Paragraph A paragraph is an organized body of sentences. The minimum number of sentences is three, but usually it will contain anywhere from five to ten.

Essay An essay answers the question asked in a specified, written theme form. It has an introductory paragraph, usually three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Analytical essay form An analytical essay makes sense of the arguments presented. It answers the questions, who says what and believes/ acts a certain way.

Summary A condensed version of something. It states the main points of the piece.

Reaction It tells of your emotional feeling towards something. A Reaction Paper is a paper that tells you emotional feeling toward something.

Page A page is one side of a sheet of paper.

Paper A paper is something typed with good sentence and paragraph structure and clean of all spelling and typographical errors. It will always be at least a page in length unless I specify another minimum requirement.

Position Paper A paper that takes a specific viewpoint and defends it with evidence and documentation.

Review (Book or Film) A paper that goes beyond a summary to give an opinion backed with evidence from the work, along with suggestions to the reader/viewer. 

Evidence Information taken from a reliable source used to prove an argument.

Documentation A written way of giving sources credit in a paper. Usually in the form of a bibliography in a specific style.

Coming prepared to class This means coming to class with all necessary materials, homework and reading complete, and capable of demonstrating knowledge of the material.

Discuss Tell me from a historical or literary viewpoint what is going on and why something is important.

Describe Tell me some details (names, dates, years, sequence) and how it relates to other events.

Identify Tell me what it is and why it is significant.

Explain Tell me what the issue is.

Compare How are the items the same?

Contrast How are they different?

Analyze What is going on and what changes or improvements can be made?

Define Tell me what it is or what a word means.

Demonstrate Show me that you know the material enough to do something practical with it.

Use Being able to manipulate the material into your own words or a product.

Finished, clean piece of work It is a completed assignment that is free of grammar, typographical, and structural errors.

Speech A presentation of facts about a topic that is researched and documented. You must also be able to answer questions from your audience.

Debate A set of speeches that defend two clearly defined positions. All arguments must be researched and documented. You must also be able to answer questions from your audience.

Plagiarism Passing someone else’s work off as your own. This would include failure to cite sources, failure to use quotation marks, copying text out of a book or off the Internet, handing in a paper done by someone else, and even handing in a paper you’ve done for another class unless specifically approved by me in advance.