critical analysis

Midterm Paper Instructions

I. The midterm paper will be a critical analysis of a piece of literature

a. Either a poem, short story, novel, or play/drama

b. It will analyze the piece of literature for:

i. Technical aspects and how they add to a theme or meaning

ii. Theme

iii. Meaning

iv. Note: there are myriad of examples in your text, and it is what I’ve been doing all semester.

II. Technical requirements of the paper.

a. Three (3) pages minimum

i. This means full pages of text (not three pages of paper)

ii. Times New Roman 12 font with one inch margins.

iii. Double spaced

iv. Do not place spaces between paragraphs.

b. MLA format

c. Minimum five (5) outside sources used in the body of the paper (this means quotes, summaries or paraphrase of an idea).

d. Three sources (3) must not be electronic (internet)

e. Work Cited Page:

i. All sources will be on the work cited page.

ii. Any source not quoted does not go on the page.

iii. The page will be in MLA 8th Edition format.

iv. It will be a separate page and not counted in page count.

f. Headers will be one line only.

g. First page will have your name, class, my name and the name of the paper (midterm).

h. Title one third of the way down page (all other pages will be full pages).

III. Legal Aspects of the paper.

a. This is not 1101. It is 1102 and you should be capable of writing a clean and concise paper using MLA 8th Edition.

b. The paper you will hand in will be a final draft. There will not be any revisions or make ups so take action accordingly—turn in only your best work.

c. Make sure you have a concise thesis statement, topic sentences, the paper is focused and your argument flows toward an ending point, (your argument) has an introduction, conclusion, correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

d. Late papers will be docked five (5) points per class-day late.

e. All papers will be uploaded to Canvas. Failure to do so before the paper is turned in will be thirty (30) points off the final mark.

f. Plagiarism

i. You are responsible for knowing what this means (check syllabus and university web site).

ii. If a paper is plagiarized it will be given a zero (0) with no appeal.

1. If you or someone else comes in and attempts to appeal the grade, I will give you an F for the class.

2. Note: I reserve the right to report you to the department head who will take action accordingly.

g. A cut and paste paper (where a paper is mostly quotes etc.) will be marked accordingly.