Sample Discussion Posts
Lague 1
Sample Discussion Posts for Discussion 1 and the Mini-Essays
Discussion 1:
For Discussion 1, your initial post to the discussion should be an independent paragraph, about
150 to 200 words long. Start with a sentence that explains what the paragraph is about. Support
that sentence in the body of the paragraph, and end with a concluding sentence that wraps up the
paragraph. Make sure you write about what the discussion requires.
Discussion question:
After you have read through the material and links on this page, go to Discussion 1:
Literary Analysis. Your assignment is to post your ideas about what you have read, what
you understand and don’t understand. Post a question. Answer a question. Whatever it
takes to make sure you understand the idea of a literary analysis. You need to get a
conversation going about the material in this module. You may need to come back to the
discussion more than one time, spend time reading through what other students have
posted, and respond to what you have read.
Sample Post (257 words):
All the material included in sections “Elements of Literature” and “Writing about
Literature” was very helpful and interesting to me. Since I love everything that has to do
literature, I fell in love with all the information provided. As I was reading “Elements of
Literature,” I found some terms that I was already familiar with; however, many others
were totally new for me. Even though I like reading novel and short stories so much, I did
not know the appropriate terminology that is used to talk effectively about what I’ve
read. For instance, I learned the meaning of the term “plot” which is kind of the
backbone of novels and short stories. It was interesting how the plot in a story can be
graphed to follow the action in a story or novel. I suppose play’s plot works in the same
way. Using the appropriate language is very important especially when it comes to
writing about literature and trying to get our ideas across to someone else in the class or
to the professor. The part that shows the proper way of writing an essay in “Writing about
Literature” was very helpful to me, especially the part about how to support the thesis
with quotations because my big mistake is that I tend to paraphrase rather than quote the
author’s work. Writing is something that becomes kind of hard to me because English is
not my first language. However, all the information provided in the module it is going to
help me out while writing about literature.
Lague 2
Remaining Discussions:
The discussions that remain in the course begin with a Mini-Essay about 300 words long. They
require what any essay requires, an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, supporting
body paragraphs, and a conclusion. For the Mini-Essay, a short introduction with a thesis, one
supporting body paragraph, and a short conclusion.
Your Mini-Essay should answer the discussion question that is posed for the assignment. You
should think of it as short version of a literary analysis that will allow you to practice what you
have learned in this module and express your opinion about the literature in question. Here’s a
sample for a discussion question that asks students to discuss the issue of power in the poem
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Notice that it has three paragraphs (introduction,
supporting body paragraph and conclusion), that the thesis is at the end of the introduction, and
that the quotations are followed by parenthetical citations giving the line number(s) for each
quotation.
Sample Literary Analysis Mini-Essay:
Powerful people sometimes forget that all people, rich and poor, powerful and powerless,
eventually come to the same end. It’s a good idea for anyone to keep in mind. If people
want to leave a legacy after the are gone, they should choose one that lasts. Power is
fleeting, though, and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias,” expresses that idea.
The poem’s speaker relates an account told to him by “a traveler from an antique land”
(1). He has no direct knowledge of the image he is about to relate, but the story has
caught his imagination enough to pass it. As he tells the traveler’s story word for word,
describing the remains of an ancient Egyptian stature that has been reduced to rubble. He
describes “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone [that] / Stand in the desert. Near them on
the sand, / Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” (2-4), the “wrinkled lip and sneer of cold
command” (5) still visible on the face. The speaker than brings the original sculptor
through the inscription on the pedestal. In reality, the inscription was probably
commanded by Ozymandias himself, the man whose “passions” (6) and mocking hand
and heart (7) were captured by the sculptor’s art. His inscription is meant as a warning to
anyone who would have challenged Ozymandias. It reads, “My name is Ozymandias,
King of Kings: / Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” (10-11). Immediately
afterwards, the poem’s readers are brought back thousands of years to the present when
the poem returns abruptly to the speaker who proclaims that nothing remains of the statue
(12) and goes on to describe the desert surroundings. Nothing is left of Ozymandias or his
great kingdom.
By the end of the poem, the symbol of Ozymandias’ power has returned to the desert, just
like Ozymandias himself. Therefore, the readers of the poem are left to consider the
fleeting nature of power.
Lague 3
The numbers that belong in the MLA parenthetical citations depend on what type of literary
work you are analyzing. Here are the requirements:
Literary Work Default MLA Parenthetical Citation
Prose (novels, novellas, short stories) Page numbers
For example, page 7: (7)
Short Poem Line numbers
For example, line 3: (3)
For example, lines 3 through 5: (3-5)
Poem separated into numbered sections Section and line numbers
For example, section 1, line 12 (1.12)
Play Act, scene, and line numbers; if lines
numbers are not give, provide act and scene
numbers.
For example, act 1, scene 6, line 5 (1.6.5)
For example, act 1, scene 8: (1.8)
Prose on a website Paragraph numbers (You will have to count
the paragraphs. The first time you provide a
citation, show that paragraphs numbers are
being use.
For example, paragraph 4: (para. 4)