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English 30-2 Literary Essay Notes

*You MUST write about the text (story, novel, film, play) you have read for that module in the literary exploration.  For the diploma exam, you must choose a text from this course to write on.

Format:  Five-paragraph essay

Paragraph one: Introduction

An introduction is generally composed of a topic sentence, thesis and the three ideas you will be expanding upon in your body paragraphs.

Topic Sentence:  A topic sentence introduces the topic or prompt you are given, gives the title of the text(s) you will be using in your essay AND the author of the text.

Introduce supporting evidence:  The next 3-4 sentences generally outline the supports you will be using in your body paragraphs one, two and three.

Thesis:  The thesis statement is the backbone of the essay.  If you don’t have a viable thesis you will struggle to write the rest of your essay because you won’t be proving

Body Paragraphs

There are generally three body paragraphs in a literary essay at the high school level.  The purpose of the body paragraphs is to elaborate on the three points of support you have chosen to illustrate the point of your essay.  The topics of the three body paragraphs could be three different characters, events, relationships, ideologies or different examples of one characters’ behavior.

In the English 30-2 essay, you may dedicate ONE of your three body paragraphs to a personal experience.  If you have a personal anecdote or observation about the world that relates to the text you are writing about, you may include it in your essay.  Just make sure it relates clearly to the topic/theme that you are writing about in your essay

When appropriate, you should include quotations from the text to illustrate your points and use specific examples from the text.

Paragraph five: Conclusion

A conclusion includes a restatement of the thesis using different words than you used in the introduction.  It includes a synthesis of the main supporting evidence of your three body paragraphs.  Your wording should be confident and concise. You can end the conclusion with a definitive overarching statement that synthesizes the theme of your essay.

Do not introduce a new idea or concept into the conclusion and do not begin your conclusion with “in conclusion” or “to summarize” as this is redundant. 

Do not put a quotation or supporting evidence in your conclusion.  If you end your essay and find you have more to say then you can write an additional body paragraph or use these ideas to augment your arguments from your other body paragraphs

Rules for Essay Writing

  • Do not use contractions or slang (write out ‘cannot’, instead of using ‘can’t’)
  • Properly cite all of your text quotations or anything you have paraphrased from an outside course
  • Do not summarize the plot.  Assume the reader is familiar with the text and use plot points from the text to illustrate your point, but do not summarize.
  • Do not use flowery, dramatic or hyperbolic language in a critical essay. (ie.  “Since the dawn of time, man has struggled with the overpowering allure of danger…”- this reads more like a review than a critical essay)
  • Do not narrate the essay (“We can see from this character’s behavior that he is avoiding the consequences of his actions”.  Instead of using “we”, use “the reader can see”, or “the author reveals”)
  • Indent paragraphs; do not put a space in between them.
  • Title your essay (the title should not just be the title of the text, it should be about the topic/theme you are exploring
  • Essays should be double-spaced
  • Essay must be edited carefully before submission
  • Use 12 point font
  • Use Arial or Times New Roman font
  • Titles of books, full-length plays and films are italicized
  • Poems, songs, excepts, article titles etc. are in quotations

 

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