demonstrate your skills of independent close reading and interpretation.

Your first and last names

Paul D. Dickinson

English 155: Introduction to Literature

Date

(the paper should LOOK like this handout)

Your Title Centered Here

The purpose of these literature papers is to demonstrate your skills of independent close reading and interpretation. For this, and all other papers for this, class, I am interested in YOUR unaided interpretations of the text. Do not do research or use outside sources for this paper. Using outside sources (such as Spark Notes) without citing them is plagiarism and will result in a grade of 0.

Your goal is to formulate one interpretive thesis statement about a novel OR one of the short stories we’ve read and support it with references to and direct quotations from the text. You should be trying to prove something about the text by providing your own interpretation of the text’s “facts.” In other words, do not simply summarize the plot. One idea is write about one of the themes of the work. Another idea is to trace a recurring motif and discuss its significance. Assume the reader of the paper has already read the book. Your task is to tell the readers something they might not have noticed upon first reading the book. Ideally, you will be arguing in support of an interpretation that somebody could disagree with.

You should not even attempt to cover everything there is to say about the book. Instead, choose one specific element of the novel or story to analyze. An in-depth analysis of a narrow aspect of the novel (such tracing one recurring image or a symbol) is much better than a superficial analysis of a broad aspect. You should discuss both how this element fits into the larger themes of the novel and why you think the author includes this element. Your in-class work on writing about themes might give you some ideas on what to write about.

Follow MLA format when documenting the quotations. After every quotation, put in parentheses the page number and the name of the author if not clear by the context of the sentence. For example: (Keillor 42). If the author and title of the text are already clear from the context of your writing, you do not have to repeat them after every single quotation. Do, however, ALWAYS put the page number of the quotation.

Other tips:

· If a quotation runs over four lines long, indent all lines ten spaces from the left and run them to the regular right hand margin.

· Because you should comment on every quotation and example, you will end paragraphs with your own prose. In other words, don’t just “throw in” a quotation and leave it hanging on its own.

· The essay should be about 750 words (approx 3 pages), with most of the paper being your own words. In other words, don’t throw in long blocks of quotations. Quotations should be “sprinkled” sparingly throughout the paper to back up your own ideas.

· Essay should be typed, font size 12, double-spaced, with one inch margins.