Urgent 4

 Short Story Explication Assignment

Take one of the short stories from the assigned reading and write a 1 to 2-page explication. DO NOT GO TO ANY OTHER WEBSITES IN ORDER “RESEARCH” YOUR SHORT STORY!   This is NOT a research assignment.

What is an Explication?

The word "explication" comes from a Latin word that means "unfolding." When you explicate a story or novel or poem, you "unfold" its meaning in an essay by interpreting or analyzing a portion of it. You can analyze a character, a single incident, symbols, point of view, structure, and so on. No explication can take into account everything that goes on in a story; the explication would be longer than the story itself. So your paper should focus on one or two elements that you think contribute to the overall meaning or purpose of the story. A good explication concentrates on details: you should quote portions of the story to show how the text supports your thesis. Then you should offer comments that show how the portion you're interpreting contributes to the story as a whole.

When writing explications about short stories, it is tempting to take on large amounts of the text or even the whole story and address sweeping themes. However, that is not the point of an explication.

Suggested Approach

1. Read the story several times, until you think you have an idea of its overall theme or thesis or meaning. Jot down notes as you read.

2.   Choose a portion of your chosen story and focus on it for your explication.  While your analysis should be confined to this portion, make sure to connect its meaning to the overall meaning of the story as well; ask "how does this passage function within the larger story?"

3.  Choose an element of the story (incident, character, style, symbol, structure, etc.) that seems to you to enhance or define the meaning as you understand it. 

Paper Length

The paper should be 1-2 pages in length; this does not include the required Works Cited page.  Papers that are less than ONE COMPLETE page may receive an automatic zero.

Title

 Include a title for your paper. "Explication of 'Young Goodman Brown'" is not enough. Give some indication of your topic (for example, "Extremism in 'Young Goodman Brown'"). Center this title on your first page.

This is NOT a Research Paper

There is no need to Google or research anything. The short story should be the only source on your Works Cited page.

MLA Format

You can find more about MLA style at the Excelsior Online Writing Lab's web page on MLA Style|8th Edition .

 

Multiple Paragraph Essay Format

·  The essay should contain multiple paragraphs.

· Each paragraph should be 4 to 5 complete sentences.

·  The essay should begin with an introduction paragraph.

· The introduction paragraph should end with a 1 sentence thesis statement.

·  Please highlight, underline, embolden, or color your thesis. It needs to be clearly visible.

·  Each body paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence and end with a clear concluding sentence.

·  Appropriate transitions should be used throughout the essay.

·  The essay should end with a concluding paragraph.

Thesis

Construct a THESIS that indicates (a) your focus, and (b) the relation of that focus to the story as a whole. A thesis represents your conclusion or opinion about the story. Thus your thesis is argumentative; it should not be an obvious point, but should be a thoughtful statement that indicates some of the complexity and depth of the story. Ask yourself: "Will my thesis illuminate for the reader some point that he/she might not have noticed at first reading?" Some examples:

A Non-Argumentative (and Therefore Bad) Thesis: "The characters in 'Young Goodman Brown' are Puritans." This thesis is not an opinion; it's a fact. Facts can't be argued, so the paper is finished before it's been started. The reader will ask, "so what?"

A Too-Vague (and Therefore Meaningless) Thesis: "'Young Goodman Brown' is about Puritanism." This statement is a little more argumentative than the one above (a story could give many different perspectives on Puritanism), but it's still primarily factual, and it gives no indication of the author's focus or opinion.

A Better Thesis: "In his story 'Young Goodman Brown,' Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the dangers of Puritan extremism about evil. Because Goodman Brown is oppressed by his belief in the power of the devil, he eventually allows this belief to overpower his faith in God."

Another Good Thesis: "In 'Young Goodman Brown,' Nathaniel Hawthorne uses light and dark imagery as a symbolic backdrop to his tale of a young man's discovery of evil in the world."

                                                                      Evidence    

Find quotations and examples in the story that support your thesis, and organize the rest of your paper around this evidence. In a paper based on the "Better Thesis" above, the reader will expect evidence that shows how Brown lets his recognition of the existence of evil destroy his conviction of the existence of good. Reading the last thesis above, the reader will expect:

(a) that the paper will examine light and dark imagery as it relates to both character and plot,

(b) that the writer will offer quotations from the text that incorporate light and dark imagery, and

(c) that the paper will conclude by showing how this imagery or symbolism contributes to the meaning of the story as a whole.

                                                                  

Conclusion

Your paper should conclude by summing up your argument so that:

(a) the reader sees that the evidence you've given does in fact support your thesis, and

(b) you offer some indication of how your focus/thesis fits into the whole of the story.

 

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

 All grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules should be observed.  Consult The Purdue OWL for help with these issues.

Other Important Advice

· Put short story titles in quotation marks.

· Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from the story. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry on your Works Cited.

· As stated above, there should only be ONE source listed on your Works Cited

· MLA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).

· DO NOT use block quotes or long quotes to fill up space in the paper.  

· Somewhere in the first paragraph of your paper, mention (do not announce) the story you are explicating by title and author.

· When you write about literature, it is best to write in the present tense:

·  "Goodman Brown goes to the forest and thinks he sees his wife there," not "Goodman Brown went to the forest and thought he saw. . ."

·  MAKE SURE YOUR PAPER IS NOT MERELY A SUMMARY OF THE PLOT OF THE STORY. I already know what happens in the stories. If you wish, you may offer an extremely brief plot summary early in your paper in order to provide background, but the majority of your paper must be analytical.

 

Writing Center:  

· Use the Online Writing Center (OWL) for assistance. 

Turnitin/ Blackboard:

· Papers should be submitted via Blackboard no later than the posted time and date.  

· Papers will be accepted up to 3 days after the due date with a 10 point deduction each day.  

· Papers more than 3 days late will not be accepted and will earn a grade of zero.

Similarity Index:  

· Because this paper requires no research, the similarity index in Turnitin should be less than 10 percent.  

· Papers submitted with a similarity index higher than 10 percent may earn a grade of zero.