FORMATTING:

 

1.              All essays must be typed in no larger than 12-point font on 8½ x 11 paper with 1” margins.  Avoid difficult to read fonts.

 

2.              Include the following information on the first page: 

 

EXAMPLE:

Your Name                                              Master Shake

Course Name                                           World/Brit Lit

My Name                                                 Laura Swartz

Today’s Date                                           October 4, 2004

Assignment                                              Essay #1

 

3.              Number each page after the first in the upper right-hand corner.  Include your last name with the page number.

 

4.              Double-space your entire paper, including block quotations and the Works Cited page.

 

5. Give your essay a title, but not one that only announces your subject (not “Toni Morrison’s Beloved” but “Connections Between Guilt and the Supernatural in Toni Morrison’s Beloved”).

 

CONTENT & COMPOSITION:

 

1.      Each essay is argumentative in nature.  Therefore, it must have:

 

· a thesis statement that concisely articulates your argumentative stance;

· specific examples from primary works (e.g., poems, novels); and

· appropriate references to secondary sources (e.g., criticism) that support your argument (Critical Essay with Research only).

 

2.    In addition, remember that your essay should be critical and analytical, not evaluative.  Avoid using:

 

· Interesting

· Good

· It seems

· I think

· All poetry (stories, plays, characters, writers, etc.)

 

                 Leave out value judgments like:

 

Peter Jackson is a brilliant director.  –or–  The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King is a great film.

 

                 in favor of critical analysis:

 

In The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson encourages connections between Tolkien’s work and Hitler’s Germany.

 

3.              Avoid broad, sweeping statements, especially in your introduction.

 

· Since the beginning of time . . .

· Women have always been oppressed.

· Life was simpler in the 1950s.

 

4.              You are responsible for spelling and typographical errors.  Proofread your essay before you submit it.  Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors are unacceptable in a final draft. 

 

 

5.              Titles of large works (like films, plays, and novels) must be italicized or underlined:

Song of Solomon

Hamlet 

 

Titles of short works (like short stories and critical articles) must be in quotation marks:

“The Yellow Wallpaper”

“Engendering Cultural Memory:  ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ as Text and Intertext.”

 

 

6.              Use the pronoun “that” to refer back to things; use the pronoun “who” to refer back to people.  For example,

 

NO:  In The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King, Aragorn is the king that will unite Middle Earth.

YES:  In The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King, Aragorn is the king who will unite Middle Earth.

 

7.              Correctly identify and spell the names of people and places:  Fortinbras not Fortbras.   

 

8.              When writing about an author, poet, critic, etc., refer to that person by his or her full name first, then by his or her last name thereafter.  For example,

 

FIRST REFERENCE:  Peter Jackson directed three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

REFERENCES AFTER THE FIRST: Jackson won an Academy Award for Best Direction for his adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King.

NO:  Peter won an Academy Award for Best Direction for his adaptation of J.R.R.’s The Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King.

 

9.              Use the present tense when writing about literature and fictional events.

 

NO:  Frodo and Sam walked through the dead marshes, while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli tracked the orcs who held Merry and Pippin captive.

YES:  Frodo and Sam walk through the dead marshes, while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli track the orcs who hold Merry and Pippin captive.

 

10.            QUOTING POETRY:  When incorporating poetry into your essays, there are two different ways you can do it.  When quoting four or more lines, use block format, and type the text exactly as it appears in the book.  If you eliminate text, indicate this by a line of spaced periods approximately the length of one complete line from the poem.

The prostitute brings Enkidu into awareness of his humanity, separating Enkidu from his animal friends.  As a consequence,

 

When [Enkidu] rose again

Looking for his friends who had gone,

He felt a strange exhaustion,

As if life had left his body.

             . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

                                       His friends

Had left him to a vast aloneness

He had never felt before.  (18)

 

When quoting less than four lines, do not use block format, and use slashes (/) to indicate line breaks.

 

The prostitute brings Enkidu into awareness of his humanity, separating Enkidu from his animal friends.  As a consequence, Enkidu feels “a vast aloneness / He had never felt before” (18).

