one of the stories from the instructions

“Silver Water” (Amy Bloom)
“The Kiss” (Guy de Maupassant)”
All the King’s Horses” (Kurt Vonnegut)”
A Sorrowful Woman” (Gayle Godwin)”
Eve’s Diary” (Mark Twain)”
The Story of an Hour” (Kate Chopin)”
Premium Harmony” (Stephen King)”
A Drama of Our Time” (Fernando Sorrentino)

This is the assignment handout for Essay #1, which counts 15% of the semester grade. Let me know if you have any questions – I’m glad to help. Please do not ignore these guidelines. If you do, you will probably do poorly on the assignment and might even fail it.

ASSIGNMENT:

Choose one story from the stories above (they are also posted in Week #2 – #3) and write a well-supported essay in which you explain how three elements of literature shape the story. The paper should be an organized, substantiated essay (about 3 ½ – 4 pages). Be sure to discuss all three elements: one in each body paragraph. Twenty-five points will be deducted for each missing literary element. They must be the three that you believe are most important in shaping the story. For example, youmight choose “irony” to analyze because an ironic situation greatly affects a particular character. OR you might also choose “setting” because the changes in setting reveal much about a character’spersonality or foreshadow events integral to the outcome of the story.

A. Setting (interior, exterior, interior monologue)B. Irony (situational, verbal, and/or dramatic)C. Point of view (first, third, limited, or third omniscient)D. Theme E. SymbolsF. Conflict (internal, external or both)G. Imagery (words that paint pictures, the language used)H. ToneI. Foreshadowing (you can also intertwine suspense with foreshadowing) J. Characterization (indirect/ indirect; flat/round; static/dynamic; other: behavior,
psychological)

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2. ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT
• In-text citations must include correct page numbers from the story posted in Canvas (Week #5). The only sources allowed for writing the assignment are the stories and other files in Canvas. That’s the only way I can figure out the correct page numbers. If I cannot locate the textual evidence with the page numbers you provide in your in-text citations, a zero will be recorded for the grade – no exceptions.
3. Essays must have an appropriate, original title, contain an introduction – with a brief overview or summary of the work and a narrowed thesis statement (please underline it), at least three body paragraphs that support the thesis, and an appropriate, concluding paragraph.

NOTE: This essay exam should be a serious, scholarly paper where your gut feelings and preferences play very little role. This is the time to show off your analytical skills rather than strictly your emotions. This is a formal paper, and you avoid using words like I, you,
your, me, we, us, or mine. 4. Remember that you are not summarizing the story but responding to it in a critical manner. You should include evidence or examples from the text but should not summarize or retell the story. 5. Be sure to incorporate sources correctly: use signal phrases and in-text citations. No paper will receive a passing grade without supporting textual evidence and in-text citations. You do not need a Work or Works Cited page, as all work must come from files posted in Canvas. 6. Your paper should have a definite thesis statement that defines your approach and lets readers know what will be discussed in the essay. You also should narrow the thesis to include the 3 or more ways (or reasons) that the one, main, controlling idea will be discussed throughout the paper. You should support your discussion with well-chosen textual evidence that shows and helps explain what you mean. 7. HOW TO WRITE ABOUT ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

• Checklists: The Elements of Literature. • The Elements of Fiction: The Beginning of Analysis
8. OTHER RESOURCES FOR WRITING A CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

There are many ways to craft a rhetorical analysis — but I would especially try to use ideas you’ve learned about argumentation in the files posted in Eagle Online about how to organize and write the essay:

• How to Write about Theme: Reading and Writing the Human Condition • How to Write about Imagery
• How to Write about Symbols and Archetypes in Literature
• How to Write about Diction and Tone in Literature
• Suggestions for Writing about Literature• Writing a Literary Analysis
• Textual Evidence

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• How to Write the Five Paragraph Essay• Steps in Writing the Five Paragraph Essay• “How to Introduce a Quotation• Long Quotes, Short Quotes, In-Text Citations• Sample MLA First Page• Basic Rules for MLA In-Text Citations• Major Word Blunders
9. MLA MANUSCRIPT FORMAT
• Times New Roman 12 font• Pagination in upper right corner in the header area
• Double-spacing• MLA Heading in left corner of the page – not in header area• ½ inch indent for first line of each new paragraph• No extra spaces between paragraphs or other lines• One-inch margins• Left Margin justification (no full or center Justified margins)
• See file “Sample MLA First Page.”

