UPDATE: Your rough draft is due Thursday; final draft is due Friday.
Everyone should have now picked his/her character. If you have a serious problem with your choice, then please let me know via email and we'll discuss alternatives.
The assignment for your essay on To Kill A Mockingbird is below:
Overview
Each of you will write a two-three page paper tracing a character’s development (Honors students will write at least three pages). Character selection will be random, and you will each then begin the process of accumulating evidence from the novel. The paper will be formatted according to MLA and will follow English Department guidelines – typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman.
Organization
Your paper should be developed around a central thesis – one that makes an overall statement about the character’s development and how changes in that character affect the overall narrative. Your introduction must include your subject and topic (the novel and character) and should suggest the structure of your paper.
The body of the paper should be organized chronologically. However, this is NOT a summary of the book. Your summary of events should be limited to only the events/details that concern the development of your character. Focus on specific events that contribute to the growth of your character, including moments where a character makes a significant realization or where details about a character’s personality are revealed.
Your first body paragraph should “introduce” the character, providing a physical and psychological description of the character at the beginning of the novel. Your concluding paragraph should likewise provide a description of the character at the end of the novel – after the character has changed, in other words. Your conclusion should also re-state your thesis.
Process
On a separate sheet of paper, you should start going through the novel, looking for details to include in your paper. As you find details, list them, including quotation marks when using exact wording. For every piece of evidence, be sure to record the page number! As with previous papers, you will refer to page numbers at the end of the sentence containing the information/quote. The form for this is called “parenthetical citation,” and it looks like this: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow” (3). Notice the punctuation!
Please begin gathering information this weekend. We'll watch the film Monday and Tuesday, and you can work on your papers. Come Monday with any questions regarding your assignment and/or character.
Everyone should have now picked his/her character. If you have a serious problem with your choice, then please let me know via email and we'll discuss alternatives.
The assignment for your essay on To Kill A Mockingbird is below:
Overview
Each of you will write a two-three page paper tracing a character’s development (Honors students will write at least three pages). Character selection will be random, and you will each then begin the process of accumulating evidence from the novel. The paper will be formatted according to MLA and will follow English Department guidelines – typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman.
Organization
Your paper should be developed around a central thesis – one that makes an overall statement about the character’s development and how changes in that character affect the overall narrative. Your introduction must include your subject and topic (the novel and character) and should suggest the structure of your paper.
The body of the paper should be organized chronologically. However, this is NOT a summary of the book. Your summary of events should be limited to only the events/details that concern the development of your character. Focus on specific events that contribute to the growth of your character, including moments where a character makes a significant realization or where details about a character’s personality are revealed.
Your first body paragraph should “introduce” the character, providing a physical and psychological description of the character at the beginning of the novel. Your concluding paragraph should likewise provide a description of the character at the end of the novel – after the character has changed, in other words. Your conclusion should also re-state your thesis.
Process
On a separate sheet of paper, you should start going through the novel, looking for details to include in your paper. As you find details, list them, including quotation marks when using exact wording. For every piece of evidence, be sure to record the page number! As with previous papers, you will refer to page numbers at the end of the sentence containing the information/quote. The form for this is called “parenthetical citation,” and it looks like this: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow” (3). Notice the punctuation!
Please begin gathering information this weekend. We'll watch the film Monday and Tuesday, and you can work on your papers. Come Monday with any questions regarding your assignment and/or character.