I have three assignment and one essay

Project Text Essay Spring 2015 Professor Batty

Project Text Essay

All cultures throughout human history have created stories of monsters that terrorize and haunt our imaginations. These entities take a variety of shapes and sizes, from the uncanny monsters that deceptively appear human, to grotesque creatures that evoke disgust, to beings that take no corporeal form. With such a broad range of beings, it is rather difficult to accurately define this term “monster”.

For this essay, you will be assigned a monster novel. Your task is to define what is monstrous, or scary, in this text. These monsters scare us for a variety of reasons. What is it about the monster that frightens us? What fear or anxiety does it provoke within us? This may be an old fear that reaches back into history. Think about why it is important to discuss this fear. Through the appearance or actions of this monstrous being, what message does the novel send?

Frame your argument/interpretation about this novel within a conversation. What have other literary scholars said about this novel? After doing extensive research on your novel using the library and library databases, you will need to decide which texts you agree or disagree with. These views will help you to form your own thesis. Perhaps you may disagree with someone's interpretation of the novel's monster. Or you may agree with her interpretation, but you may have more supporting evidence. Or you may agree and disagree simultaneously, while leaning more to one side.

Novels: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Proposal: Your proposal is an opportunity for you to clearly and concisely state what you will argue in your essay. You should use the future verb tense “I WILL argue,” to show that these are ideas you plan on exploring further in your essay. State your argument/interpretation of the novel. What is monstrous? What fears or anxieties does this novel evoke? What message does this novel send? Typed, MLA format, 250 words.

Annotated Bibliography: For this assignment you will need to do research on your novel and create an annotated bibliography. Your objective in your research is to find out what other scholars have said about your novel. What arguments/interpretations have people had about this novel? What fears or anxieties have others discussed in regards to this novel? How do these interpretations match up with yours? You may also look at scholarly essays that discuss this kind of monster in other contexts (example: vampires in other books, movies, etc.). For each source, you will need to include: bibliographic information for the

Project Text Essay Spring 2015 Professor Batty

source, summary of source (50 words/entry), evaluation of source (50 words/entry), and a description of how you will use source (50 words/entry). You should include four or more sources, 150 words for each source. Typed MLA format

Outline: The purpose of this assignment is for you to begin brainstorming and organizing your ideas. Please use roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.) to indicate paragraphs, and letters (A, B, C, etc.) to indicate supporting ideas, quotes, etc. Your introduction should contain your thesis statement. Your sentences do not need to be very long, nor do they need to be worded very eloquently, but they do need to be complete sentences so that I can understand what points you are trying to make. This should be a fully completed outline with developed ideas and paragraphs. It is a good idea to include quotes in this outline, so that you will know which quotes to include and where in your final essay. This will save you time later because you will already have the skeleton of your essay in place. The outline will also help you to organize your ideas.

Final Draft Criteria: 1. Topic Selection: Focuses on one specific interpretation of the novel that can be discussed in

detail in 4-6 pages

2. Title: The title should be both creative and informative.

3. Thesis: Makes a clear, specific, and debatable argument about the monster in the novel and what this interpretation of the monster tells us about the novel's meaning.

4. Development/Support: Ideas are fully developed. Four scholarly sources from books, library databases, or .edu websites (in addition to the primary source) have been used as support/counterargument. DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA, Sparknotes, etc.

5. Content: The essay contains enough support and evidence from the primary source (novel) and secondary sources (articles) to be potentially convincing. The ideas are clear and well thought out. A counterargument has been thoroughly considered.

6. Organization:The ideas appear in a logical order; the paper uses transitions to move from one idea to the next.

7. Spelling/Grammar/Mechanics:The paper is virtually free of spelling, grammar, or

mechanical errors.

8. Page Length: The paper is at least 4 complete pages long. Papers less than 4 COMPLETE pages will not earn a passing grade.

9. MLA Citation: The paper uses MLA style citation for quotes, paraphrases, summaries, and a Works Cited page.

10.MLA Formatting: The paper uses MLA formatting, including 12 point Times New Roman font, double spacing, one inch margins, etc. (See your handbook for a sample paper.)