10. NO OUTSIDE SOURCES SHOULD BE USED IN WRITING THE ESSAY — This is your work. You do not need a Works Cited.
11. In addition to an original title, your essay should be 5 or more paragraphs that follow Aristotle’s Classical Scheme of Argumentation:

• Title (your own title – original, indicating slant or direction your paper will take – do not use the title of the story or other vague title).

• Introduction (brief summary or overview of the story providing context (who’s who, what’s what, and where) – plus a thesis statement, the last sentence in the introductory paragraph.

• Three body paragraphs with a topic sentence in each (underlined).

• Conclusion.
12. QUOTATIONSThe first thing to remember is that quotations cannot stand alone — they cannot be placed in a sentence all by themselves. You need to make each quotation a part of your paper by introducing it beforehand with a signal phrase and then commenting on it afterward. Choose your quotes judiciously.

Essays missing correct MLA document format will lose ten points.

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13. When you finish writing your essay, send the final draft to Turnitin where an OriginalityReport will be generated. Download the Report to your computer. Look it over, make changes if you want to your paper. When you are satisfied with your essay, you should upload the final copy of your essay as an attachment to Canvas, along with the Originality Report.

• You will upload two files (a third file is optional if you worked with the tutor).

• Do not upload your essay as a PDF file. You should send a Microsoft Word file to the Assignments tool – DO NOT SEND A PDF FILE (I can’t type notes in PDFs). It’s fine to upload the Originality Report as a PDF, as I don’t make notes in it.
14. UpSwing Tutoring
You are encouraged but not required to submit a draft of your essay to the tutors for extra help. Please allow 36 – 48 hours for the tutors to work with your paper. I recommend that you go to the UpSwing link posted in Week #4 to check the latest turn-around time. Five extra points will be awarded if
• You provide a copy of the tutor’s comments when you upload your paper;

• Your essay shows evidence that you’ve incorporate the tutor’s recommendations into
your final essay.

• Do not send the tutor’s recommendations if you did not incorporate them into your final paper. If you do send them and have not actually incorporate the tutor’s help into your paper, 5 points will be deducted from your paper – no exceptions.
15. ORGANIZATION OF THE ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

A. TITLE AND INTRODUCTION
The title should not repeat merely the title of the story – make it your own – it should indicate the slant or direction your paper will take. In the introduction, you should include an overview of the work and end the paragraph with a thesis statement (please underline it).The introduction should include: • The title of the short story typed in quotation marks. Example: “Eve’s Diary”
• The author • Date of publication • Anything particularly significant about the author and story. • Four to six sentences that summarize the work and provide context: the who’s
who, what’s what, and where. Do NOT assume readers have read the story.
• The thesis statement as the last sentence in the introduction.
This one sentence is the most important in your entire essay. It lets readers know up front exactly what will be discussed throughout the paper, and it also includes the three or more ways (or reasons) that the main idea will be discussed
throughout the paper.

1. STRATEGIES FOR INTRODUCTIONS
• Ask a question (either rhetorical or one that asks for an answer).• Relate an incident.• Use a striking quotation.

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• Make an historical comparison or contrast.
2. Openings to AVOID
a. Avoid a vague generality or truth. Don’t extend your reach too much with a line like Throughout human history . . . or In today’s world . . . or Nowadays . . . These are far too verbose.

b. A flat announcement. Do not write The purpose of this paper is to . . . or In this essay, . . . or I will show how . . .

c. An apology. Don’t fault your opinion or your knowledge with I’m not sure if I’m right, but . . . or I don’t know much about this, but . . . or a similar line.

B. BODY PARAGRAPHS
1. Body paragraphs make up the rationale/reasons you use to prove your thesis sentence. They develop your thesis statement. In an essay that’s understandable and interesting to readers, you must provide plenty of solid information to support your thesis statement – your claim. You need to work this information into the
body paragraphs.

2. In other words, each body paragraph states a topic sentence that supports anddevelops the paragraph, which in turn supports the thesis sentence. This one sentence is the most important statement in the body paragraph, as it lets readers know up front what will be discussed in the paragraph. The body paragraphs also should provide relevant elaboration, such as quotations and examples from the text. Choose the evidence judiciously. Is it the best you can find? Be sure it’s
convincing.

3. A paragraph may be coherent, but it is inadequate if you skimp on details. If a body paragraph lacks development, it is not complete — it does not support your
thesis statement – and you have not proved your point.

C. CONCLUSION
1. Your conclusion should artfully end your paper, rather than simply cutting the reader off abruptly. The conclusion need not be long; after all, a conclusion by definition is short. One point: new material should never be introduced in this
section.
2. Your essay should end with a closing statement that signals that you have not
simply stopped writing but have actually finished. The conclusion completes an essay, bringing it to a climax, while assuring you that the readers have understood your intention. It’s the last impression you leave with the audience.
3. Effective Conclusions
• Re-state/re-word your thesis statement (in different words).• Provide final thoughts about the connection between the literary elements and
NOTE: For full credit, all three elements of literature must be discussed. Twenty-five points will be deducted for each missing element.

