Essay #1: Renaissance and the Enlightenment

1

Essay #1

This is a Gordon Rule Assignment. If you do not submit this paper, you will not be able to

pass the course.

What This Assignment Is NOT:

 The assignment is not a plot summary of the literary work (a paraphrase of what happens or an explanation of what the text "is about"). Your paper will earn no more than 65% if

you write a plot summary.

 This assignment is not a historical paper. You can refer to historical context if you think you need to for your ideas to be clear, but the main focus of the paper must be an analysis

of the literature that supports your thesis statement.

 This assignment is not a research paper. You need to work with your own ideas. Do not include any sources other than the literature you are analyzing.

 See the Fatal Flaws at the end of this document.

What This Assignment IS:

You are trying to show your professor that you know and understand the literary works about

which you choose to write. You may write about the literature included in Modules 3 and 4.

Additionally, you need to take what you learned in Module 2 into consideration as you write.

Table of Contents:

Paper requirements

Cut-off for uploading your work

Directions for writing the essay draft

Templates for signal phrases

Samples for parenthetical citations

Sample Works Cited entries

Fatal Flaws

2

Requirements:

1. Consider only these literary periods:

 The Renaissance (Shakespeare’s sonnets #18, 29 and 130; “Is This a Dagger I See before Me” from Macbeth; “To Be or not to Be” from Hamlet)

 The Enlightenment (Tartuffe by Molière; Candide by Voltaire)

 Choose one author’s work. You may not use authors or texts that are not assigned in the lessons.

2. Then, choose one of the themes in the list below. Do not try to combine them. To be effective, the theme must apply to all of the text you chose in Step 2.

Themes for Essay #2:

Love Death Exploration Friendship Power

Religion Wealth Truth

3. Write at least 2 to 3 full pages of analysis. If you don’t reach the bottom of page 2 (following the layout requirements), your paper is not developed enough and will lose credit.

4. Do not use secondary sources. Use your own ideas and the works you are analyzing, not something you found on the Internet or anywhere else except your own head. You may use

links provided for historical background, etc. However, be sure you are using only the links

in the course. It’s all too easy to go from a link on a web page in the course to a different web

page outside the course. Make sure you treat those linked web pages in the course like the

sources they are, with signal phrases that identify the title of the web page, quotation or

paraphrase from the web page, and a parenthetical citation (use paragraph numbers for a

website even if that means you have to count the paragraphs yourself). Outside sources will

lower your grade.

5. Introduce all source material (quotations and paraphrases) adequately with a signal phrase rather than "dropping" them into the paper with no introduction. You should provide a signal

phrase before each quotation or paraphrase, giving some context for the quotation.

6. Use parenthetical citations for all source material. Keep in mind that different genres required different information in the parenthetical citations. Follow MLA requirements for

parenthetical notation as shown in the template section below.

7. MLA-style documentation requires a Works Cited. Start your Works Cited on a new page after your essay. Include all the sources you used in your essay.

3

8. If your professor requires an Honor Code at the end of your paper, see the syllabus for the correct wording.

Cut-Off for Uploading Your Work: Upload the essay to the TurnItIn.Com Dropbox by the cut-off date/time. You may submit it

earlier, but no extensions will be allowed except as provided for in your professor’s policy in the

syllabus. Plan your time accordingly.

Directions for Writing the Essay Draft:

1. Follow your professor’s paper layout requirements.

2. Write a thesis statement that includes the title of the literary work and the theme you chose from the list. The work is the subject of the paper, and the theme is the "point" you are

making about the subject. Make sure that the theme/point is in the thesis. Don’t make your

professor guess! Putting the theme in the title of your paper does not replace the requirement

for putting the theme in your thesis statement.

3. Make a chronological list of the quotations that support the thesis statement. (You must use quotations. Paraphrases are OK as long as you use mostly quotations and don’t forget to

document the paraphrases, too.) This list is a planning step that will help ensure that your

thesis is well-supported. Note the information you will need to write parenthetical citations

for each quotation (see the Basic Requirements below). It's usually best to keep the list in

chronological order, discussing the text from beginning to end. As you write your draft, you

can refer in later portions of the essay to something you wrote earlier in the essay if

necessary. If the theme is true for the literary work in question, you will be able to see

quotations throughout the text, not just in one spot.

4. Create a title for your essay. It should include the theme on which you are working.

5. Write a introductory paragraph for your essay. The first part of the introduction should include the author’s full name and the title of the text, properly formatted (“identification”).

(Note: Later in the essay, you can refer to the author by last name only, but never by first

name only.) Make sure you format the title of the text properly. This leading part of the

paragraph should introduce and logically lead up to your thesis statement, which should end

your introduction.

6. Write the body paragraphs for your essay, supporting your chosen theme as it applies to the literary work. Incorporate quotations from your list as you go along, still in chronological

order. The quotations are the "facts" in your essay that support your ideas. You may

paraphrase, but quotations are stronger support. As you write, set up your source material

(quotations and any paraphrases) well: start with an signal phrase, followed by the source

material, followed by the parenthetical citation, followed by your interpretation, where

you explain how the quotation or paraphrase helps support the topic sentence of the

paragraph or the thesis statement. Do not go on to a new idea, new source material, or a new

paragraph without providing interpretation.

4

7. Write a concluding paragraph that brings your essay to a logical close. Don't just repeat everything you already wrote. You can restate, but keep in mind that restating something

means saying it in a complete different way. Make sure you have a real paragraph (at least

two sentences), not just one sentence.

8. Write a Works Cited page following MLA documentation requirements.

Templates for Signal Phrases:

Notice that the introductory signal phrases in the templates below use present tense verbs, which

is the tense you should use to analyze literature.

