I put Everything from the instructions to the format to the topic down below, Thank you.

Essay #1 Assignment: Directions

Getting Started

Before you really get started – really, before even reading these notes – make sure you review the assignment instructions carefully. As a reminder, you’ll find them as “pages” in our modules. These notes move forward in a more thematic direction and, hopefully, will help you if you’re finding it difficult to get started. The first papers are always the toughest, and writing about literature —analyzing and not merely summarizing—is probably new for most of you. Really, the key is to not panic, read through all the materials carefully, and to ask questions if and when you’re stuck or confused!

• Read a short story of your choice from our textbook that was NOT assigned reading for this course.
  • In other words – pick a short story from our book that we didn’t “read” together—meaning I did not provide either Norton PowerPoints or my own summaries or “lectures” to explain the stories.  I want you to do your own thinking!
  • Remember, it should be from the current edition of our anthology.  If you are using the 13th edition be sure to indicate that in your citations. The page from the text will also be different.
• The most important thing is to select a story you understand.
• If you read it and don’t feel like you’re “getting it,” you may want to move on!
• If you feel like you’re falling asleep after reading the first paragraph, you may want to move on!
• If you select a story you like, you’re more likely to write a better paper.

What Stories Tend to Work Well

It really depends on your personal tastes. Don’t just search for the shortest one! Remember, you have to be able to write a short (basic 5 paragraph essay) but substantial paper about your selection.

Some “Fan” Favorites:

• • “Cathedral,” Raymond Carver
  • “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner
  • “Shiloh,” Bobbie Ann Mason
  • “Boys and Girls,” Alice Munro
  • “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor
  • “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Eudora Welty

You are by no means limited to these stories. However, I do see them pop up a lot in student papers. Because of the nature of anthologies, the works in our book tend to classics that have been written about and studied immensely. If you look in the right places (our library databases), you should be able to find lots of good scholarly research about any of the short stories in our book. 

Research

This isn’t an extensive research paper. However, a good literary analysis often includes support from scholarly sources. You are required to find and use one piece of literary criticism to support your analysis. Literary criticism IS NOT a summary of the story. General sources, like Wikipedia, will not count as sources for this paper! Your paper must include clear, specific support from both your story and your literary criticism.  “Sparks Notes” and the like are not considered credible sources.

The best place to look for literary criticism is in our library databases. These are the same databases you used for ENC1101 and any of your other classes that require research assignments. Databases like the Artemis Literary Sources and JSTOR will prove especially helpful for this class.

You can also work with any of our librarians on campus – either in person or online through their chat feature. Of course, we have our Embedded Librarian, Ross Martin…he would be my first choice with whom you would want to reach out unless he is unavailable at the time. If you haven’t been in an English class in a while, I strongly recommend going through the library. Our library really is amazing, and our librarians have created guides for just about every type of course you’ll take here at Seminole State. They will walk you through navigating the databases, specifically the ones that are helpful for this class. You’ll also find information on books, e-books, citations, and more. Seriously, check it out – even if you’re not struggling!

Themes

Themes basically give us a point of reference – an entrance of sorts to a discussion. Think about theme in terms of how you would want to discuss the story. You can use more than one theme in your paper; however, don’t go overboard. It’s better to present a few ideas fully instead of trying to present all the ideas briefly.

Figuring out the lens (theme) you want to explore will also help you research more effectively. Think about it – if you just search for the name of the story, you’ll get hundreds of hits, many of which won’t work. Focusing on a theme allows you to narrow your search by putting in the name of the story and your theme as a keyword, for example. 

Potential Themes:

• Family
• Marriage
• Quest
• Betrayal
• Supernatural
• Sin
• Death
• Love
• Relationships (friendship, romantic, parent/child, etc.)
• Appearance vs. reality
• Greed
• Desire
• ???

Some Additional Resources

If you’re struggling or nervous, I would suggest reading Chapter 13 “Literary Analyses” pp. 94-101 from The Little Seagull Handbook 4th edition. This chapter reviews literary analyses, and I find it pretty helpful. You can also find some sample papers throughout the fiction unit in our main textbook and in chapters 30 and 31. Additionally, it can help to review a sample paper from our handbook.

One of the things that you do want to avoid is summarizing the story. Since I’ll have access to the story you’re analyzing (remember, it must be available in the current edition of our book), I’ll be able to read it on my own. Craft your discussion towards an informed audience. It’s okay to include a bit of plot and detail as needed to explain your point, but don’t spend the majority of your time summarizing the entire plot. Focus on analysis! 

One of my colleagues gifted me a sample student essay that she has found to be  helpful to students; she gave me permission to share it with my students.

Essay #1 Instructions

Assignment 

Review the “Fiction” section of our textbook, looking for a short story you find interesting.

Essay #1 is worth 20% of your total grade.

Select a short story from the “Fiction” section of the 14th  edition of The Norton Introduction to Literature (pp. 16-750).  Some of you are using the 13th edition to cut down on cost or for availability…that is okay, but page numbers are different.

You cannot write about stories that aren’t in the book in order to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. 

Write a literary analysis of the short story, focusing on two or three connected elements like point of view, theme, symbolism, character, setting, tone, style, etc.

Making a connection between two or more elements will help you broaden your discussion.

This is a fairly short paper, though, so don’t try to tackle too much!

It is important to write purposefully and avoid simply re-telling the story. In other words, do not write a plot outline or summary! This assignment is to analyze:

What is the author “saying” to the reader?

