• Your essay should have a brief Introduction (4-6 sentences) which includes a thesis statement. The thesis statement, the last statement in the Introduction, should state your main point AND tell how you will prove your main point by giving subpoints that support the main point. In this same sentence, give the author’s full name, and the title of the short story in quotations. Pretend your reader does not know what the setting/location or the time period of the story is, or what economic and social class characters represent. All of this needs to be worked in deftly and concisely in the Introduction or body of essay as it becomes relevant.
• Biographical detail about the author should only be brought in to help convey your argument. For example, Kafka’s alienation as a Jew in a Christian culture may be relevant to your discussion, but his birthday or favorite color are not.
• The body of the essay should have a number of paragraphs in which you develop and explore the evidence that supports the main assertion of the thesis. Supporting details may be examples from the text, references to scenes, dialogue, events, your ideas about these textual clues, and ideas we generated in class, or even ideas from sources. Transitions between paragraphs are important. As you move from a previous paragraph to a new paragraph, tie your new idea back into the old one. STICK TO ONE MAIN POINT PER PARAGRAPH; DEVELOP THAT ONE POINT, PROVING IT IN THE PARAGRAPH.
• You will finish your essay with a separate paragraph that provides your conclusion. The conclusion should recap your main subpoints and then show the reader the implications of your idea. Be sure to use literary terminology that we have been discussing in class—such things as “dynamic character,” “anti-hero,” “point of view,” and so on, as they are relevant to your argument.
• Sample essays that analyze a short story are in our text. Check the index for these.
• Sources: one “academic” required, but you may use more. Check the assignment in Weekly Lessons in case this number has changed. Each source must be used at least once. THE STORY ITSELF IS NOT ONE OF THE SOURCES. I ask you to use at least 4 sources, 1 of which is academic, scholarly or peer-reviewed sources, those with a reference page. You’ll find these on the library page. Please, if you use a source, introduce your use of the source’s idea by writing something like, “As one scholar suggests,” OR, “A source has argued that . . .” You can also provide a source’s idea by paraphrasing it [put the source’s idea in your words and word order but retaining the source’s idea]: The doll house portrayed early in Ibsen’s play is significant and portends Nora’s departure at the play’s conclusion (Jones 243). Don’t pretend an idea is yours that is not. Same thing goes for our ideas in class. You can refer to these ideas in the following way, “As our English 202 class discovered . . .” or, “Some might argue that . . . “ or words to that effect.
• In using your sources, take care that you do not simply follow your sources around the essay as if you are a little spaniel. Take rhetorical control of the essay. It’s your argument, and the source should be used to underscore your ideas, lend support, or provide a challenge to your ideas.
• NOTE: Please be sure to use MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page. Please also number each page. Page numbers are ½ inch down from top edge of paper. Margins are one inch all around. Look in Rules for sample essay formats. The course text also has sample essays with proper formatting.
• Choose ONE topic from below as your writing prompt for the essay, using it to develop an argument. Some questions are author-specific, while some could work for more than one of our stories. Any question you do not respond to can be used for your final essay.
• Your essay should have a brief Introduction (4-6 sentences) which includes a thesis statement. The thesis statement, the last statement in the Introduction, should state your main point AND tell how you will prove your main point by giving subpoints that support the main point. In this same sentence, give the author’s full name, and the title of the short story in quotations. Pretend your reader does not know what the setting/location or the time period of the story is, or what economic and social class characters represent. All of this needs to be worked in deftly and concisely in the Introduction or body of essay as it becomes relevant.
• Biographical detail about the author should only be brought in to help convey your argument. For example, Kafka’s alienation as a Jew in a Christian culture may be relevant to your discussion, but his birthday or favorite color are not.
• The body of the essay should have a number of paragraphs in which you develop and explore the evidence that supports the main assertion of the thesis. Supporting details may be examples from the text, references to scenes, dialogue, events, your ideas about these textual clues, and ideas we generated in class, or even ideas from sources. Transitions between paragraphs are important. As you move from a previous paragraph to a new paragraph, tie your new idea back into the old one. STICK TO ONE MAIN POINT PER PARAGRAPH; DEVELOP THAT ONE POINT, PROVING IT IN THE PARAGRAPH.
• You will finish your essay with a separate paragraph that provides your conclusion. The conclusion should recap your main subpoints and then show the reader the implications of your idea. Be sure to use literary terminology that we have been discussing in class—such things as “dynamic character,” “anti-hero,” “point of view,” and so on, as they are relevant to your argument.
• Sample essays that analyze a short story are in our text. Check the index for these.
• Sources: one “academic” required, but you may use more. Check the assignment in Weekly Lessons in case this number has changed. Each source must be used at least once. THE STORY ITSELF IS NOT ONE OF THE SOURCES. I ask you to use at least 4 sources, 1 of which is academic, scholarly or peer-reviewed sources, those with a reference page. You’ll find these on the library page. Please, if you use a source, introduce your use of the source’s idea by writing something like, “As one scholar suggests,” OR, “A source has argued that . . .” You can also provide a source’s idea by paraphrasing it [put the source’s idea in your words and word order but retaining the source’s idea]: The doll house portrayed early in Ibsen’s play is significant and portends Nora’s departure at the play’s conclusion (Jones 243). Don’t pretend an idea is yours that is not. Same thing goes for our ideas in class. You can refer to these ideas in the following way, “As our English 202 class discovered . . .” or, “Some might argue that . . . “ or words to that effect.
• In using your sources, take care that you do not simply follow your sources around the essay as if you are a little spaniel. Take rhetorical control of the essay. It’s your argument, and the source should be used to underscore your ideas, lend support, or provide a challenge to your ideas.
• NOTE: Please be sure to use MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page. Please also number each page. Page numbers are ½ inch down from top edge of paper. Margins are one inch all around. Look in Rules for sample essay formats. The course text also has sample essays with proper formatting.