For your own professional development, please avoid email

messages that look like this:

hey cud u send me my grade thad b gr8

Instead:
Dr. Professor X,
Would you please send me my current grade in the class?

Thank you,
Student Y
HGP 110 Essay Exam Tips

5 paragraphs (at least)

Intro: Thesis Statement

Jared Diamond does not adequately support

his argument that agriculture is a mistake. He does
not account for the development of agriculture in
ways that diversify crops and reduce the risk of
failure and famine. He is also inconsistent in the time
frames he uses to compare hunter/gatherer and
agricultural societies. Finally, he does not account
for why people in industrialized societies today live
much longer than hunter/gatherer societies.
3 paragraphs of evidence:

1. He does not account for the development of

agriculture in ways that diversify crops and reduce the risk
of failure and famine.
Evidence

2. Inconsistent in the time frames he uses to compare

hunter/gatherer and agricultural societies.
Evidence

3. Does not account for why people in industrialized

societies today live much longer than hunter/gatherer
societies.
Evidence

Conclusion
Avoid:

The Aztecs built an empire in central Mexico. They built many

pyramids. They had a very complex religious and political system.
Before their empire they were mercenaries and labor for other
cultures. They saw an eagle with a serpent in its beak and built
their capital cities. The capital cities were Tenochtitlan and
Tlatelolco.
 As the Maya civilization began to disintegrate, the Aztecs
began to build their empire in the central highlands of Mexico, the
same region where Teotihuacan dominated more than 500 years
earlier. Like the Maya, the Aztecs constructed enormous, ornate
pyramids, developed a complex religion that was fused with the
political system, and were accomplished astronomers. However,
the Aztecs, or Mexica, or Tenocha, as they called themselves, did
not always seem destined for greatness. Before 1325, they were
an itinerant group that scratched out an existence as mercenaries
and cheap laborers for other, more established cultures.
According to legend, the Tenocha were the chosen people
of the war god Huitzilopochtli, who instructed the Tenocha to find
the place where an eagle with a serpent in its beak perched on a
cactus in the middle of a lake. This was to be the Promised Land,
the islands of Lake Texcoco, where the Aztecs built the twin
capitals of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. The legend remains a vital
part of Mexican culture and is represented on the country’s flag.
 Example: “In this essay I will talk about the rise and spread of
Islam.”

Correction: “Islam spread throughout the Middle East, Asia,

Africa and into Europe through conquest, trade and migration.”

Example: “Islam requires you to follow the five pillars of faith.”

Islam doesn’t require me (Mari Centeno) to do anything.

Correction: “Islam requires believers to follow the five pillars of

faith.”
Example: “Also, the Muslim’s version of Heaven is a paradise.”

Correction: “Like Christians, Muslims think of heaven as a

paradise.”

Example: “Israel is a strong country. They have a powerful

army.”

“Israel” is singular so it should be referred to as “it” not “they.”

Correction: “Israel is a strong country. It has a powerful

military.”

Even better: “Israel is a strong country with a powerful military.”

 It’s or Its

They’re or Their or There

Lose vs Loose

Led vs Lead