What literary techniques and conventions does he or she use to say it?

What is the “point” of the story?

Does it show us anything worthwhile about people or about life???

Research Requirement

You will need to find and use at least one piece of literary criticism from the library databases to help you support your claims.

Research must be credible, academic quality literary criticism and make sense given your

specific argument. Basic summary-style information, especially from general websites, will not satisfy the research requirement.

You must use the library databases. The most reliable databases for our class purposes are the following:

Artemis Literary Sources

Literary Reference Center Plus

JSTOR

The “Research Help” link embedded into our course (see the menu) will be super helpful here.

General Guidelines

In your introduction, you should state the title of the story being discussed and the author’s full name.

When referencing the author again, refer to them by their last name only.

Never refer to an author by only their first name.

Ever.

Although you can assume I’ve read the story (or at least can since I have access to it), do not assume I know what you’re talking about. Take the time to fully introduce your story, your thesis, and anything I would need to know to fully understand your good ideas. 

When incorporating research, reference the author of the article either by full name (good format when introducing someone important) or last name only.

Many writers opt to simply use the author’s last name when quoting/paraphrasing research findings.

Example: According to Feldman, we shouldn’t call the author by their first name because we aren’t personal friends with any of these people.

When quoting from either the story or research, make sure to introduce quotations (and summaries/paraphrases) with a signal phrase and follow with a proper in-text citation.

Standard setup: Signal phrase, “quote” (cite).

Example: If you quote from the story, “put the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis” at the end of the sentence, before the period (Feldman 12).

Titles of short stories and critical articles belong in quotation marks. Example: “The Cask of Amontillado” is a fun story about friendship.                                                                      

  Format

500-750 words

This equals approximately 2-3 pages of actual discussion(There are approximately 250 words on a page if that helps you.)

You can exceed the maximum word count as needed, but you must reach at least the minimum to be eligible for a passing grade

The word count does not include the Header and Works Cited page

Use a standard 12 point font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins

Do not attempt to play with margins, font size, etc. to make papers appear longer!

The final draft must follow MLA format

THE NORTON INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE, SHORTER 14th EDITION, pp 1994-2083 should be helpful.  

Formal Header

Include an appropriate title centered on the first line

Do not underline the title or put it in “quotation marks,” italics, or bold

The title should reflect your discussion, not the name of the assignment

Write in standard, formal English, avoiding slang and casual language

The use of the second-person perspective (“you”) is not appropriate or acceptable in this essay For this essay, third person perspective is ideal since you are making an argument.

You must include a Works Cited page listing both the short story selected and your literary criticism.

Your short story should be cited as a work in an anthology (see pp. 175 #19 Little Seagull Handbook 4th ed; if you took English 1101 recently, you should have a copy. If not, check out Purdue Owl, or any up-to-date grammar handbook. There are copies reserved at SSC LIBRARIES AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER– All Campuses. Just go to the reference desk! All, reference our textbook pp 1994-2083. I have confidence you will figure it out. If not, just email me for assistance!

Your literary criticism should be cited as a journal article accessed through a database.

You must save your paper as a Microsoft Word document

If you are using a different program, make sure to “save as” and select either .doc (or .docx) or .pdf as your file type

I cannot read any other type of file, so make sure to save correctly!

Submission Requirements

Your final paper must be submitted via the Turnitin.com dropbox by Sunday,  February 11, 11:59 ipm

The dropbox link will become available prior to the submission deadline

Review your originality report once it’s available

Papers receiving high plagiarism evaluations from Turnitin.com will not be accepted.

In certain cases, revisions will be allowed for a reduced grade

In extreme cases, plagiarized papers will be reported to Academic Affairs for further review.

Review the submission guidelines listed in your syllabus for more information

Follow the formatting guidelines carefully. Review the notes in the “Formal Essay Submission Guidelines” handout as needed

Core Assignment 

Essay #1 is a Core Assignment.

Instructions, Guidelines, & More Information

The following pages will give you all the information you need to get started on these assignments:

Essay #1 Instructions

This is a brief overview of everything you need to know about the assignment.

You’ll find specific instructions for the paper that you must know before starting.

Essay #1 Hints & Tips

This “handout” basically takes the instructions and digs a bit deeper You’ll get an idea of how to get started, what stories students tend to gravitate towards, and some information about research.

Essay #1 Example Essay

I’m including a sample student paper. It’s not a perfect paper, but it’s a nice look at what a solid literary analysis should look like. The “student” makes good use of research and the story being discussed.

I strongly suggest reading through it to get a better idea of what I’m looking for. Again, it’s not perfect, but it was a nice effort that met all the basic requirements.

Literary Criticism

To satisfy the requirements of this essay, you will need to find and use at least one piece of literary criticism about your story, so you will need to check out the library (online or personally The sample essay does a nice job using criticism.

Formal Essay Submission Guidelines

This is fairly technical document, but it is helpful to review prior to submission. HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTICE: PLENTY OF TIME HAS BEEN GIVEN TO PROPERLY PREPARE AND SUBMIT YOUR ESSAY—-use effective time management. Procrastination is the thief of time!!! It will review how to set up your paper and how to submit it to the appropriate dropbox. You are also in for a treat… this week you will be introduced to our skilled Embedded Librarian, Ross Martin, who will assist you in your research, of which he is an amazing expert!

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Below I attached on files a example essay ! Thank you 🙂  

– Graciela Cordero