Essay1AssignmentLiteraryAnalysis.docx

English 102

McCracken

Essay #1 Assignment: Literary Analysis of a Short Story

For this essay assignment, you will choose one of the following stories to analyze:

· “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

· “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston

· “Wants” by Grace Paley

· “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor

· “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich

· “Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe

· “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri

Your task is to identify a theme in the story and write an essay that analyzes how the writer explores that theme in the story through the elements of fiction (plot, character, setting, point of view, style, or symbolism). In order to focus your essay, it’s best two choose two or three elements and show how the theme is revealed through them. Your essay will ultimately make an argument about the significance or meaning of the theme in this particular story, using your chosen elements of fiction to support that argument.

We will use “Writing About Short Fiction” (pp. 21-28) from Fiction: A Pocket Anthology as a resource for this essay.

Audience: You can assume that your audience has read the story, but you need to show them how you interpret the story (what it means to you). Therefore, it is important for you to use specific examples from the story to explain and support your ideas. You will structure your body paragraphs in the PIE format—making points, illustrating them with quotations from the story, and explaining how the quotations support your points (more on PIE later).

Thesis: Bring a working thesis statement to class on Friday, October 12 for an in-class thesis workshop.

Peer Review: Bring two copies of your rough draft to class on Monday, October 15 for in-class peer review.

Requirements: This essay should be three to four pages, typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font. You must have an original title. Please follow the format included in this assignment sheet and include a Work Cited page. Your final draft is due (in a two-pocket folder with rough drafts, peer review comments, revision activity, and evaluation sheet) on Friday, October 19.

Note: Late essays will be accepted with a penalty of 5 points off per weekday. No essays will be accepted after Friday, October 26.

Your Name

English 102

Essay #1 (Final Draft)

October 19, 2018

Intriguing, Thoughtful Title

Your essays in this class should follow this format. The first word of each paragraph should be indented five spaces (you can hit the “Tab” key once). Everything in the essay should be double-spaced (including the heading). Please don’t put extra spaces between paragraphs. Remember to use 12-point font, and use a standard font like Calibri, Times New Roman, or Arial. Please don’t use fancy cursive or squiggly letters. They’re hard for me to read. Also, use only black ink.

Another thing to remember is that your essays need to use standard margins of one inch (this is what Microsoft Word is normally set at). Don’t justify the right margin; instead use the setting called “Align Left.” This will keep your essay looking nice and will ensure that all of you end up with roughly the same amount of words on a page. Insert a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin

Finally, please label the rough draft and final draft so I know which one to grade. You can put the label in parentheses next to the assignment in your heading. Feel free to print your essays on the front and back of the page to save paper. Don’t forget to submit all of the materials in a small two-pocket folder so that I can keep your papers organized.

I give you these instructions not to be picky and make your lives difficult, but rather to give you all a standard format so everyone’s essay is easy to read and looks good. Take pride in your work. Good luck!

Essay Evaluation Sheet

Name__________________________________ Date________________________

Answer these questions and turn this sheet in with your essay on Friday, October 19.

1. What is your thesis statement?

2. What is the best part of your paper? Why?

3. What part are you most concerned about? Why?

4. What did you learn from writing this essay?

Part B: Evaluation Rubric: To be filled out by the instructor.

Thesis: The thesis should identify a theme and make a clear assertion about how the theme is explored in the story. The elements of fiction (plot, character, setting, point of view, imagery, or symbolism) that you are focusing on should be identified.

____/15

PIE format: Each body paragraph should contain a clear point that supports the assertion in the thesis. The point should be your idea in your own words.

____/10

PIE format: Quotations from the story should illustrate your points.

____/10

PIE format: Explanations should develop the points and show how the illustrations support the points.

____/10

Use of quotations: Quotations and paraphrased passages should be smoothly integrated into the writing (with either signal phrases or blended quotations) and should use proper MLA documentation.

____/10

Organization: The essay should be organized in a logical manner, with transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and ideas.

____/15

Format: The essay should follow the format in the assignment sheet. The Work Cited page should follow MLA format.

____/10

Grammar and Mechanics: The sentence-level writing should be clear and without grammatical, mechanical, or spelling errors.

____/10

Peer Review: The student attended and participated in peer review on Monday, October 15.

____/10

Total = ____ /100 = _____