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the story.• Think about how the story may have been different if the author had not focused on the literary devices you chose.

4. Conclusions to AVOID
a. A literal repeat of the introduction. Don’t simply replay your introduction – the conclusion should capture what the body paragraphs have added to the
introduction.
b. A new direction. Don’t introduce a subject different from the one your essay has been about. If you arrive at a new idea, this is probably a signal to start fresh with another thesis statement.

c. A sweeping generalization. Don’t conclude more than you reasonably canexpect from the discussion you’ve presented. For example, if your essay is about Oscar Wilde’s strategic use of irony, you cannot reasonably conclude
that all authors use irony.

d. An apology. Don’t cast doubt on your essay. Don’t say, Even though I’m no expert or This may not sound convincing, but I believe that it’s true or anything
similar. Rather, show confidence if you want to win the readers’ confidence.
16. HOW TO CITE LINES OF PROSE (SHORT STORIES, NOVELS, ESSAYS)

(Prose is ordinary writing – not poetry.)

MLA acknowledgment is made with signal phrases and in-text citations.

A. SHORT QUOTE:
When you acknowledge a quotation from a story (or essay or novel) that is four lines or
less, you should cite it with an in-text citation that acknowledges the page number.
Example: Author William Faulkner describes Miss Emily as a memorable citizen of this Southern town and provides clues about her personality with “She carried her head high enough –even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness
to reaffirm her imperviousness” (11).
In the example above, the in-citation signals that the quoted words can be found on page 11. The author’s name is already integrated into the signal phrase – there is no need to type his name again inside the in-text citation. A signal phrase indicates that something taken from a source (a quotation, summary, paraphrase, or a fact) is about to be used. Signal phrases mark the boundaries between outside source material and your own words.

RULE FOR A SHORT QUOTE: Type quotation marks around 4 or less lines from an essay (or short story or novel). Type the lines you quote exactly as they appear in the original. The end punctuation – the period – should be typed after the last parentheses –not after the last word.

B. If you are quoting five or more typed lines: You must block or indent the quotation. A block quote is made up of 4 or more lines of prose indented 10 spaces from the left

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margin, double-spaced, and introduced with a colon (not a period). The end punctuation
should be typed before the last quotation marks.
Example #1 of a Block Quote (Prose):
Faulkner ends his story with Miss Emily’s funeral:
They held the funeral on the second day, with the town coming to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bought flowers with the crayon face of her father musing profoundly above the bier and the ladies sibilant and macabre; and the very old men – some in their brushed Confederate uniforms – on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps, confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the old do, to whom all the past is not a diminishing road but, instead, a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottle-neck of the most
recent decade of years. (21)

In the example above, the in-citation lets readers know that the quoted words are on page 21 of the story posted in Canvas. The ten lines above make up a block quote. The lines are blocked – indented 10 spaces from the left margin and introduced by a colon.
Quotation marks should be omitted.

RULE FOR A BLOCK QUOTE: If you are quoting 5 or more typed lines of prose, you should omit the quotation marks and block/indent the lines 10 spaces from the left margin. A colon should be used to introduce a block quote. Type the lines you quote exactly as they appear in the original. The end punctuation – the period – should be typed before the first parentheses.

Example #2: Block Quotation (5 or More Typed Lines of Prose):

Quotations of five or more typed lines should be set off – indented 10 spaces from the left margin (not the right), introduced with a colon, with double spacing, and no
quotation marks, such as the following:

A quote of five or more typed lines should be blocked – not four or fewertyped lines BUT 5 or more lines. The lines in a blocked quote are indented
ten (10) spaces from the left margin. With long quotes, no quotation marks are used, and the in-text citation is placed after the period at the end of the quotation. There is no period placed after the in-text citation. Note, too, that a colon (not a comma) introduces the long quotation. This is a
sample of a long quote. It is important that you do not overuse long quotes.(Rosenkranz 1)
18. OTHER TIPS
A. Persuade the audience that you are an authority, and you know the subject matter well –
all of it.

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B. Do not use first person “I,” “me,” “we,” or “us” and second person “you,” “your,” and “yours” (or other forms of the word) in business and academic writing. The essay is
formal, as objective as you can make it.

