This week you will write your first full paper of the semester. It should include at least one academic source and demonstrates an understanding of interpretation.
What to Read:
- Please see the Purdue OWL site regarding plagiarism. Understand when quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are needed and consider reviewing the different methods for introducing and citing your sources.
If you fail to understand and avoid what constitutes plagiarism, you will receive an automatic F for this assignment.
PAPER #1 (100 points)
Choose one short story from the selections for informal writing 3 and interpret some aspect of the story. You may compare two short stories if you wish. Please try to avoid biographies of the author and book-review type summaries of the story. Assume that your reader has read the story and that they understand what you understand, and may simply have a different interpretation of the meaning than you do.
Here are some questions to ask yourself before you turn your paper in. These address many of the common mistakes that tend to result in points being deducted. Please note that the checklist below also applies to paper 2 and the research paper, so you may wish to revisit it when submitting those assignments.
- Is my formatting correct? In Lesson One I gave you a preformatted MLA Template. Submit everything for this class in 12-point Times New Roman. Don’t put extra spaces above or below your title. Ensure that you’re changing the formatting in your document so you don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style; if you don’t know what means see here.
- Do I have a clear idea? This is an argumentative paper. You have an idea about an aspect of the story, and you’re trying to convince someone of it. If you’re writing about, say, the symbolism of the black box in “The Lottery,” then you should be able to say in a couple sentences what that symbol means. The rest of your paper is where you convince us why you think that.
- Do I have a title which reflects the unique idea of my paper?
“Essay one” is not a title. If your paper is about “The Lottery,” then you shouldn’t title your paper “The Lottery,” because that’s the title of the story. Combining them into something like “Essay One: The Lottery” also won’t cut it. Looking at your title, I should know what angle you’re taking on the story you’re covering. A good title might be “Tradition and the Black Box in ‘The Lottery’” or “The Use and Abuse of Tradition in ‘The Lottery.’” - Do I have an appropriate secondary source? Last week we practiced findinf secondary source. You can use the same secondary source you found last week, or use a different one as long as it is from an academic journal accessed through the library’s databases. Remember that for this paper and all future papers any source appearing on your Works Cited page should be cited in the essay. If you don’t know what means, ask.
- Am I avoiding unnecessary use of first person? This isn’t a personal essay, and most successful essays will avoid “I” statements. Interpreting literature is subjective by nature, so it’s understood that this is your opinion, and adding “I” statements wastes space. Ineffective: “For my first paper I chose to write about ‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson. I believe this is a story about the tyranny of tradition.” Instead just say: “Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ is a story about the tyranny of tradition. Ineffective: “I think in ‘The Lottery’ the black box symbolizes the past.” Instead just say: “The black box in ‘The Lottery’ symbolizes the past.”
Expectations:
Your paper is worth 100 points. If you receive an unsatisfactory grade on this paper, you have a chance to revise the paper next week. Most students will have much room for improvement. I will be grading your paper on the merits of a “finished” product, so the bar is very high for the first draft. I will offer suggestions for revision for all students and the choice to revise will be up to you.
- Proper MLA formatting in both the paper and the Works Cited page.
- 750 words minimum.
- One academic secondary source that either supports your interpretation or is used to contrast with your interpretation. Finding and incorporating good research is a major aspect of this class, and a major part of succeeding with this paper.
- An obvious thesis statement, organized paragraphs, clean grammar and punctuation, and no plot summary.
Lesson 4 Submission Checklist:
- Paper #1 with Works Cited page included.