Grammar and Mechanics Usage
The following rules are expected to be followed on any draft that is collected and read by me or a peer. At this point in your educational career, you should be applying these as part of your thinking process, not as an afterthought.
For help or to look up a rule click on http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm
For first term, if you do not follow these rules, 5 points will be deducted from your assignment grade for each category of error. Second term 10 points will be deducted. Third term 15 points will be taken off, and finally, fourth quarter errors will result in a loss of 20 points.
Capitalize proper nouns, the beginning of sentences, and titles
English, and all other languages, are capitalized. Other subjects are not unless you are stating the title of the course.
Paragraphs should be indented and even first drafts need paragraphs.
A CD or book title is either italicized or underlined.
Song, poem, article, or chapter titles are enclosed in quotation marks.
Contractions use apostrophes. These are not optional.
Spell checking is not a revision step. It is part of the drafting process. You still need to proofread your work when it comes out of the printer.
Your name needs to be on your work.
Please double check that you've used the correct form of the following: there, their, and they're; loose and lose; your and you're; as well as the usage of any other word of which you are unsure.
This is the beginning of a list that will grow as we go through the year and you gain more and more editing expertise.