English 3653 Spring 2009 FIRST UNIT EXAM Mercer

OUT-OF-CLASS ESSAY (50 points possible). Write your essay out of class and submit it on Feb. 18 at 4:30 p.m.

ESSAY TOPIC

Identify at least three (3) important values reflected in the poetry and prose of the English Romantic Period, and illustrate each value with specific supporting examples from at least three (3) different assigned works. The essay as a whole must include specific references to at least fifteen (15) different assigned works by at least eight (8) different assigned authors, at least two (2) of whom must be writers of assigned prose works.

EXPLANATION OF TOPIC

1. A value is a principle or quality that a writer presents as being of great importance and worth. The subject or theme of a work is NOT necessarily presented as a value. For example, some Romantic poets write about evil supernatural forces, but they do not value them. Be sure the values you identify are actually shown to be of great importance and worth in the works.

2. Usually a single word is NOT enough to clearly identify and define a value. For example, the words “love,” “nature,” and “religion,” by themselves are too vague to identify values. What about love, nature, or religion is shown to be a value? What kind of love or religion is valued? What attitude toward nature or God is valued?

3. A literary work may reveal a value either positively (by approving something that the writer deems good) or negatively (by disapproving something that the writer deems bad). In the latter case, the value is the OPPOSITE of whatever is disapproved. For example, works about the exploitation of children value not the exploitation of children but rather the well-being and protection of children. Similarly, if a work ridicules hypocrisy, then sincerity (or integrity or honesty), not hypocrisy, would be the value demonstrated.

CRITERIA FOR GRADING ESSAY

1. Adherence to assigned topic and specific instructions, meeting and exceeding minimum requirements. For example, to earn a C, your essay must develop 3 body paragraphs, refer to 3 works per paragraph, refer to 8 assigned authors (including 2 authors of assigned prose works) in the essay as a whole, refer to 15 assigned works in the essay as a whole, and be 2 full pages long. For an A or B, you should significantly exceed some or all of these minimum requirements.

2. Clear identification of important values commonly found in the assigned works of prose and poetry of the English Romantic Period

3. Clear, logical, original thinking about the assigned topic

4. Demonstration of your broad, comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the assigned works by providing examples that are specific, numerous, and logically relevant to the values you identify.

5. Mechanical correctness, especially in spelling and punctuation of authors and titles and in documentation of quotations

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. (If you do, however, use the words or ideas of other written sources, you must identify your sources in the text of your paper.) Do not submit an essay that is like a classmate’s in content or organization.
2. For best results, get my 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 complete drafts by e-mail (cut and pasted, NOT by attachment) for my feedback is 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 15. You may continue to ask questions by e-mail after that time, and you may continue to get my response to drafts in hard copy during my office hours on Monday, February 16, and Tuesday, February 17.

2. MANUSCRIPT FORM:
1. Font: Use Times New Roman 12.
2. Spacing: Double-space your entire paper. Do NOT leave additional spaces before or after the title or between paragraphs.
3. Justification: Use left (not right or full) justification.
4. Margins: Use one-inch margins on all four sides of the page. (The default margins in Microsoft Word are 1.25 inches; change them to one [1] inch.) You may, however, reduce your margins to one-half (0.5) inch if necessary to squeeze your paper onto three (3) pages, the maximum allowed.
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-line heading from the upper left of the first page. Instead, insert as a “header” your SSN followed by one space and the page number in the upper right of each page, beginning with page 1. To protect the security of your SSN, you may change the numbers as long as the last four (4) digits are accurate.

