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SomeguidelinesforyourwritingassignmentsFall2017.doc

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Some guidelines for your writing assignments – please print and bring to class.

Papers are to include a Title page, footnotes (if necessary), and a Bibliography, or Works Cited page. The papers are to be typed using Word with no more than 1 inch margins all around, double-space, and the font should be Times New Roman 12. Citations and bibliography are to follow the MLA Style. On the due date of each paper, please make sure to email one copy, in doc form, to [email protected] , and to hand in one hard copy as soon as you walk in to class. Should you be unable to submit your papers by due date, please make sure you send an email asking for additional time. For the Final Paper there is no extension.

Secondary Sources: Secondary Sources must be fully documented as per the standards of the Modern Language Association (MLA). Here is an example of the sources you must document: Words, ideas, sentences found in a book, a magazine, a newspaper, an article, a poem, a song, or on internet; Information learned from other people in a lecture, a conversation, or in writing. If you’re unsure of what is a good use of outside sources, check the Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Paper (7th edition), or speak to me. Wikipedia, Cliff Notes, Grade Savers, dictionary.com, and other similar non educational sources are not acceptable secondary sources for papers in this course. If you need to consult a dictionary, go to Oxford English Dictionary, online, through Queens College Library Data Base, https://library.qc.cuny.edu/research/databases.php .

Writing Samples:

Close reading of a short passage … Select a passage from … (no more than a few lines) that you find interesting and meaningful, that you’d like to explain. After the passage, indicate in parentheses the chapter and page number of the text in which the passage is found; or the Canto and Stanza number. In analyzing the passage, address the following:

1) What theme or issue is raised by the passage?

2) What you think the text is saying about this issue and why does this matter?

3) How does this passage relate to the work as a whole and how is the theme or issue in this passage raised elsewhere in the work?

4) What formal features –such as literary tropes (metaphors, similes, hyperbole, irony, rhetorical question) or literary schemes (such as alliteration, repetition, assonance) are employed to express the meaning of the passage and related passages?

The Edu links below offer you more detailed info on how to do a Close Reading:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/616/01/

http://www.up.edu/showimage/show.aspx?file=12087

http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-do-close-reading

https://www1.up.edu/learningcommons/files/literary-close-reading-guide.pdf

Write without using “I.” For example: rather than writing, “I think Jack is a thief,” write, “the text suggests Jack is a thief.” (There will be further instructions and examples in class.) Include a Work Cited or Bibliography page at the end of the paper, following MLA format. Make sure NOT to place the translator’s name in place of the author’s. The Translator’s name follows the title. Example: Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: 1. Translated by Robert M. Durling, New York, Oxford University press, 1997. Print.

Papers 1 & 2, analytic and argumentative essays on …. This is a formal thesis driven essay in which you make an argument about the text. Make your thesis debatable. Write for an informed audience. Develop your analysis in a thoughtful way. Quote short portions of the text to support what you say, and make sure to appropriately introduce and fully comment on the relevance of the passages that you quote. Include a Work Cited or Bibliography page at the end of the paper, following MLA format. (Wikipedia, Cliff Notes, and other similar non educational sources are not acceptable sources for papers in this course.)

The Final exam will consist of a number of essay questions, between 25 and 30 lines long. (Further instruction will follow on Black-Board.)

The final paper, with a research component. This is a formal thesis driven essay in which you make an argument about a theme developed in two different texts. Make your thesis debatable. Write for an informed audience. Develop your analysis in a thoughtful way. Quote short sentences of the text to support what you say, and make sure to appropriately introduce and fully comment on the relevance of the passages that you quote. Include a Work Cited or Bibliography page at the end of the paper, following MLA format. (Wikipedia, Cliff Notes, and other similar non educational sources are not acceptable sources for papers in this course.)

Further Instructions on Papers

Cover Page: Title (a title that is informative and closely relates to the topic of your paper.

General titles such as The Inferno, or The Arabian Nights, or Love, do not work well.)

