English 3653   Spring 2011                 SECOND UNIT EXAM                              Mercer

 

ESSAY (50 points possible)

 

PURPOSE OF ESSAY

 

Your purpose in writing this essay is to demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the assigned works of Victorian literature (both prose and poetry).

 

ESSAY TOPIC

 

In literature as in life, people search for potential sources of meaning, fulfillment, and happiness in their lives. In the assigned works of Victorian literature, identify at least three (3) different potential sources of meaning for the writers and/or characters, and support each source of meaning with specific references to at least three (3) different assigned works.    

 

EXPLANATION OF TOPIC

 

  1. Pursuit of a potential source of meaning does not necessarily bring fulfillment.  When you explain your supporting examples, then, you do NOT have to prove that the individual actually finds meaning, but you DO need to show that the individual pursues the potential source of meaning for the purpose of making his or her life more meaningful, more fulfilling, and/or happier.   

 

  1. A potential source of meaning may be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on your own subjective judgment or evaluation.  Although the thesis and main points do NOT have to express your judgment or evaluation of the potential sources of meaning, they may do so if you wish. (If, for example, your thesis states that the potential sources of meaning are destructive, the body of the paper would need to show them to be negative.)     
  2. General categories of potential sources of meaning might include but are not limited to the following:
    1. Religious or other societal beliefs and/or practices
    2. Personal thoughts, attitudes, and/or values
    3. Personal actions, activities, and/or habits
    4. Interactions with, relationships with, and/or manipulations of other people

 

  1. In your paper, identify potential sources of meaning that are more precise and more specific than the general categories listed under item 3 above.

 

  1. Your examples may show the pursuit of meaning by the writers and/or by their characters.  For example, in Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” poems (not studied in this unit), the poet Blake seems to find fulfillment in exposing society’s abuse of child workers, but the speaker of “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence finds comfort in the belief that the chimney sweepers will be happy in heaven after they die.

 

  1. Focus on the assigned works rather than on background information about the writers’ lives.  Discuss the lives of the writers only as they relate to the assigned works.

 

CRITERIA FOR GRADING ESSAY

 

  1. Adhere to the assigned topic and specific instructions, meeting and exceeding minimum requirements. To receive a C, meet the following minimum criteria:
    1. Develop at least three (3) body paragraphs.
    2. Develop each body paragraph with specific references to at least three (3) assigned works.
    3. Include references to at least eight (8) assigned authors, including at least three (3) prose writers and three (3) poets.
    4. Include references to at least twelve (12) assigned works, including Tennyson’s In Memoriam. 
    5. Be at least two and one-half (2½) pages in length.

To receive an A or B, significantly exceed some or all of these minimum criteria.

 

  1. Think and write about the assigned topic with clarity and logic.

 

  1. Demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the assigned works by providing examples that are very specific, numerous, and logically relevant.

 

  1. Write with mechanical correctness, especially in spelling and punctuation of authors and titles, in documentation of quotations, and in avoidance of serious errors such as sentence fragments, comma splices, run-on sentences, and subject-verb agreement errors.           

 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING ESSAY

 

  1. HELP
    1. Work independently.  This is NOT a group project or a research paper.  Do NOT collaborate with others or use sources outside the textbook.  Rely on your own reading of the assigned works.  Do not submit an essay that is like someone else’s in content or organization.

 

    1. For best results, get my advance feedback (preferably in person, but if that isn’t possible, by telephone or e-mail) on your thesis and main points and later on a complete draft.  The best way to get feedback on a complete draft is to make an appointment to discuss your essay with me during my office hours.  The deadline for submitting a complete draft for feedback by e-mail (cut and pasted, NOT by attachment) is Sunday, March 27, at 4 p.m.  You may continue to ask questions by e-mail after that time, and you may get my response to your draft in hard copy during my office hours on Monday, March 28, and Tuesday, March 29. (Please bring two copies of your draft to your appointment.) 

 

    1. You may use the help of the tutors in the NSU-BA Writing Center. However, because I am more familiar with the topic, the instructions, the literary works, and my own expectations, get feedback directly from me whenever possible.

 

  1. MANUSCRIPT FORM
    1. Font: Use Times New Roman 12.
    2. Spacing: Double-space your entire paper. Do NOT leave additional spaces after the title or between paragraphs.  If you are using Word 2007, change the default settings to remove the extra spaces after the title and after each paragraph. (Select “Page Layout” and then “Spacing,” change the “After” setting from 10 pt. to 0 pt., and make this your new default setting.)
    3. Alignment of text (justification): Select “align text left” (left justification).  Do NOT justify the right margin.
    4. Margins: Use one (1)-inch margins on all four sides of the page.  The default margins in Word 2003 (and earlier versions) are 1.25 inches; please change your margins to one (1) inch.  If you need more room to squeeze your paper onto three (3) pages, the maximum allowed length, you may, however, reduce your margins to one-half (0.5) inch.
    5. Paragraph indentation: Indent each paragraph one-half inch (five [5] spaces) from the left margin.
    6. Identification: Because I do not want to know whose essay I am grading, do NOT put your name anywhere on the paper.  Omit the usual four (4)-line heading from the upper left of the first page.  Instead, insert as a header your nine (9)-digit SSN followed by one space and the page number in the upper right of each page, beginning with page 1. To protect the privacy of your SSN, you may change any of the numbers except the last four (4).  

