This week you will write your second academic paper about literature, specifically poetry. You will be writing about two authors and comparing interpretations of their work.
PAPER #2 (100 points): Poems for Comparison
This paper should be an interpretive paper which compares the use of symbol, imagery or theme in two poems of your choice, by two different poets. “Comparison” does not necessarily mean the poems are different. They may be the same. Make sure you understand how to cite poetry in an academic paper.
Technical Requirements:
- Minimum 750 words
- MLA formatting throughout, including in-text citations and a Works Cited page
- Adequately compares the interpretation of specific qualities in set of poems. Simply comparing elements is not enough; you MUST compare possible interpretations as well.
- Just like essay one, be sure you have an appropriate title and that you’re avoiding first person unless it adds something significant to your paper. Feel free to revisit the essay one guidelines in lesson four if you need refreshers on what either of those mean.
- Uses at least one critical, academic source as support for your interpretation. The same guidelines apply here for choosing secondary sources as in essay one. If you can’t find quality academic writing about your chosen poem or poet, consider citing writing about other similar poets or other types of literature from the same period or on the same topic. Everything which appears on your Works Cited page needs to be cited in the body of your essay.
- As with #1, please upload a .doc or .docx file. When I have thirty of these to do, it adds a lot of needless time when I have to go into Google Docs or take the extra steps to open a .pages document. PDFs aren’t as annoying to work with but they limit my ability to give detailed feedback.
- In general, remember to refer back to the “questions to ask yourself” in Lesson 4.
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Try to avoid doing the obvious here! If you can find sample essays online talking about how two specific poems relate to each other, then don’t write about those two poems. Take the time to come up with your own two-poem pairing rather than grabbing an example from Sparknotes.
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.
Expectations:
- Proper MLA formatting in both the paper and the Works Cited page.
- 750 word minimum (12 point Times New Roman)
- One academic, critical source to support your interpretation.
- An obvious thesis statement, organized paragraphs, clean grammar and punctuation, and no plot summary.
Lesson 8 Submission Checklist:
- Paper #2 with Works Cited page included.
- Discussion Question #7 (remember to also paste your discussion post into Word and submit to the assignments tab in Canvas).