ESSAY WRITING ASSIGNMENT

  1. Essay Writing Assignments involve the students writing an essay about material covered in class. Typically, this will be a report involving the student making an argument for a particular point of view and providing evidence for said argument.
  1. Examples of essay types:
  1. Theme Analysis – The students must provide a point of view with regards to a particular element of a story.

Example – The novel The Catcher In The Rye has an interesting title that relates to a dream that the main character has halfway through the novel. What is the meaning of that phrase according to Holden Caulfield?

  1. Character Analysis – The students must analyze a character in a story and explain their personality and/or motivations.

Example – Throughout the play Hamlet, the main character claims that he is pretending to be crazy to avoid suspicion from his uncle. Is that true, do his actions demonstrate that he is actually insane?

  1. Style Analysis – The students must analyze the way a story is written and the advantages and/or disadvantages of that style.

Example – In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the story is told out of order, with his experiences in Vietnam punctuated by stories of his childhood and experiences with his daughter after the war. Why is the novel written in this manner, and is this story told in a certain order other than chronological order?

  1. Creative Writing – Optionally, this can be made available to the students if you require an assignment that does not require an analysis of the story. In this case, you should use the creative writing rubric and options.

ESSAY WRITING RUBRIC
Score (per element.) / 3 / 2 / 1
Introduction / The introduction is inviting and accurately represents the structure of the paper. / The introduction clearly states the main topic. / The introduction does not clearly indicate what the essay is about.
Conclusion / The conclusion is strong and accentuates the point of the paper. / The conclusion is clear but not especially striking. / The conclusion is unclear and/or short.
Sentence Fluency / The writing is natural and has a clear and obvious emphasis. / The writing adequately expresses the point of the paper. / The writing is awkward and some parts are difficult to understand.
Grammar and Spelling / Writer has no distinct errors which distract the reader. / Writer makes several errors in grammar or spelling, but it does not detract from the reading. / The writer’s errors make parts of the paper difficult to understand.
Argument / The student’s arguments are well-supported and clear. / The student’s arguments have some supporting evidence. / There is almost no support for the student’s arguments.
Analysis / The student’s analysis is expressed well. / The student’s analysis is clear. / The student’s analysis does not support their opinion.
Length / The guide is the required length. / The guide is slightly shorter than the required length. / The guide is short and suffers from its brevity.