Exercises for English 2327
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For this course, your learning work will be demonstrated in the composition of one or more literary essays.  (Online students will write six essays and should follow instructions below.  Students taking this course on campus in a lecture format should follow instructions in "Writing the Personal Critical Essay.")  
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These essays are to be formal, academic essays that reflect your readings in the course.  Each essay should observe the following elements: 
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Length 
Each essay should be a fully developed paper of three-to-five pages in length.  A paper less than a full three pages will not be accepted.  For "A" credit, your paper should extend to a fifth page of text. 
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Content 
Each essay must address the theme or topic defined in the instructions for each paper.  Additionally, for "B" and "A"-level consideration, each paper should demonstrate familiarity with the "Basic Concepts" appropriate for the assignment and include references from the introductions of the readings and online resources provided for the related Unit. 
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Format 
Each paper must observe 1" margins.  The first page should be the first page of the text of the paper (no cover sheet).  Use 12 point type size in either Times New Roman or Arial font styles. 
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Avoid long quotations.  Any quotation longer than five lines of text should be blocked and single-spaced, each line indented two tabs from the left. 
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Use of Texts 
Each paper must include short quotations from the readings related to the topic.  
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Use of Research  
These are not research papers.  However, you are encouraged to use online resources provided in the Units.   When you use information from these sources, you must cite and document them appropriately, following formats in the MLA Style Sheet.  Papers that fail to cite sources internally and to document them correctly and plagiarized and will receive an automatic grade of "50." Papers that reflect flagrant plagiarism--copy and pasting text from other sites--will receive an automatic "0."  

Documenting Sources 
Each reference to your textbook must be cited and documented, using internal parenthetical page references, according to the MLA Style Sheet formats for academic essays.  

Plagiarism 
Warning!  Plagiarism--the intentional undocumented use of another person's scholarship or writing--(such as use of an essay acquired from some Internet resource) will not be tolerated.    

The submission of a paper even suspected of intentional and flagrant plagiarism will result in an automatic "0" on the paper and probably an "F" in the course.  Additionally, this course employs special software  to trace even quoted key phrases to their original internet sites. 
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The Exercises

Note: Due dates for each exercise is posted in the course syllabus. 

Exercise 1 
Exercise 1 is an introduction to writing about fiction.  You will write a short essay analyzing a short story from a limited perspective, following models provided for organization, development, and format. 
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Exercise 2 
Exercise 2 is an essay analyzing themes related to the American frontier. 
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Exercise 3 
Exercise 3 is an essay analyzing key values during the Revolutionary War period in American literary and social history. 
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Exercise 4 
Exercise 4 is an essay interpreting human nature in society and in the wilderness (nature). 
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Exercise 5 
Exercise 5 is an essay exploring the phenomenon of slavery in America and the "abolitionist movement" that was, in part, responsible for ending it. 
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Exercise 6 
Exercise 6 is an essay analyzing the poetry of Walt Whitman. 

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This page was last modified on July 4, 2007,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.
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