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. Three pages
represent the minimum length; papers that do not exceed three pages will receive
a grade no higher than a "C."
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Content
Each essay must address the theme or topic
defined in the instructions for each paper.
Development
The thesis should reflect a claim or position about the topic that you plan
to develop. Each topic sentence should be a claim that supports your
thesis and not just a reference to some action in the reading. Each paper must include short quotations
from the readings related to the topic. However,
you should 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.
Stronger essays will make use of information from the
relevant "Basic Concepts" web pages as well as significant information gleaned
from related "Online Resources" links provided with each Topic.
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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.
Citation and
Documentation of Readings
These exercises are
not research papers. However,
when you use information from the "Basic Concepts" pages or from "Online
Resources," 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 will
receive an automatic grade of "50."
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 "F" in the course. Additionally, this course employs
special software (ZDNet "Eve") to trace even quoted key phrases to their
original internet sites.
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Evaluation
See "Evaluation Standards for Written Papers."
Submission of Your Assignments
Click
here for a detailed set of instructions for emailing me and
submitting your assignments.
Naming and Saving Your Assignments
When you complete your essay, save it to your own computer,
naming it like this (using your name, of course--not mine!):
(First initial/Last Name-Ex1 (or whatever the
number of the exercise it is)
Example: GGrimes-Ex1
What to enter in the "subject line" of your
email
In the subject line of the email message, enter only the file
name of the exercise you are attaching.
What to enter in the message window of your
email message to me
In the message window of each email, please include your first and last
name, your student ID number, your course and section number, and the
name of the assignment (as you have saved it).
The Exercises
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 (Test
1)
Exercise 2 is an essay analyzing themes
related to the American frontier. Read the introductions to your texts
from the colonial period. Look for comments regarding the themes listed in
the assignment. This is an open-ended essay that allows you to show me
what you have found. Include references to the texts in the form of short
quotations from the readings with appropriate citations. Bring in any
outside information you find in the "Basic Concepts" and "Online Resources."
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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.
Read the introductions to your texts from the
colonial period. Look for comments regarding the themes listed in the
assignment. This is an open-ended essay that allows you to show me what
you have found. Include references to the texts in the form of short
quotations from the readings with appropriate citations. Bring in any
outside information you find in the "Basic Concepts" and "Online Resources."
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Exercise 4 (Test
2)
Exercise 4 is an essay interpreting human
nature in society and in the wilderness (nature). Read
the introductions to your texts from the colonial period. Look for
comments regarding the themes listed in the assignment. This is an
open-ended essay that allows you to show me what you have found. Include
references to the texts in the form of short quotations from the readings with
appropriate citations. Bring in any outside information you find in the
"Basic Concepts" and "Online Resources."
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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.
Read the introductions to your texts from the
colonial period. Look for comments regarding the themes listed in the
assignment. This is an open-ended essay that allows you to show me what
you have found. Include references to the texts in the form of short
quotations from the readings with appropriate citations. Bring in any
outside information you find in the "Basic Concepts" and "Online Resources."
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Exercise 6 (The
Final Exam--see instructions for completing and submitting this exercise)
Exercise 6 is an essay analyzing the poetry
of Walt Whitman.
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This page was
last modified on April 21, 2008,
and is maintained by
Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.
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