Your Name

Course Number (Com Lit 101W, or, Com Lit 102, Com Lit 212, etc); course schedule

Prof. Amatulli

Date

Format:

Every page, except the first, should feature your last name and the page number in the top right hand corner, within the default margin. Paragraphs should be indented; and no longer than about six to eight lines. You should have at least two paragraphs per page. When you cite passages from the text, within your paper, enclose the passage in quotation marks; unless the passage is four lines or longer, in which case, the passage should be indented, single space, and the quotation marks removed. Use the parenthetical method for citations. When citing poetry, make sure to copy it exactly as it appears in the book you’re copying from. For example, “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to / myself in a dark work, for the straight way was lost.” (Inferno, I: 1-2). The back slash after “to” in the line above, indicates the end of a verse. If the quotation is longer, then do as follows:

In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to

Myself in a dark wood, for the straight ways was lost.

Ah, how hard a thing it is to say what that wood

Was, so savage and harsh and strong that the

Thought of it renews my fear! (Inferno, I: 1-5)

Again, at the end of each paper, include a list of Works Cited, or a Bibliography page, following the MLA (Modern Language Association) bibliographic format, even if you only cited passages from the primary text.

Organization:

1. Make sure that the first paragraph of the essay contains a precise thesis statement, which can reasonably be proven in a short paper. Make sure that your Thesis is sufficiently modified or limited so that it is a defensible statement about the text(s) under question.

Here are a few Edu links that explain how to write a good Thesis statement:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/

http://www.princetontutoring.com/blog/2013/11/whats-a-thesis-statement/

https://web.ccis.edu/offices/academicresources/writingcenter/essaywritingassistance/writingathesisstatement.aspx

http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/developing-thesis

Thesis Statements - The Writing Center(1).htm

What is a thesis(1).htm

Purdue OWL Creating a Thesis Statement.htm

What is a Thesis.docx

2. Each paragraph should develop a single main idea.

3. The topic sentence of each paragraph should relate in a clear and obvious way to the previous paragraph and to the thesis statement.

4. Make sure that each sentence relates to the one before it. Create transitions between paragraphs and between ideas in a single paragraph.

Substance:

1. Make sure not to over-generalize.

2. Cite short relevant portions of the text (followed by line or page number) to prove your points, not to summarize the text.

3. Make sure that you introduce quotations adequately. Supply the appropriate contextualizing information (Ex: who is speaking, to whom, before and after what key event, etc.). Clarify how the passage illustrates the point that you are trying to make. Make note of distinctive language, literary devices, etc., as relevant.

4. Write for an informed audience: your professor.

5. When using secondary sources, choose reliable scholarly sources (not Wikipedia or another student’s paper that appears on some college website) and be careful not to let your secondary sources make your argument for you.

Proofreading:

Proofread you essays carefully before submitting them. Look for spellings and grammatical errors. Run-on sentences, sentence fragments and comma splices are serious writing errors, which must be corrected before a paper is submitted. Further instructions of some typical grammatical mistakes, and how to correct/proofread, will be posted on Blackboard in a different document.

Work Cited or Bibliography page:

Include a list of works consulted (following correct MLA bibliographic format). Even if you only consulted the primary text, indicate that in the work Cited list. Make sure NOT to place the translator’s name in place of the author. The translator’s name follows the Title of the book which needs to be in Italics or underlined. Further explanations will follow in a separate document on Black Board.

Character Analysis. The links below provide examples of how to do a Character Analysis:

http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjf73a/char.html

https://depts.gpc.edu/gpcltc/handouts/communications/characteranalysis.pdf

http://ideonomy.mit.edu/essays/traits.html

https://www.sunydutchess.edu/assets/writcharacanalysis.pdf

http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/character1.html

http://www.iep.utm.edu/moral-ch/

These links provide examples of how to Analyze Quotations:

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Integrating_Quotes.pdf

http://slc.berkeley.edu/quote-analysis-easy-way

These links show you how to do Text Analysis:

http://www.apsu.edu/sites/apsu.edu/files/academic-support-center/