has moral implications for you. Say what the word is, why it has been important in your life, what your experience has taught you about the word, and what the word has come to mean to you. Morality, what is right or wrong--what kind of conduct is right or wrong--is not necessarily a religious issue, though obviously one's religion may determine what one considers moral or immoral. If you feel you need to mention your religion, do not try to convert the reader to it. That is not the purpose of this paper! See the sample paper in the Course Packet.

If you can't think of any words, here are a few possibilities, though you are by no means limited to these: cruelty, kindness, tenderness, harshness, obedience, disobedience, loyalty, disloyalty, honesty, dishonesty, tolerance, understanding, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, love, hate, friendship, violence, duty, faithfulness, unfaithfulness, cowardice, courage, and so on. The choices are virtually limitless, but keep the focus on the morality involved in your experience and understanding of the word. Be sure to provide concrete examples to support your generalizations (that is, your thesis statement and topic sentences).

A strong warning about plagiarism: it will give you a zero the first time you do it, a course failure the second time. Remember that using anyone else's words without quotation marks, even if you give credit to your source, is plagiarism. See the section on plagiarism and cheating in the Schedule of Classes. A sobering example of the kind of trouble plagiarism can get a writer into in the world outside the university is that of Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter caught plagiarizing and otherwise lying in his stories for the Times. As Seth Mnookin writes in Newsweek ("The Times Bomb," 26 May 2003), Blair "lifted quotes, made up scenes and faked interviews" (p. 41). The result for him was the loss of his job and reputation as a reporter. The result for the New York Times has been a serious blow to its reputation as the "newspaper of record," as it has often been called. Eventually the Executive Editor, Howell Raines, and the Managing Editor, Gerald Boyd, resigned because of this scandal (see Josh Getlin's "New York Times' Top Two Editors Resign After Scandal," Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2003, A1+). If you are in any doubt about your use of sources in anything you write for this class, use quotation marks and give credit to your source.

General Rules for Paper Format

1. Never staple a paper! Write your last name with the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page, title page included, one-half-inch-margin from the top. All other margins should be one-inch. If you have sincerely and repeatedly tried to make the margins one-inch and can't, say because of an inferior program like Word, see me or write a note in pencil or on a post-it to that effect. You can create one-inch margins, even with Word, but it takes some practice unless you've done it before. Never have a separate title page, not even on the research paper.

Double-space throughout: do not single- or triple-space. Do not skip an extra line between paragraphs; no sub-headings either! See the sample pages in the MLA Handbook. Use font size 12 or at the most 14. Make sure your copy (text) is dark, not light and/or streaky.

2. All full-length papers must be typed. The rough draft must show substantial corrections, and you must have one along with the last one or two papers (not in-class paragraphs) in a regular size file folder. If you work on a computer, print out a rough draft and write corrections on it. I will not accept papers without a rough draft and the previous paper.

3. Don't put anything in the folder except the current full-length paper, its rough draft, and the last one or two papers.

4. Always have a specific title indicating the subject of the paper and catching the reader's interest. "Autobiographical Essay" is not specific enough.

5. The first page should look like the following (MLA style):

Your last name 1

Your full name, first name first

Dr. Clifton Snider [Double space all of this and everything else.]

English -- [course number]

14 February 2007 [day/month/year]

The Title of Your Paper [Center this.]

Your first paragraph starts here (indented five spaces). Continue till the end of the page. Then go on to the next page. Always double-space (do not use space and a half or triple space); do not skip extra spaces between paragraphs. Remember to proofread!

In grading, I count (1) content, (2) organization, and (3) style/ mechanics/grammar (expression is the word I use for these last three) about equally in thirds (after the first paper, of course, I go by improvement too). Remember, after the first paper, you may lose 5 points each for violating any of these format requirements. Please don't blame me if you lose points. If you don't know how to set your typewriter or computer, find out how. This is your job, not mine, but I'll try to help if I can.

Return to Top.

Home.