Guidelines and Requirements for Essay

For the first essay, you must choose one of the short stories provided in the short story readings folder. Focus on either setting, point of view, or character development.

This essay is ANALYTICAL. IT IS NOT A SUMMARY. Don’t retell the story; assume your reader has read it. Check your calendar for the due date!  Your essay should have the following components:

Your essay must have these components: (1) an introduction, (2) body, (3) conclusion, (4) thesis statement, (5) good development, (6) topic sentences, and (7) transition words. Your paper must be double-spaced, two full pages (about 600 words), and written in 12 point font. You must cite your main source (primary source), incorporate and cite 1 secondary source from the library databases, and adhere to MLA style formatting.

Your first analytical essay is based on one of the short stories listed in the Short Story Readings Folder. You’ll need to analyze setting, point of view, and/or character development.  A few words from the assigned topics may be tweaked. Just make sure you show the teacher your changes. Your essay must have these components: (1) an introduction, (2) body, (3) conclusion, (4) thesis statement, (5) good development, (6) topic sentences, and (7) transition words. Your paper must be double-spaced, two full pages (about 600 words), and written in 12 point font. You must cite your main source (primary source), and adhere to MLA style formatting. You must incorporate a minimum of ONE outside source. You similarity score on Turn-It-In should not be higher than 30%. 

You may also use any symbolism or literary dictionary, or The Literary Reference Center in Galileo to help you gain a deeper meaning of the text.

Sample thesis statements:

1. In “Title,” the symbols in the setting are used to reveal A, B, and C.

2. In “Title” the setting is used to reflect the characters.

3. In “Title,” the point of view is used to display A’s character.

4. In (title of work), (author) uses (literary device) to (accomplish, develop, illustrate, strengthen) (element of work).

25 In (title of work), (author) uses (one aspect) to (define, strengthen, illustrate) the (element of work).

GUIDELINES

Introduction (at least 5-6 sentences)

___Your introduction should be about five to six sentences long (including your thesis).

___Preferably, your thesis should have three clear points. You may have a two-point thesis, but you still need to have three body paragraphs.

___Mention the name of the author and the author’s work.

Body Paragraphs (at least 9-10 sentences)

A standard essay has three body paragraphs. YOU MUST ANALYZE SOMETHING!!DON’T SUMMARIZE!!

___Each body paragraph should start with a transition word and have a topic sentence. Most paragraphs are about nine-10 lines long.

___ All body paragraphs should have well-developed examples. Write precise, thorough examples to prove your thesis.

___Transition words (meanwhile, furthermore, therefore, finally, first, second, in conclusion)

___Topic sentences

___ You must have at least one in-text citation per body paragraph (no more than two in-text citations per body paragraph, including blended or direct with signal phrases, quotation marks, and parentheticals).

Conclusion (at 5-6 sentences)

___Your conclusion should restate the main idea of your essay in an interesting way.

  Grammar and Mechanics

___ No glaring grammar mistakes (fragments, agreement issues, verb tense shifts, run-ons, comma splices, wordiness, awkward sentence structures, no comma errors or punctuation errors, misspelled, no grammar and mechanics related errors)

___ Mature vocabulary, diction, and syntax are evident.

___ Sentence structure shows control and some variety

Audience and Tone

___ Academic papers require the use of formal language.

___ Avoid slang language (no text message language).

___Use the third person point of view (he, she, one, a person, etc.), not the first person point of view (I), or the second person point of view (you).

Works Cited Page

___You must have a works cited page.

NOTE:

Be aware that when you submit your essay to Turn-It-In, your document will be automatically checked for plagiarism. You have access to the originality reports that Turn-It-In generates for your papers, so use them to your advantage. If a report shows issues with plagiarism, you need to correct and resubmit your work before the assignment deadline.

 – YOU MUST DO RESEARCH to aid you in writing this assignment, and you must use proper MLA documentation that accurately credits your sources. You CANNOT recycle a paper from a previous class and submit it for credit. Each paper must be a newly written work. Please review the college’s plagiarism policies.

-For this assignment, a secondary source is one that discusses or analyzes your chosen story. Many academic journals contain articles that discuss short stories. You must locate your secondary sources from the library databases (such as Gale Literary Databases, Academic Search Complete, Literature Resource Center, Gale Virtual Reference Library).

Secondary sources such as Shmoop, Cliff’s Notes, SparkNotes, enotes.com, bookrags.com, 123helpme.com, Wiki anything, and exampleessays.com ARE UNACCEPTABLE. Your secondary source must come from an academic journal or published book.

NOTES AND REMINDERS:

-The turn-it-in drop box is set up to allow you to rewrite over the submissions as many times as you need to prior to the drop box close date/time to allow you to make revisions after reviewing the results it provides. If you submit an essay with plagiarism in it, your instructor will determine the consequences, which could be as much as a 0 on the assignment or dismissal from the course.

 -Primary Source:  The piece of literaure in the anthology textbook you are analyzing is your primary source.

-Secondary Sources:  The literary criticism found in the Literary Reference Center in GALILEO is the secondary source.  1 secondary source is the minimum required for this assignment.

– Use MLA FORMAT (Times New Roman 12; double spaced; 1 inch margin; heading; header with last name page number inserted using header function).

– You must use quotations from both the literature selection you are analyzing AND from one of your two secondary sources (minimum). Use correct in-text formatting. Remember that quotations must connect to your words and cannot stand alone in the essay.

– When quoting from a story, you use the author and page number in the parentheses. When quoting poetry, you must use the space/space format between lines of the poem and put the line number in the parentheses. 

 

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