As you prepare this and subsequent essays, please review sections on “Essay Grading” in Unit 1. You may also want to review various sections of your college composition course handbook that deal with organizing and composing effective essays.

Your essay should present a clear, insightful central idea, should have a clear sense of order and logic, should be well developed with specific details to support your assertions, and should use effective language that is free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Avoid plot summaries and provide quotations from the text to support your ideas. Consult the Writing About World Literature by Karen Gocsik for writing instructions. Also, it is suggested that you spend ample time writing and revising your essay.

How to format your paper:

• Typed/printed, double-spaced, 1″ margins. Change them in “Page Setup” on the “File” menu.
• Paragraphs indented 5 spaces at left; do not separate paragraphs by extra blank lines.
• Quotations of 10 words or less should be integrated into the text; longer quotations should be indented 5 spaces at left and right margins, single spaced, and set off from the text of the essay by a blank line before and after the quotation. Be sure to include verse numbers or line numbers
• Avoid citing college dictionaries, Wikipedia, or basic references such as the OED, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc. Instead, use the text, discussion postings, lesson notes, and any sources accessed from GALILEO for outside reference.

Each essay should have a specific title – one that suggests what is the most interesting or important about what you have to say. It’s worth taking a little thought over the title, not only because it creates the first impression of your essay; coming up with a phrase which encapsulates your argument can help in focusing that argument. One popular strategy is to use a key phrase from the text followed by another phrase of clarification.