This is a Gordon Rule Assignment.
What This Assignment Is NOT:
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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:
- Consider only these literary periods:
The Renaissance (Shakespeares 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)
- Choose one author’s work. You may not use authors or texts that are not assigned in the lessons.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Directions for Writing the Essay Draft:
- Follow your professor’s paper layout requirements.
- Write a thesis statement that includes the title of the literary work and the theme you chose from the list. The work is the subject of the paper, and the theme is the “point” you are making about the subject. Make sure that the theme/point is in the thesis. Don’t make your professor guess! Putting the theme in the title of your paper does not replace the requirement for putting the theme in your thesis statement.
- Make a chronological list of the quotations that support the thesis statement. (You must use quotations. Paraphrases are OK as long as you use mostly quotations and don’t forget to document the paraphrases, too.) This list is a planning step that will help ensure that your thesis is well-supported. Note the information you will need to write parenthetical citations for each quotation (see the Basic Requirements below). It’s usually best to keep the list in chronological order, discussing the text from beginning to end. As you write your draft, you can refer in later portions of the essay to something you wrote earlier in the essay if necessary. If the theme is true for the literary work in question, you will be able to see quotations throughout the text, not just in one spot.
- Create a title for your essay. It should include the theme on which you are working.
- Write an introductory paragraph for your essay. The first part of the introduction should include the author’s full name and the title of the text, properly formatted (identification). (Note: Later in the essay, you can refer to the author by last name only, but never by first name only.) Make sure you format the title of the text properly. This leading part of the paragraph should introduce and logically lead up to your thesis statement, which should end your introduction.
- Write the body paragraphs for your essay, supporting your chosen theme as it applies to the literary work. Incorporate quotations from your list as you go along, still in chronological order. The quotations are the “facts” in your essay that support your ideas. You may paraphrase, but quotations are stronger support. As you write, set up your source material (quotations and any paraphrases) well: start with a signal phrase, followed by the source material, followed by the parenthetical citation, followed by your interpretation, where you explain how the quotation or paraphrase helps support the topic sentence of the paragraph or the thesis statement. Do not go on to a new idea, new source material, or a new paragraph without providing interpretation.
- Write a concluding paragraph that brings your essay to a logical close. Don’t just repeat everything you already wrote. You can restate, but keep in mind that restating something means saying it in a complete different way. Make sure you have a real paragraph (at least two sentences), not just one sentence.
- Write a Works Cited page following MLA documentation requirements.
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2-3 pages essay
