Short Story Paragraph

Short Story Paragraph

50 points

Having read the eight short stories in our unit, you will write a paragraph about ONE recurring theme that appears in multiple short stories. You must include THREE EXAMPLES in your paragraph with each example representing a different story. Approved themes we have discussed in class include inhumanity, pride, and good character.

Topic Sentence – Your topic sentence should indicate the theme you have chosen and the direction your paragraph will take.

Sample topic sentences: see the examples below as models (but do not copy).

In multiple short stories during this unit, compassion is the dominant theme.

Many authors demonstrate the importance of courage through short stories.

Pride can be both a stumbling block and a source of strength as seen in numerous short stories.

Set Up/Context/Situation Information – Before every quotation, you must include the context.

context, n. the circumstances or events that form the environment within which

something exists or takes place

The context might include where the event occurs, who else is there (if this is important), what happened right beforehand, and who is speaking (which would be a speaker or dialogue tag). For this assignment, since we are looking at multiple works, you should also include the title of the story in this section. Notice that in each example I provided a transition word or phrase (underlined in the examples) before giving the context.

Examples:At the end of “The Missing Glasses,” Bob discovers that his glasses were in his pocket all along. Laughing, Bob says, “Wow, do I feel a little silly” (Rose 25).

Notice the comma after the word says to indicate the beginning of the dialogue and a quotation that is a complete thought. Notice also that the title of the story is in quotation marks because it is a short story.

At the beginning of the story, Louis does not have the courage to face his fears. Instead of looking under the bed to see if a monster is there, he “dives under the covers after catapulting himself across the room” (Jones 89).

Notice that I did not using a comma after the word he. This is because I am embedding only part of a sentence from the story. If I had used a complete thought, I would have used a comma and it would look like the following:

At the beginning of the story, Louis does not have the courage to face his fears. Instead of looking under the bed to see if a monster is there, “Louis stands at the edge of the door and then dives under the covers after catapulting himself across the room” (Jones 89).

Specifics/Quotations – You should select three quotations (each from a different story) to demonstrate your theme. These quotations can be either dialogue or narration—any text written by the author in the story is acceptable. Note the proper punctuation of quotations in an essay as shown below.

Narration OR Dialogue Only:

Use regular quotation marks (“ ”) around the quotation.

Example:“I didn’t have any idea that we weren’t supposed to leave” (Smith 25).

“Winter passed, and the flowers began to bloom” (Roberts 80).

Quotations with Narration AND Dialogue:

Use regular quotation marks around the entire quotation and single quotation marks (‘ ’) around the dialogue within the selection text.

Example:“Bob snorted with disgust. ‘You can’t possibly ask me to believe that!’ he exclaimed” (Thompson 34).

In the example, the narration includes the words Bob snorted with disgust and he exclaimed at the end. The dialogue, which has single quotation marks around it, includes the text You can’t possibly ask me to believe that!

Inferences– These need to be at least two to three sentences in length depending on what you write. These should not repeat the quotation or the context information provided.

For inferences, you should tell how the theme is apparent in the example and its importance to the rest of the story. You might also “read between the lines” and explain what is meant in the quotation that relates to the theme but is not directly stated. (There isn’t only one way to write an inference. It often depends on the topic and the example selected.) This part is for your analysis of the scene to tell what it means in relation to your theme. This is the time that you “show me what ya’ got!” In the examples below, I have italicized the inferences to indicate where they are. You would not italicize them in your actual paragraph.

Poor Example of an Inference:

At the beginning of the story, Louis does not have the courage to face his fears. Instead of looking under the bed to see if a monster is there, he “dives under the covers after catapulting himself across the room” (Jones 89). Louis does not have courage. He dives under the covers. This shows he does not have courage.

Better Example of an Inference:

At the beginning of the story, Louis does not have the courage to face his fears. Instead of looking under the bed to see if a monster is there, he “dives under the covers after catapulting himself across the room” (Jones 89). By avoiding his fear of the monster under the bed, Louis is still terrified when he goes to sleep. If he had the courage to look, he would see that it was only a stuffed animal casting an odd shadow from beneath his bed.

Clincher – Remember to write a clincher in which you sum up what you stated in the paragraph. If you are writing an essay, you could also use the clincher to lead into the next topic of discussion.

When you are finished typing your paragraph, you will need to cite your sources on a separate sheet of paper. For this assignment, all of your sources came from one reference book (your literature book), so this is how you would cite your stories. ALL 3 stories will need to be cited in alphabetical order by author’s last name. Also notice the “hanging indentation”. See below:

Works Cited

author “story title”book title city

Connell, Richard. “The Most Dangerous Game.” Elements of Literature, Third Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1997. 13-28.

publisher year pages

Paragraph Terminology – Sometimes we’ll abbreviate this information:

Definitions of Terms

topic sentence (TS)the first sentence of a body ¶; says what will be discussed/proven in the paragraph

transition (trans)a word or phrase that links one idea to the next; helps the ideas “flow” within a ¶ (ex: consequently, as a result of, because of, furthermore)

“set up” or “situation”puts the quotation in context to improve the reader’s understanding; tells the reader about when a quotation appears in the text, who says the quotation, etc.

quotation (Q)any text (narration or dialogue) taken directly from a piece of writing; must appear in quotation marks and include a citation (at least a page # and often an author [when more than one text is used]); also called an “example” or a “specific”

inference (H/W)an interpretation that is drawn from the quotation; tells “how” or “why” the quotation demonstrates the idea in the topic sentence

Infer – to conclude something on the basis of evidence (such as quotations from a source) or reasoning (your own logic/thought); often involves “reading between the lines”

clincher/bridgethe last sentence of a body ¶; sums up the paragraph/restates the idea from the topic sentence; bridges to the next ¶

BODY PARAGRAPH :

Thesis ______

Transition phrase to introduce 1st example ______

Quote(first example)______

______

Connect example to thesis statement (Inference) ______

______

Transitionphrase to next example ______

Quote(2nd example)______

______
Connect example to thesis statement (Inference) ______

______

Transitionphrase to next example ______

Quote(3rd example)______

______

Connect example to thesis statement (inference) ______

______

Clincher (one sentence to sum up what you stated in the paragraph. Be sure to mention the “big idea: here. What is the author’s message) ______