English

Documented Essay Instructions

Due Date: March 31st (no exceptions)

Format: MLA.

Purpose: To demonstrate knowledge of using an outside source within a documented paper and to show integration of this source within an essay.

Topic: Write a literary analysis in which you incorporate an outside source (an article from Academic Search Complete). Your outside source must be submitted along with a Works Cited page). Your Works Cited page should be on a separate sheet of paper. This last paper is worth 15% of your overall grade. You must include a properly formatted Works Cited page. You must use in text citation from your source. Failure to include in text citation from your source and a Works Cited page will result in a grade of no higher than a 60. If you have significant grammatical errors and development problems in addition to submitting a plot summary, then a grade of no higher than a 60 will be marked on your essay. You can write your analysis on yet another short story, poem, OR a play from the anthology. You may not use a source OUTSIDE of Academic Search Complete and if you do so, then you will receive a failing grade on this assignment. Proper in text citation and a properly formatted Works Cited page is crucial to earning a passing grade on this final essay assignment.

Your paper should include the following:

 A literary thesis (three points)

 Multiple paragraphs

 Analysis supported by references to specific moments in the text, to include at least one properly cited and MLA formatted direct quotation and paraphrase (I have made many comments on papers for those who are not putting in direct quotes from the story. Essays that fail to incorporate quotes from the story will receive a grade of no higher than a C assuming there are not many grammatical errors!)

 Writing that reflects knowledge of the conventions of standard American language and the literary terminology associated with fiction.

This paper should have a thesis and a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should consist of multiple paragraphs. It should be supported with evidence from the short story and one outside source. You should be using formal, academic language, including some of the literary vocabulary you have been exposed to over the last few weeks. Finally, the paper should show that you have a good grasp of grammar, mechanics, and spelling. These are the elements that every paper, regardless of course, should have.

Thesis:

By now, you know that I require a three-point thesis and supporting paragraphs!

This is not a literary thesis: Everyday Use is the story of two sisters and a mother who do not get along with each other. The reader already knows this.

Note that this “thesis”.

 is a statement of a self-evident fact or plot-point instead of a debatable position;

 does not offer an analytical perspective on any of the concepts we associate with fiction (plot, character, setting, theme, point of view); and

 includes an incorrectly punctuated title of the story.

Like most bad thesis statements, the second statement does not answer the “So what?” question, by which I mean that it does not explain why an attentive reader should care about the fact mentioned. If the writer of this thesis statement were to offer a well-founded theory of why the members of this family do not get along, this sentence could work as a thesis.

Here is an example of a paragraph that simply does not work in a literary analysis paper:

They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and I had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. The quilts hold a special place in the history of the Johnson family, and Dee do not really deserve them.

Although this paragraph has a quotation, notice that it comes at the beginning of the paragraph (no context is provided), fails to link the quotation back to important ideas or concepts introduced in the thesis, does not include appropriate MLA parenthetical citations, and includes incorrect grammar. There is no real “moment of interpretation,” which means the writer has not done his or her job.

For this paper, you MUST include direct quotes from the story IN ADDITION to direct quotes from a source that you find in Academic Search Complete. The very first time you use a quote you must introduce it. For example, if you are discussing “Everyday Use” and you find a good source to use, then you MUST write “According to Jane Doe, “Dee’s only awareness of her heritage occurs when she joins the Black Muslim Movement” (1). Note where the quotation marks are located as well as the page number.

For the works cited page note that you must center WORKS CITED (not in caps)

Doe, Jane. “Dee’s Identity Crisis in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use”. African American

Journal, vol 6, no 6, 2014. 12-25. Academic Search Complete. Accessed 1 April.

2019.

Note the way this source is cited. Last name first, first name period. Title of the article. Name of the journal, volume number, issue number, year the article was published, the page numbers, the database, and the date the article was accessed. ALL this information must appear on the Works Cited page in the order listed above.

You may not write on a short story that we read in class. You may write on John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” (the relationship between Clarissa and her husband, the symbol of Chrysanthemums), Flannery O’Connor’s works, Zora Neale Hurston and others in the anthology.