Assignment:
What This Assignment Is NOT:
- The assignment is not a plot summary of the literary work (a paraphrase of what happens or an explanation of what the text "is about"). Your paper will earn no more than 65% if you write a plot summary.
- This assignment is not a historical paper. You can refer to historical context if you think you need to for your ideas to be clear, but the main focus of the paper must be an analysis of the literature that supports your thesis statement.
- This assignment is not a research paper. You need to work with your own ideas. Do not include any sources other than the literature you are analyzing.
What This Assignment IS:
You are trying to show your professor that you know and understand the literary works about which you choose to write. You may write about the literature included in Modules 3 and 4. Additionally, you need to take what you learned in Module 2 into consideration as you write.
Table of Contents:
Paper requirements
Cut-off for uploading your work
Directions for writing the essay draft
Templates for signal phrases
Samples for parenthetical citations
Sample Works Cited entries
Requirements:
1. Consider only these literary periods:
- The Renaissance (Shakespeare?s sonnets #18, 29 and 130; ?Is This a Dagger I See before Me? from Macbeth; ?To Be or not to Be? from Hamlet)
- The Enlightenment (Tartuffe by Molière; Candide by Voltaire)
2. Choose one author'?s work. You may not use authors or texts that are not assigned in the lessons.
3. Then, choose one of the themes in the list below. Do not try to combine them. To be effective, the theme must be working throughout the text you chose in Step 2.
Themes for Essay 1 (Choose 1):
- Death
- Exploration
- Friendship
- Love
- Power
- Religion
- Wealth
- Truth
4. Write at least 2 to 3 full pages of analysis. If you don'?t reach the bottom of page 2 (following the layout requirements), your paper is not developed enough and will lose credit.
5. Do not use secondary sources. Use your own ideas and the works you are analyzing, not something you found on the Internet or anywhere else except your own head. You may use links provided for historical background, etc. However, be sure you are using only the links in the course. It?'s all too easy to go from a link on a web page in the course to a different web page outside the course. Make sure you treat those linked web pages in the course like the sources they are, with signal phrases that identify the title of the web page, quotation or paraphrase from the web page, and a parenthetical citation (use paragraph numbers for a website even if that means you have to count the paragraphs yourself). Outside sources will lower your grade.
6. Introduce all source material (quotations and paraphrases) adequately with a signal phrase rather than "dropping" them into the paper with no introduction. You should provide a signal phrase before each quotation or paraphrase, giving some context for the quotation.
7. Use parenthetical citations for all source material. Keep in mind that different genres required different information in the parenthetical citations. Follow MLA requirements for parenthetical notation as shown in the template section below.
8. MLA-style documentation requires a Works Cited. Start your Works Cited on a new page after your essay. Include all the sources you used in your essay.
9. If your professor requires an Honor Code at the end of your paper, see the syllabus for the correct wording.
Cut-Off for Uploading Your Work:
Upload the essay to the TurnItIn.Com Dropbox by the cut-off date/time. You may submit it earlier, but no extensions will be allowed except as provided for in your professor?'s policy in the syllabus. Plan your time accordingly.