 

  1. TITLE
    1. Give your essay a title that clearly and specifically reflects the content of the essay, including

                                                              i.      key words from the thesis 

                                                            ii.      a phrase such as “in Victorian Literature.”

    1. Do NOT underline or italicize the title of your own essay or place it in quotation marks or boldface.
    2. Capitalize the first letter of the first word, the last word, and all other words in your title EXCEPT for articles (a, an, the), prepositions (throughout, between, to, for, in), coordinate conjunctions (and, but, or), and to when used with infinitives.

 

  1. THESIS   
    1. Clearly and concisely state the thesis of your essay in a separate opening paragraph of only one or two sentences.  No other introduction is required or desired.  Use your time and space to develop the body of the essay.
    2. Make the thesis directly respond to and use key words from the assigned topic.
    3. Make the thesis accurately reflect what the body of the paper supports.
    4. If the thesis lists the potential sources of meaning to be covered in the body of the essay, put the list in one sentence and in the same order as in the body.

 

  1. ORGANIZATION: Organize the body of the essay into at least three (3) paragraphs, each beginning with a topic sentence that
    1. covers the entire paragraph (and therefore does NOT refer to only one literary work).
    2. clearly and specifically identifies a potential source of meaning for the writers and/or characters of the assigned works of Victorian literature.   
    3. does not illogically overlap with the potential sources of meaning identified in other body paragraphs. (For example, three topic sentences relating to male-female relationships, marital love, and human interactions would overlap because these three topics are all so closely related.)

 

  1. DEVELOPMENT:  In each body paragraph, clearly develop and support the potential source of meaning identified in the topic sentence with specific references to as many assigned authors and assigned works as possible (minimum of three [3] assigned works per paragraph, preferably more). The essay as a whole must specifically refer to at least twelve (12) different assigned works (including Tennyson’s In Memoriam) by at least eight (8) different assigned authors (preferably more of each), including at least three (3)  prose writers and three (3) poets. It is fine to refer to the same author or work in more than one body paragraph, but don’t count an author or work twice.  Your supporting references to the assigned works should

a.       clearly relate to the assigned topic and the thesis of the essay.

b.      clearly demonstrate the potential source of meaning identified in the topic sentence of the paragraph.  (Explain what shows that the writer and/or character pursues this as a source of meaning.)

c.       be brief, usually no longer than one (1) or two (2) sentences each.  (See the examples in the model essay posted on the class Web page.)

d.      despite their brevity, still be very specific, demonstrating your comprehensive knowledge of the assigned works.

e.       usually be in your own words.  (It is NOT necessary or desirable to use a quotation every time you refer to a work!)

f.       occasionally be in very brief quotations, introduced, documented, and punctuated as described below under “DOCUMENTATION.”  

g.      avoid long quotations of more than three (3) consecutive lines of poetry or more than four typed (4) lines of prose, which would have to be indented and are too long for a short essay like this.

h.      correctly spell and punctuate the names of the authors, titles, and characters.   Punctuate titles as they appear on the assignment sheet for the unit (except that, because of a recent change in MLA form, you should italicize titles that are underlined on the assignment sheet):

                                                                                      i.      Place the titles of short works inside quotation marks.

                                                                                    ii.      Italicize titles of works long enough to be published separately. 

i.        use present-tense verbs to refer in your own words to plots and characters of the literary works; use past-tense verbs to refer to historical events outside the works. When you quote, leave the verb tense as it is.

 

  1. QUOTATIONS AND DOCUMENTATION:  The following guidelines for quotations and parenthetical documentation are based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (2009). The quotations below are italicized only to make them stand out.  Do NOT italicize the quotations in your paper.
    1. Smoothly introduce all quotations, as illustrated in the examples below.

 

    1. Make sure all quotations are exactly accurate.  Place inside square brackets any changes you make in the words, capitalization, or punctuation of quotations.  Use ellipsis marks (three spaced periods) to indicate that you have omitted words in the middle of a quotation or at the end of a quotation that appears to be a grammatically complete sentence.  

   

    1. Immediately after each brief quotation of prose, document in parenthesis the page number(s) where it appears in our textbook.  

Like this: In “My First Acquaintance with Poets,” Hazlitt describes Coleridge’s nose as “small, feeble, nothing—like what he has done” (543).

 

    1. Immediately after each brief quotation of poetry, document in parenthesis the page number(s) where it appears in our textbook, followed by a semicolon, one (1) space, and the line number(s) within the poem.

