The Paper
DUE: Monday, December 12 (Monday before Exams) PDF Electronically submitted to Schoology and to Turnitin.com by 11:59 pm.
The paper is an exploration of your novel and should be a minimum of 5 full pages. You should entitle your work—make it interesting—I don’t want “Milton’s Paradise Lost,” but I would love “Milton’s Loss, Our Gain” (see what I mean?!) You need a Works Cited (or Works Consulted) page which includes the novel itself, the critical article/essay, and any source used for the author or novel background (at least three sources other than the novel and the essay). I expect Internal Citations (connecting to the Works Cited, of course) within your paper—credit any information not your own (history, background, criticism, etc). Credit the novel when necessary—references to specific scenes, passages, quotations. However, I want your thoughts and ideas about the novel—so that should be conspicuous!
There are seven sections to your paper. Please follow this order and use bolded left headings to distinguish each section. Don’t start new pages unless you’ve filled the previous page, except for the Works Cited which is always a separate page. Everything is double spaced only and use continuous pagination (MLA format, of course).
1. Author Biography:
2-4 pages covering your author’s life. This section is a straight-up research project, so you need to be very careful with note taking, paraphrasing and quoting material. You must have internal citations which connect to your Works Cited/Consulted page (you should have at least three sources for your biography). This section should have an intro, body, and conclusion. (-10 points for EACH missing citation!—so please take this seriously—ask questions, and use all the MLA resources on Schoology, and use OWL Purdue: matting_and_style_guide.html?_ga=2.19623804.558179429.15224)
2. Plot Summary:
1-2 paragraph(s) plot summary which should be 10-15 sentences (don’t go under or over the limit). You don’t have to worry about spoilers in this section, give me a complete summary within the sentence limit, but you should focus on the key plot elements. This helps you really think through the story-line. This is to be your work and words. Do not plagiarize someone else’s summary. Use Literary Present Tense!
Novel Assignment 1
3. Critical Essay Analysis:
1-2 pages. Find one critical essay—NO Spark Notes or other “student” on-line guides—this is to be more academic. Check out Gale Resources (links are in Year Long Resources folder in Schoology); many novel editions have introductions, afterwards, and critical essays included. Summarize the article and then interact with it. Point out the major assertion of the article. Do you agree, disagree or both at different times? Why? How did this essay add to and deepen your thoughts on the novel? Start this section with the article title and author (do NOT start—“This article says….). If you use quotes from the article, cite the page numbers: (Klein 4) if you have page numbers. You can also just write something like: Klein writes, “I love Jeff, of course” (4). If there are no page numbers it looks like this: Klein writes, “I love Jeff, of course.” (Here you may use 1st person—but sparingly).
4. Personal Assessment of the Novel:
1-2 paragraphs. You may remark on reading level difficulty and challenges to reading the novel, but please do not complain about the novel, instead analyze why it is a classic. How and why has it withstood the test of time? What is problematic about the novel as we read it in our current times? What did you find great, interesting, meaningful about the novel? Reflect on your reading and reactions to the novel. (Here you may use 1st person—but sparingly).
5. Connect to HTRLLAP (Foster):
Choose three ideas from How to Read Literature Like a Professor and explain how they are present in your novel. For example, you may notice that your protagonist goes on a quest, the weather is a significant element of the novel, and there are Greek allusions present. Briefly explain how each of these elements plays out in your novel and give textual evidence from your novel. Use separate paragraphs for each element.
6. Quotations: (You SHOULD work on this section of the paper during your entire novel reading). While reading your novel, you need to collect three (3) passages/quotes from the novel and “THE Quote of the Novel” (so four (4) quotations altogether). I suggest you use post-its to note/mark passages as you read or highlight electronically. Every time you encounter a particularly important, provocative, dramatic, surprising, even disturbing passage, mark it with a post-it note (if you own the book, you can annotate it!) Only when you have completed the novel will you look at all those passages and decide which to toss out and which to keep. Finally, select the four (4) passages from throughout the novel.
This is how you should set up this section:
First, in a well-written paragraph (minimum of three sentences) introduce the passage and explain how it “fits” into the novel (i.e.: does it add to character development, plot line, details of setting, theme, etc).
Then, type the passage (following MLA quotation format and use quotation marks and include page numbers).
Finally, in a well-written paragraph (minimum of three sentences) react to the passage. Make me
understand why you have selected this passage. You may consider the following as prompts for this section: Novel Assignment 2
• Why does the passage impress, intrigue, horrify, or puzzle you?
• Do you find the author’s use of language appealing or powerful? How and why?
• Does it prompt a strong response from you? Do you love the language or sound of it?
• Is it particularly meaningful? Why?
• Are you in agreement/disagreement with the ideas expressed? Explain
• What does the passage make you feel?
• What intriguing questions or issues are raised?
• How does the passage challenge or expand your thinking. Etc.
The above is for the three passages you’ve chosen. Finally, you need to choose “THE Quotation of the Novel.” This is the one passage or quote that captures the essence—the basic meaning and experience—of the novel for you, the reader. Set it up the same way you did the other four quotations but include exactly HOW this passage is the one perfect quote from the novel—for you.
Quotation requirements: Please number your quotations
• Passages/quotations must be at least one sentence long (and shorter than a page!)—there can be exceptions
if you find a phrase you just need to use.
• Passages/quotations must be roughly from throughout the entire novel—think of beginning, middle and end
and try to capture quotations from each section.
• All passages/quotations must be in quotation marks (be sure to copy the passage exactly as it appears in the
novel). Block quotations must follow MLA format.
• All passages/quotations must end with the page number from which they are taken (Twain 233)
• Consult with and follow the MLA guide as best you can about quoting dialogue—there’s information in the
MLA folder on Schoology
7. Works Cited/Consulted:
This should be a separate page and should be done in MLA format—don’t make up your own format. (I’m picky about this!) Every source you use (including your novel) needs to appear on this page. So, at a minimum it should contain: 3 sources for your author bio, critical essay source, any and all editions of the novel you used. If your list includes only sources that are cited in your paper, it’s called Works Cited; if your list includes sources that you read and or consulted but did not actually use or cite in your paper, then call it Works Consulted. Either way, it’s one list that is alphabetized, doubled spaced, and employs hanging indents and correct MLA format.