 

When poetry includes line numbers, as Gilgamesh and Beowulf do, cite line numbers in parentheses.  Cite Hamlet by act, scene, and line numbers [e.g., Polonius concludes his lecture to Laertes by advising, “This above all:  to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man” (1.3.78-80).]

 

RESEARCH:

(NOTE:  Research and citation guidelines apply to all assignments for which you use research, not just essays!)

 

1.              All sources consulted or cited for your paper must be correctly referenced within your paper and recorded on a final Works Cited page according to MLA guidelines.  Refer to A Writer’s Reference by Diana Hacker.  You can also ask me for help with MLA citations (see Basic MLA Formats) or get help at the Writing Center.

 

2.              Quotations of four typed lines or longer must be in block format.  If you eliminate words in a quotation, use an ellipsis (. . . ) to indicate that omission.

 

According to Michael Valdez Moses, Peter Jackson clearly links 1940s fascism to the evil forces in The Lord of the Rings.  Moses argues that, while Tolkien denied “that his trilogy was an allegory of the political events of 1939-1945,”

both Isengard and Mordor, the realms of the Tolkien villains Saruman and Sauron, exhibit many features of 20th-century totalitarian states . . . Once enemies, Saruman and Sauron have become allies, though their alliance is built on the mutual recognition that the weaker must ultimately serve the stronger. Their dark kingdoms lack all individual liberties. They rule vast worker-states devoted to conquest and marked by compulsory military service and forced labor. Their orc armies consist of deformed and inhuman masses lacking relations, beliefs, traditions, and interests outside the direct control of the state.  (50)

The above source would be listed on your Works Cited page as follows:

 

Moses, Michael Valdez.  “Back to the Future.”  Reason 35.3 (July 2003):  48-58.

Parenthetical citations within your essay should match with the first part of an entry on your Works Cited page.  If I see (Gilgamesh 18), I will look for an entry beginning with Gilgamesh on the Works Cited page.

 

NOT:  Mason, Herbert.  Gilgamesh.  New York:  Mentor, 1972.

 

BUT:  Gilgamesh.  Trans. Herbert Mason.  New York:  Mentor, 1972

3.              Do not just drop a quotation into your paper (know as an orphan quotation), but introduce it and say something about it.  Introduce each critic by first and last name within the text of your essay.

 

NO:  Saruman and Sauron are fascist dictators.  “Once enemies, Saruman and Sauron have become allies, though their alliance is built on the mutual recognition that the weaker must ultimately serve the stronger” (Moses 50).

YES:  For Michael Valdez Moses, Saruman and Sauron are fascist dictators who “have become allies, though their alliance is built on the mutual recognition that the weaker must ultimately serve the stronger” (50).

 

4.              Clearly separate your own ideas from the ideas presented in your sources.  For example,

 

In The Lord of the Rings, Saruman uses technological might at the expense of the environment.  Saruman’s Isengard is a world of machinery and fire pits, fed by the trees of Fangorn Forest.  Ironically, Saruman’s defeat ultimately comes from the nature he disregards when the Ents allow the river to flood Isengard.  Michael Valdez Moses concurs, arguing that peace results only when men “relinquish their efforts to acquire power, particularly technological and economic power over nature, for their own ends” (58).

 

5.              AVOID PLAGIARISM!  If you want to use a quotation from the Moses article, you can either quote from it directly or paraphrase.  To paraphrase is to write a summary of the author’s main idea in your own words.

 

QUOTE:  Michael Valdez Moses concurs, arguing that peace results only when men “relinquish their efforts to acquire power, particularly technological and economic power over nature, for their own ends” (58).

PARAPHRASE:  Michael Valdez Moses concurs, arguing that peace results only when men respect nature and do not try to control it (58).

PLAGIARISM (no quotation marks around a direct quotation): Michael Valdez Moses concurs, arguing that peace results only when men relinquish their efforts to acquire power, particularly technological and economic power over nature, for their own ends (58).

