Length: 1750-2250 Words (5-6 Pages, Double-Spaced, 1 Margins, Standard Font, with Page Numbers)

ENG 3015 Essay 1

Length: 1750-2250 words (5-6 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins, standard font, with page numbers)

DEADLINES:

Tuesday, October 13draft due via email (Optional. I’ll still happily answer questions after this date.)

Tuesday, October 20 essay due

You may bring me a printed copy in class or email a copy () by the end of the day.

Please note: late October is a busy time for this course. Keep an eye on the syllabus and be sure to plan ahead and avoid procrastination so that your schedule doesn’t get out of hand.

For this assignment, you’ll write a critical essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that takes advantage of the broader conceptual framework you’ve gained by reading the other texts for this class. To be more precise, you’ll write an essay that uses the relationship between Frankenstein and one other text we’ve read to reveal something about the novel that is not immediately obvious on a first reading. Which text you choose to place in conversation with the novel, and the conclusions that you draw, are up to you. I’d be happy to discuss ideas with you as they develop.

Your essay should offer a clear argument about the novel that doesn’t simply state the obvious but that rather advances a claim that takes some proving, that might even be provocative or surprising to readers familiar with the novel. That argument (though it needn’t be expressed in these terms) should express something along these lines:

By looking at Frankenstein [or X specific part of Frankenstein] in the light of [other text we’ve read in class], it becomes apparent that [what you want to point out/emphasize], which isn’t immediately clear otherwise. This is important to notice because [why we should care about your argument, why it’s crucial that we read the novel this way].

Again, you do not need to use these words, but I hope this little formula helps you see what you’ll have to figure out as you make notes toward writing this essay. Apart from the argument (which should govern the entire essay), your paper should feature close analysis that supports that argument. Avoid plot summary, and consider details (how something is said, not just what is said) whenever possible.

Some reminders:

Make sure your title previews your argument (rather than repeating the assignment). While you’re at it, write a first sentence that grabs your reader!Write what you’d enjoy reading.
Cite your sources. Include a works cited page that includes any source you use.
There is, unfortunately, no telepathy in academic writing. Try to get your full line of thought on the page; don’t assume that your reader already understands what you want to say.
If you’re interested in visiting the Writing Center, be sure to plan ahead. They get booked early.
Ask me for help whenever you need it. Don’t suffer in silence!

The Thesis

(adapted from Jack Lynch’s website, linked [including examples!] on our course blog)

Agood thesisis:

Argumentative.It makes a case. That's the biggest difference between athesisand atopic— a topic is something like “Slavery inHuck Finn.” That's not a case, only a general area. Athesis, on the other hand, makes a specific case, it tries to prove something. One way to tell a thesis from a topic: if it doesn't have an active verb, it's almost certainly still a topic.
Controversial.That doesn't mean something like “Abortionists should be shot” or “George W. Bush's election was illegitimate” — it means that it has to be possible for an intelligent person todisagreewith your thesis. If everyone agrees on first sight, your thesis is too obvious, and not worth writing about. It also has to be something you can reasonably argue about: it's not enough merely to give an unsupported opinion.
Analytical, not evaluative.A college English paper isn't the place to praise or blame works of literature: theses like “Paradise Lostis an enduring expression of the human spirit” or “The Sound and the Furyisn't successful in its choice of narrative techniques” aren't appropriate. That's the business of book reviewers. No need to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down; evaluate the work on its own terms.
About the readings, not the real world.Never forget that books are books and, if you're in an English class, you're being asked to talk aboutthem. Many books are unreliable guides to thereal worldoutside the texts, and it's dangerous to talk about, say, Renaissance attitudes toward race based only on your reading ofOthello. Talk aboutOthello.
Specific.It's not enough to deal in vaguegeneralities. Some students want to write their paper on man and God, or on the black experience in the twentieth century. Both are far too nebulous to produce a good paper. Get your hands dirty with the text.
Well supported.That's the key to the rest of the paper after those first few paragraphs.

The thesis statement should appear very close to thebeginningof the paper. Some professors want it in a specific place — often the last sentence of the first paragraph. That's as good a position as any, but I prefer not to be rigidlyformulaicin such matters. In any case, though, the thesis statement should be very near the beginning (in the first paragraph or two).

Note, though, that just because the thesis should be at the beginning of the reader's experience, it rarely comes at the beginning of the writer's experience. You do not need a refined thesis in order to start writing. If you begin with aprovisionalthesis and then do good and careful close readings, you will often find a version of your final thesis in thelast paragraph of a first draft. Integrate that version into your first paragraph and revise from there. Do not worry too much about your thesis, therefore, untilafteryou've written out your close readings! A good final thesis shouldemerge from, not precede, your analyses.

Of course you have to know exactly what you're saying by the time you finish, but don't let that stop you from beginning to write. The fear of the blank screen — think of the old movie cliché of the would-be writer with the trashcan overflowing with crumpled paper — paralyzes too many people. Theses don't spring into being in their final form.