3. TITLE: Give your essay a title that specifically reflects the content of the essay, repeating key words from the thesis. In your title include the phrase “in Romantic English Literature” or something similar. Examples of appropriate titles include
1. Faith, Hope, and Love with a Twist: Societal Values in English Romanticism
2. “The Difference to Me”: The Subjectivity of Values in Romantic English Literature
3. What Matters Most to English Romantic Writers

4. THESIS:
1. Clearly and concisely state the thesis of your essay in a separate opening paragraph of one or two sentences.
2. Repeat the key words of the assigned topic: Use the words “values” and “English Romantic Literature” or synonyms.
3. Briefly, in one sentence, and in the same order as in the body of the essay, list the values to be covered in the body.
4. Be sure that the thesis accurately reflects what the body shows.
5. No other introduction is required or desired. Use your time and space to develop the body of the essay.

5. 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. identifies a significant value in the assigned works of the English Romantic Period.
3. uses the word “value” or a synonym.
4. defines the value clearly and specifically (and therefore does NOT rely on a single word to identify the value). (See #2 under “EXPLANATION OF TOPIC” near the beginning of this document.)
5. does NOT illogically overlap with a value identified in another topic sentence. (For example, do not set up rationality, logic, and intelligence as separate values because they are too closely related to be clearly distinguished.)

6. DEVELOPMENT: In each body paragraph, clearly illustrate and support the specific value identified in the topic sentence with specific references to as many assigned authors and assigned works as possible (minimum of three [3] assigned literary works per paragraph, preferably more). The essay as a whole must specifically refer to at least fifteen (15) different assigned works by eight (8) different assigned authors (preferably more of each). It’s fine to refer to the same author and/or work in more than one body paragraph, but don’t count an author or work twice. Your supporting references to the works should
1. be logically relevant to the specific value identified in the topic sentence of the paragraph.
2. 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.)
3. despite their brevity, still be very specific, demonstrating your detailed knowledge of the assigned works. (See the examples in the model essay.)
4. usually be in your own words. It is NOT necessary or desirable for every supporting example to include a quotation.
5. occasionally be in very brief quotations from the assigned works, followed by parenthetical documentation of the page number and, for poetic quotations, line number(s). (See “DOCUMENTATION” below.)
6. avoid long poetic quotations of more than three (3) lines or prose quotations of more than four (4) lines, which would have to be indented.
7. correctly spell and punctuate the names of the authors, titles, and characters. (For correct punctuation of titles, see the assignment sheet for this unit.)
8. 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.

7. DOCUMENTATION: The following guidelines for quotations and parenthetical documentation are based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6^th ed. (2003). 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 demonstrated in the examples below.

2. 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).

3. 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).

4. 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.

5. 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).

6. When you cite multiple pages or lines, repeat only the last two digits unless other digits change.

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).

7. Do NOT quote more than four (4) typed lines of prose or more than three (3) consecutive lines of poetry in your paper. Quotations of this length would have to be indented within the text of your paper. In a short essay like this, you do NOT have room for long quotations.

8. 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”.

9. 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; line 1).

NOT: Blake shows his preoccupation with sin in the poem that begins, “O Rose, thou art sick.” (91; line 1)

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)?

10. 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).

11. Quotations must be exactly accurate. Any changes in words, capitalization, or punctuation must be placed inside square brackets. Omissions within quotations must be indicated by ellipsis marks (three spaced periods).

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

9. LENGTH: The essay should be at least two (2) full pages and no more than three (3) pages. You will probably need three full (3) pages to develop a superior essay.

10. 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 as on the assignment sheet for the unit) to which you refer in the essay. No particular ordered is required. Set up your list like this:

Author 1: ____________

Title of 1^st work by author 1: ____________

Title of 2^nd work by author 1: ____________

Author 2: ____________

Title of 1^st work by author 2: ____________

Title of 2^nd work by author 2: ____________

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

i. Number of assigned authors of prose works: ___ (2 required)

ii. Total number of assigned authors (prose and poetry): ___ (8 required)

iii. Total number of assigned works: ___ (15 required)

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

11. 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.

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

i. Staple the pages of your essay.

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 February 18. Even if your essay is not finished or printed, be sure you are present in class at 4:30 p.m.