Like this: In “My Heart Leaps Up,” Wordsworth says he wants to have “natural piety” as long as he lives (306; line 9).

 

    1. Do NOT, however, use page or line numbers to introduce quotations. 

NOT: On page 306, Wordsworth says in line 9 of “My Heart Leaps Up” that he wants to have “natural piety” as long as he lives.

 

    1. When you quote two (2) or three (3) lines of poetry consecutively, place a slash mark (preceded and followed by one (1) space) to show where one line ends and the next line begins.  Do NOT use a slash mark, however, between quoted lines of prose.

Like this: In “To a Sky-Lark,” Shelley says that, unlike birds, human beings “look before and after, / And pine for what is not” (817; lines 86-87).

NOT: In “To a Sky-Lark,” Shelley says that, unlike birds, human beings “look before and after, And pine for what is not” (817; lines 86-87).

NOT: In “To a Sky-Lark,” Shelley says that, unlike birds, human beings “look before and after,/And pine for what is not” (817; lines 86-87).

 

    1. When you cite multiple pages or lines, repeat only the last two digits unless more are necessary to avoid confusion.

Like this: In “Michael,” Luke never returns to his parents’ land because “in the dissolute city [he] gave himself / To evil courses” (301; lines 444-45).

NOT: In “Michael,” Luke never returns to his parents’ land because “in the dissolute city [he] gave himself / To evil courses” (301; lines 444-445).

NOT: In “Michael,” Luke never returns to his parents’ land because “in the dissolute city [he] gave himself / To evil courses” (301; lines 444-5).

 

    1. Place periods and commas INSIDE, not outside, closing quotation marks. 

Like this: In “The Tables Turned,” Wordsworth continues a debate he has already introduced in “Expostulation and Reply.”  

NOT: In “The Tables Turned”, Wordsworth continues a debate he has already introduced in “Expostulation and Reply”. 

 

    1. When parenthetical documentation immediately follows quotation marks, drop the punctuation mark at the end of the quotation (with the exception of a question mark or exclamation point), and after the parenthetical documentation place the punctuation your own sentence requires.

Like this: Blake shows his preoccupation with sin in the poem that begins, “O Rose, thou art sick” (91).

NOT: Blake shows his preoccupation with sin in the poem that begins, “O Rose, thou art sick.” (91)

Like this: Blake’s narrator asks the tiger, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (93; line 20).

NOT: Blake’s narrator asks the tiger, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee” (93;  line 20)?

                 

    1. Leave one (1) space between closing quotation marks and opening parenthesis.

Like this: In her journal, Dorothy Wordsworth writes that the daffodils “tossed & reeled & danced” (391).

NOT: In her journal, Dorothy Wordsworth writes that the daffodils “tossed & reeled & danced”(391).

 

  1. CONCLUSION: Conclude the essay with a one- or two-sentence paragraph that restates the thesis in different words.  No other conclusion is required or desired.  Use your time and space to develop the body of the essay.

 

  1. LENGTH: The essay should be at least two and one-half (2½) pages and no longer than three (3) full pages.  You will probably need three (3) full pages to develop a superior essay. 

 

  1. LIST OF LITERARY WORKS CITED
    1. On a separate page following the essay, number and list the assigned authors and assigned works (correctly spelled and punctuated) to which you refer in the essay. No particular ordered is required.  Set up your list like this:

Author 1: ____________

            Title of 1st work by author 1: ____________

            Title of 2nd work by author 1: ____________

Author 2: ____________

            Title of 1st work by author 2: ____________

            Title of 2nd work by author 2: ____________

    1. At the end of your list of works cited, report the following:

                                                              i.      Total number of assigned authors: ___ (8 required)

1.      Total number of assigned prose authors: ___ (3 required)

2.      Total number of assigned poets: ___ (3 required)

                                                            ii.      Total number of assigned works: ___ (12 required, including In Memoriam)

    1. If the essay includes any unassigned Victorian works from the textbook, place those names and titles in parenthesis in your list of works cited, and do not count them as assigned authors or works.
    2. Superior essays will probably refer to significantly more than the minimum number of assigned works.

 

  1. EDITING AND PROOFREADING
    1. Before you print the final version of your paper, revise, edit, and proofread it carefully. 
    2. Be sure to use spell-check. 
    3. After you have printed the paper, proofread it in hard copy.   If you see errors and can’t reprint, make corrections in black ink.

 

  1. SUBMISSION OF ESSAY
    1. To assemble your essay for submission:

                                                              i.      Staple the pages of your essay and list of works cited.

                                                            ii.      Separately from the essay, staple the pages of a clean, unmarked copy of this document. 

                                                          iii.      Paper-clip your essay in front of this document.

b.      Submit your essay in class at 4:30 p.m. on March 30.  Even if your essay is not finished or printed, be sure you are present in class at 4:30 p.m.