MUST BE ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING BOOKS READ IN CLASS;
Thomas and Beulah Rita Dove, The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams, The color master Amy Bender
MLA format
1500 words
200 points, which is 20 percent of the overall class grade
1750-word Context Essay with external and source work citation (300 points)
The foundational concept of this course posits that literature teaches us how to be human. This paper requires you to choose a text that deepened your understanding of humanity and examine how the text achieved accomplished this. It also asks that you go outside of the text itself to find support for your argument. This means you will need to do research. Schedule time to go to the library and find books, journal articles, etc. about the chosen argument. You are expected to quote at least two outside sources. For complete instructions, please see the prompt.
The focus of this assignment is on literary argument. In this assignment, you will read what other academics/critics have written about your topic and come up with your own interpretation or original insight and then use those outside sources to support your conclusions. The thesis generated in this paper should come directly from your own head and your own interpretation and understanding of the text. Think of this as an extended class discussion where a critic shares her insights and you refute, add to or build off of those insights.
To complete this assignment, you must do research. Schedule time to go to the library and find books, journal articles, etc. about your chosen topic. A fully realized paper should quote at least three sources directly as well as the text itself. If a paragraph besides the first and the last doesn’t contain a direct quote, you are probably doing too much summary.
Additionally, it is expected that the writer will reference the literary terms learned in class in his paper. It is not necessary to use all, or even more than one, of the terms used in class, but the writer must take care to illustrate that he has learned how to apply these terms where appropriate.
Please consider your audience when writing this paper. Do not overly summarize the literary work you are writing about and do not use long quotes from the work. If you find it necessary to quote an entire passage or speech, I expect your paper length will be increased by as much space as that speech or passage takes up in your paper. Because of the requirement of outside research, a works cited page will be required.
For this assignment, only third-person is acceptable. Use of second person, first person, or collective first person is wholly unacceptable, and each use will be considered a usage mistake, in addition to mechanical and format mistakes. Any form of plagiarism will result in a failing grade.
Papers turned in after the deadline will be lowered one grade. Papers will not be accepted later than one week past the deadline. No hard copies will be accepted. All work is to be turned into the dropbox in ecourseware, which utilizes plagiarism detections software. It is your responsibility to make sure you do not have any technical problems with the site before the due date of the paper. In other words, telling the instructor that you couldn’t turn in the paper because of computer problems is not an acceptable excuse.
Please see rubric on the following page for a better understanding of paper requirements.
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Excellent |
Good |
Acceptable Up to 30 points |
Unacceptable |
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Grammar, Mechanics, Usage, Formatting
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Adheres to all MLA formatting guidelines, including paragraph spacing, margin spacing, font, and header guidelines. Grammar, usage and mechanics errors are limited to fewer than one per page. |
MLA formatting errors are nominal and it is evident that attempt has been made to follow guidelines. Grammar, usage and mechanics errors are limited to fewer than three per page. |
MLA formatting errors are limited and some attempt has been made to follow guidelines. Grammar, usage and mechanics errors are limited to fewer than five per page.
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No attempt has been made to follow MLA guidelines for formatting. Grammar, usage, and mechanics errors exceed seven mistakes per page
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Structural Integrity and Argument |
Effective thesis; body flows from thesis; conclusion effectively warps up the work; transition appropriately guide the reader through the reading. Meets word count requirements. Arguments are pertinent to the topic. |
Appropriate thesis and conclusion; Body supports the thesis and conclusion; transitions sometime a little rough
Arguments are pertinent to the topic. |
Thesis statement and conclusion is present; Body lacks a clear direction; supporting evidence loosely tied to theme Arguments are not consistently pertinent, logical or supported. |
Thesis or conclusion inappropriate for the workor are not present; Supporting evidence disconnected to thesis or conclusion; work lacks structure; body seems haphazard; transition are not present Arguments not pertinent. |
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Research
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The evidence comes from threevalid sources. |
The evidence comes from twosource. |
The evidence comes from one source. Valid sources are inconsistently used. |
The evidence seldom comes from valid sources. |
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Language, Style, Voice |
Writing is academic in tone, demonstrating a clear sense of purpose and audience; writer’s voice is evident — confident and sophisticated; vocabulary and phrasing are academically appropriate, persuasive, and sophisticated without being pretentious |
Writing is generally academic in tone; writer’s voice may not be consistently persuasive but is discernible; writing demonstrates an awareness of the purpose to persuade; vocabulary in some places may be simplistic or ineffective |
Writing tends to be mechanical in tone; writer’s voice is not discernible in the essay; writing demonstrates inconsistent awareness of the purpose to persuade; vocabulary tends to be simplistic, marked by instances of informal or imprecise diction |
Writing is mechanical in tone; writer’s voice is not discernible in essay; writing demonstrates no awareness of purpose to persuade; vocabulary is simplistic and/or inappropriate |
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Total |