PLAGIARISM (attempted paraphrase is too close to the actual wording):  Michael Valdez Moses concurs, arguing that peace results only when men relinquish their efforts to acquire power over nature (58).

 

GRADING RUBRIC

GENERAL CRITERIA:

ORIGINALITY:  thinking independently and creatively; expanding ideas, not simply repeating what has been read or heard.

OWNERSHIP:  evidence the writer is engaged with the text or task.

ORGANIZATION:  an effective introduction, including an adequate summary of background information upon which to base opinions or provide an understanding of the position identified in the thesis statement.

CONTENT:  is there a clear thesis (position) statement?  Does the paper hold a consistent focus on the topic?  Do the related ideas, development or validation of these ideas through personal experience, illustrations, facts and opinions, and the use of descriptive/contrastive detail support the thesis?

EXPANSION:  Evidence the writer is pushing him/herself—working at the edge of current capacity.

ON-GOING EFFORT:  evidence of appropriate time invested in the text or task.

COMMITMENT:  the writer’s involvement and effort are more than superficial.

ITERATION:  evidence the writer is consistently re-reading, re-thinking, and revising

DISCOURSE:  the formal written treatment of the subject.  The principal elements of discourse are cohesion, economy in the use of words, paragraph unity, use of references and rhetorical conventions, use of topic sentences, transitions and variations.

VOCABULARY:  language appropriate to the intended audience while avoiding jargon, slang, and inappropriate cliché(s).

MECHANICS:  spelling, punctuation and structure, neatness and physical appearance of the work and the application of the appropriate style guide

SYNTAX:  the arrangement and interaction of words in phrases to support clear understanding of the material presented.

 

Characteristics of an A Paper

· Thesis/focus—demonstrates an awareness of audience; is sophisticated, clearly established and maintained

· Organization—has a clear sense of order appropriate for the thesis

· Development—demonstrates critical thinking that is clear, logical, deep, broad, and relevant to the topic

· Syntax and diction—can have a highly sophisticated use of language that easily engages the reader; manipulates sentence length to enhance the total effect              of the essay; uses precise language that expresses complex ideas

· Research—uses sources effectively and documents accurately

·                Mechanics—contains very few errors of spelling, grammar, paragraphing or manuscript format

 

Characteristics of a B Paper

Meets all the standards of an “A” paper but not at the same level of excellence.

· Thesis/focus—is unique and intelligent, clearly established and maintained

· Organization—is logical but may not be as tightly controlled as an “A” paper

· Development—is well developed with more than adequate detail; may show depth in thinking and research

· Syntax and diction—demonstrates knowledge of complex and varied constructions and vocabulary, though not exceptional or always consistent

· Research—uses sources effectively and documents accurately

· Mechanics—may contain errors, which do not interfere with over-all effectiveness of the essay

 

Characteristics of a C Paper

An essay that otherwise might receive an “A” or “B” may receive a “C” if mechanics or research errors are distracting to the reader.

· Thesis/focus—has an apparent central idea but trite, trivial, too general, or not consistently carried through

· Organization—weak or no apparent strategy; may not be consistently fulfilled; lapses in focus or coherence

· Development—possesses limited knowledge of subject and little substance; contains weaknesses in development; failure to form conclusions or demonstrate critical thinking

· Syntax and diction—may contain incorrect or ineffective sentence structure with limited vocabulary

· Research—lacks depth in research for the topic, poorly incorporates sources, fails to document accurately, or unintentionally plagiarizes

· Mechanics—contains several significant errors which distract readers

 

Characteristics of a D* Paper

Fails to meet criteria for the assignment, including length, research, and citation requirements.

· Thesis/focus—lacks a central idea; has limited or no awareness of purpose or audience

· Organization—is random or weak

· Development—is undeveloped or developed with irrelevance

· Syntax and diction—is inappropriate, simplistic, incoherent, lacks clarity

· Research—fails to include sufficient sources for topic; demonstrates little to no effort to incorporate sources or intentionally plagiarizes

· Mechanics—contains serious problems with mechanics, which hinder the reading of the paper