Take it from an English Lit major: my best advice for essays is to use copious footnotes and ensure that you "accidentally" cite Victorian smut or pictures of animal testes rather than academic sources for one or two of the footnotes.

It adds some spice to your work, and serves as a good litmus test to see if your teacher gives a fuck about footnotes.

(Side note: I wrote an entire essay on Victorian-era smut and let me tell you that that shit's amazing.)