C. Show that words have power. Demonstrate that your argument is
convincing, strong, powerful, and persuasive.
19. LENGTH
A. The average paragraph contains between 100 and 150 words or between 8 -12 sentences. The actual length of a paragraph depends on the complexity of your topic. Note: Very short paragraphs are often inadequately developed; they often leave the reader with a
sense of incompleteness.

AND very long paragraphs often contain irrelevant details or develop two or more topics – thus, readers may have a hard time following, sorting out, or remembering ideas. So, be
clear and focused.

B. When you’re revising your essay, re-read the paragraphs that seem very long or very short, checking them especially for clarity, focus, and development. If a paragraph wanders, cut everything from it that does not support the topic sentence. I will be looking for paragraphs with a topic sentence in each, supporting details that develop the one topic sentence in the
paragraph, and textual evidence.

20. WAYS TO IMPROVE YOU CHANCES ON THIS ESSAY

A. Avoid writing your essay in one or two writing sessions just before the deadline. Start early. Do not expect to write the essay quickly. The assignment itself is not particularly demanding, but the process is. People lead busy lives; time is limited. No matter how much time you think you will need, things generally take longer than we expect.

B. Know what you’re talking about – because if you don’t, your paper has no merit and may be only an opinion. The assignment calls for an argument – not opinions that are not backed up with evidence.

C. Use signal phrases to introduce quotations. Smoothly integrate your own views with supporting quotations (acknowledged with in-text citations). Remember that words have power. Beginning upfront, you have the potential to strengthen, distinguish, and individualize an essay.

D. After writing your rough draft, look at what you’ve written. Decide which sections you actually want to include in your paper. Pull together the various parts of your paper and organize the conclusion so that your paper becomes a unified whole. What you do not want is a collection of sections. An effective paper with unusual clear development is an organized, unified whole. Allow time for revising and editing your paper – incorporate
the suggestions from Askonline tutors.

E. Again, provide an original title – be sure it’s not vague or too general. It should indicate
the direction your paper will take – the focus of your argument.
21. Use the Spell Check and proofread your paper. While the Spell Check may not show all
errors, it’s better than nothing.

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22. Name your file as in this example: 1 Essay Steve Campos 23. HOW THE ESSAY WILL BE GRADED:
Content, Organization, Development
(Support, Order of Details, Flow) 25%
Style (Diction, Syntax, Tone) 25%

Mechanics (Punctuation, Grammar) 25% MLA Format 25% (In-text citations, textual evidence, MLA manuscript format, and requirements in the assignment handout.)
Total = 100%

24. LATE PAPER POLICY
Reader Responses 1 – 7 days late will lose 10 points. Assignments 8 – 14 days late will be penalized 20 points. No work will be accepted after 14 days. I strongly recommend that you submit your paper early to avoid personal and technical glitches.25. ACADEMIC HONESTY: All work you submit must be your own.

Plagiarism is presenting another person’s words or ideas – either accidentally or intentionally – as though they are your own. If you consult any sources, whether oral or written, copyrighted or not, you must clearly distinguish between your words and ideas (or line of thought) and theirs at all times. Academic dishonesty is broadly defined as encompassing any act that a reasonable person would perceive as either an attempt to get credit for work that was done with unacknowledged assistance or an attempt to falsify the quality or quantity of work presented in fulfillment of a course requirement. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on an exam, collusion, or plagiarism.

Collusion involves unauthorized collaboration with another person or persons in preparing written work offered for credit. Plagiarism involves but is not limited to the action of a student submitting as his or her own work a paper entirely or in part written by someone else; submitting a paper in which he or she has included without acknowledgement material by others-whether copyrighted or not, printed or recorded; or submitting a paper in which be or she has included without acknowledgement an idea or line of thought developed by others even though the exact words are not used – in sum, “revising” and/or passing off all or part(s) of someone else’s work as your own is both academically dishonest and unacceptable.

Plagiarism involves but is not limited to the action of a student submitting as his or her own work a paper entirely or in part written by someone else; submitting a paper in which he or she has included without acknowledgement material by others-whether copyrighted or not, printed or recorded; or submitting a paper in which be or she has included without acknowledgement an idea or line of thought developed by others even though the exact words are not used – insum, “revising” and/or passing off all or part(s) of someone else’s work as your own is both
academically dishonest and unacceptable.

Academic dishonesty results in a zero on the assignment. The paper cannot be rewritten, and the grade stands. After the second offense, a zero will be recorded for the

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semester grade. I will report the infraction to the Dean and strongly advise that disciplinary action be taken. If a student is found guilty of plagiarism and withdraws from the course before or after the official withdrawal date, an “F” is still recorded for the semester grade.

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