If your quotation comes from the narrator of a story or the speaker of a poem, you can use one of

these templates:

The narrator says, _____________ (Fill in appropriate parenthetical citation).

The speaker says, _____________ ( ).

Voltaire writes, ______________ ( ).

You can use the signal phrases to make sure your professor knows to which work you are

referring, so another kind of signal phrase could be:

In "When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes, the speaker says, ____________ ( ).

If a character is speaking, the signal phase should tell who is speaking to whom.

Dr. Pangloss tells Candide, _____________ ( ).

Be careful to avoid a run-on if you introduce a quotation with a complete sentence.

Fused Sentence (no punctuation between sentences):

Cunégonde is happy when she speaks to Candide "_____" ( ).

Comma Splice (only a comma between sentences):

Cunégonde is happy when she speaks to Candide, "_____" ( ).

Corrected (signal phrase inserted after the sentence):

Cunégonde is happy when she speaks to Candide. She says, "__________" ( ).

5

Samples for Parenthetical Citations:

Poetry: Use line numbers for poetry regardless of the medium in which it is presented. Count the lines yourself if you have to. Line numbers start from 1 for the first line of the poem and

continue until the end. Don't start over again with line 1 when you go into a new stanza of the

poem. On the other hand, long poems are sometimes separated into sections by the poet. Here are

some parenthetical citation examples:

Quotation taken from line four of a short poem: (4).

Quotation taken from lines 3 to 5 of a short poem: (3-5).

Also, don't forget to use a slash to separate lines of poetry in your quotations.

Plays: Even if the playwright, like Shakespeare, uses poetry for the dialogue in a play, you still need to document the lines you quote or paraphrase as a play, not as poetry. (However, use

slashes to separate lines because the play is written as verse.) Plays are documented using act,

scene, and lines. The assigned excerpt from Macbeth is from Act 2, Scene 1, lines 33 through 64;

the assigned excerpt from Hamlet is from Act 3, Scene 1, lines 64 through 98.

Sample from the first two lines of Hamlet’s soliloquy: (3.1.64-65).

Note: Don’t use any spaces in the citation.

Prose: Normally, you use page numbers for prose. However, with all our prose online, page

numbers don't always work! It depends on the medium in which the prose is presented to you.

PDF files: Treat the prose in the same way as any prose printed in a book, by using page

numbers.

Quotation from one page: (4).

Quotation that starts on one page and ends on the next: (7-8).

Web page: MLA says to use paragraph numbers for a website. If numbers are not provided, you will need to count them. You should indicate that you are using paragraph

numbers for a text the first time you provide documentation.

Paragraph numbers are used regardless of the kind of text being displayed on the website.

For example, a speech shown on a website uses paragraphs numbers like any other text

on a website.

Quotation from one paragraph: (para. 6)

6

Quotation that starts in one paragraph and ends in the next: (para. 6-7).

Once you have established in your first parenthetical citation that you are using paragraph

numbers for a particular source, you can leave out para. in the remaining citations.

Samples Works Cited entries:

You can find a lot of information about MLA documentation requirements at the Online Writing

Labe (OWL) hosted by Purdue University: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.

There is information about what is required for different types of sources as well as a sample

Works Cited page: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/. Notice that the entries

on the page are in alphabetical order by the first item in each entry. The page follows normal

page layout, including margins and double-spacing. The author’s name is always inverted: Last

Name, First Name. Also noticed the correct spelling and placement for the title of the page. If

your are required to add an Honor Code, place it at the bottom of the Works Cited page.

Class Handout, PDF File:

Template:

Author’s Name. “Title of PDF File.” Class handout. Name of College. City, State. Date.

PDF file.

Sample:

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” LIT2120 class handout. Miami Dade College.

Miami, FL. n.d. PDF file.

Note: The notation n.d. (literally meaning no date) is used because the page being documented in

the sample does not have a date of last update.

Web Page:

Template:

7

Author’s Name. “Title of Webpage.” Title of Website. Sponsoring Organization. Date of

last update. Web. Access date.

Sample:

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18.” Shakespeare Online. Amanda Mabillard. n.d. Web.

14 Dec. 2014.

Notes: Amanda Mabillard is an individual who sponsors Shakespeare Online. Her name is used

because there is no sponsoring organization. Ms. Mabillard holds the copyright for the site. Also,

the copyright date for a web page is not the same as a date of last up date.

Here is another sample:

Mabillard, Amanda. “Introduction to Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Shakespeare Online.

Amanda Mabillard. n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.

Note: In this sample, Ms. Mabillard is both the author and the sponsor, so her name appears in

both places.

Fatal Flaws: The following errors will result in loss of credit or a low or failing grade:

Problem Effect on grade The essay does not focus on one of the themes for this

assignment.

No credit for the paper

The paper is not submitted to the TurnItIn Dropbox by

the cut-off date/time.

No credit. For a documented

emergency, see Ground Rule #3 in

the syllabus for details.

The essay is plot summary instead of literary analysis. Automatic grade of 65%

A literary work other than from those assigned for this

paper is used.

Automatic grade of 65%

No quotations from the literature are used to support

your thesis.

Automatic grade of 65%

Parenthetical citations OR the Works Cited is missing Automatic grade of 65%

Parenthetical citations AND the Works Cited are

missing

Automatic grade of 50%

The essay does not have a thesis statement. The grade will depend on the

8

quality of your writing, but it will

not exceed 79%.

Documentation is present, but does not satisfy MLA

requirements.

The grade will depend on the

quality of your writing, but it will

not exceed 79%.

Outside sources are used, documented or not. -10% for each outside source

The paper’s layout does not follow the requirements

listed in Ground Rule #5 in the syllabus.

-5%