Lecture 16: Steps for Writing a Paper, a Unit Test Essay, and a Post-Assessment Essay
The most fundamental point:
How to use devices to explain theme:
The specific steps and how to structure them:
STEP 1:
An introductory paragraph of biographical information on your author; this paragraph must fall between 125 - 150 words; if the
word count does not fall between 125 - 150 words, a minimum of 10% of the paper's grade will be deducted.
Remember that in this paragraph you will be using biographical facts that are all over
the Internet, in our course book, and in various databases such as The Dictionary of Literary Biography, so BE CAREFUL NOT TO PLAGIARIZE
IN THIS PARAGRAPH; plagiarism can be easily avoided by using short direct quotations, by paraphrasing effectively, and by citing your sources.
Do not treat lightly the possibility of committing plagiarism in this paragraph of your paper; you cannot simply change some words here and there and
call it a paraphrase. Effective paraphrasing means putting the information entirely into your own words.
In short, your introductory paragraph should do the following:
Introduce the name of the author you are writing about along with the biographical information, totaling about 100 words.
Put most of the biographical information into your own words by paraphrasing your source, and make certain to include appropriate
parenthetical citations. For the parts of the biographical information that are not in your own words, you must use some VERY SHORT direct
quotations from your source as necessary, and of course, parenthetical citations are required here too.
Next, include a transitional sentence that names your primary text. An example is something to the effect of "One of Flannery O'Connor's
most widely studies short stories is "Everything That Rises Must Converge."
Finish the paragraph with the thesis statement, which must specifically name all the literary devices the paper will use to analyze
the theme of the primary text. The specific theme must also be named in the thesis statement. All of this should put
the paragraph at a word count of 125 - 150words.
STEP 2:
This section can be a single paragraph or more than one paragraph that is an analysis driven by one of the following:
irony, symbols, allegory, point of view, or conflict.
For example, if you have chosen to analyze symbols in "The Things They Carried," then you could claim that Martha's letters are a symbol for
whatever you believe the letters symbolize. Include a reference to or quotation from a point in the primary text where the letters are the
focus, and cite your reference or quotation. Follow this with your analysis that explains how/why the
letters symbolize whatever you have
claimed they symbolize.
Following this procedure would demonstrate adequacy; however, a superior effort would take one addtional step, which
would be to explain how your analysis of the symbol illustrates the theme that you identified in your thesis statement. If
you have more than one symbol to analyze in this section, repeat this procedure for each symbol analyzed. Place much importance throughout
your paper on how the devices illustrate theme, for this is an critically important element in determining the grade your paper can
receive.
STEP 3:
This section can be a single paragraph or more than one paragraph that is an analysis driven by one of the following:
character development, setting, or foreshadowing.
For example, if you have chosen to analyze setting in "Young Goodman Brown," then you could claim that the forest as a setting . . .
(whatever you believe the forest as setting helps readers to understand). Include a reference or quotation to a point in the primary text
where the forest (whatever you believe the forest as setting helps readers to understand), and cite your reference or quotation. Follow this
with your analysis that explains how/why the forest (whatever you believe the forest as setting
helps readers to understand).
Following this procedure would demonstrate adequacy; however, a superior effort would take one addtional step, which
would be to explain how your analysis of the symbol illustrates the theme that you identified in your thesis statement. If
you have more than one symbol to analyze in this section, repeat this procedure for each symbol analyzed. Place much importance throughout
your paper on how the devices illustrate theme, for this is an critically important element in determining the grade your paper can
receive.
STEP 4:
This section can be a single paragraph or more than one paragraph that is an analysis of theme using plot; this section
should be between 200 - 225 words. If this section does not fall between a word count of 200 - 225, a minimum of 10% of the paper's grade
will be deducted. Conclude this section with two or three sentences that serve as a conclusion to the overall paper, and avoid the phrase,
"in conclusion," or anything of the like.
Adequacy versus Superiority: More about devices, theme, and references to and quotations from your primary text:
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Devices and Theme:
When writing papers that are driven by an analysis that uses literary devices to illustrate a theme, students often make the fundamental
error of doing too little to explain theme.
For example, using a device to illustrate the theme of lonliness is an acceptable approach, but if your analysis does little more than state
that the forest is a lonely place, then theme has not been illustrated well.
Remember that a device is simply a tool through which the more important issue of theme is understood better.
References and Quotations From Your Primary Text:
By "references to your primary text," I mean that if you are writing about "The Things They Carried," and you state that Jimmy Cross burned
Martha's letters, you should include a parenthetical citation that gives the page number from our course book, which allows the reader of your
paper to reference that event in the story by going to the exact page where it occurs. These types of references to your
primary text should certainly be a part of this section.
By "quotations from your primary text," I mean that if you are writing about "The Things They Carried," and you state that Jimmy Cross feels
guilty about the death of Ted Lavendar, you must locate the place in the primary text where the narrator or Cross states this, and then
include the quotation and cite it parenthetically. These types of quotations from your primary text should certainly be a part of this section.
MLA Style Guidelines are a critically important aspect of this course, and your written works are an opportunity to demonstrate your skill
level, so paraphrase and quote from your primary text and from scholarly sources.