The essay should be on the works of one or more American writers from the 17th, 18th, or 19th century.
The essay should explain how the writer’s works represent (or do not represent) social forces during the time period in which it was written. Or you should explain how a particular theme is treated in this writer’s works.
You should write an essay of at least four to six full pages with a clear thesis statement.
The entire essay must be in in proper MLA format.
MLA format templates are easily generated in Microsoft Word. Open Microsoft Word and go to File>New>Search “MLA”>click on “MLA Style Paper”>Create.
This thesis should, without announcing, lay out a clear blueprint for the discussion to come.
Individual paragraph topic sentences should be simple and clear.
If you use outside sources or gain ideas from the Internet or elsewhere, these ideas and this information must be cited in proper MLA format (with a Works Cited List, as well).
The Works Cited page does not count toward the four to six page length.
You should make use of at least five to eight outside sources for this essay, not including your text.
These sources should be from our library. They should be academically legitimate sources. Consult Purdue Owl.edu for more information on properly citing sources. Do your own work. Do not plagiarize. Do not use A.I. Plagiarized work will receive an “0.” Otherwise, your ideas should be your own. You must incorporate textual evidence (quotes/details, cited in MLA format) from outside sources, about the work itself, to support the claim(s) you are making in this essay, as well. Every body paragraph should contain at least one MLA quote. Write original material. Do not just fill up the paragraph with quotes; make your quotes short. Use them to support what YOU are saying. A research essay must cite outside research. Failure to follow any of these requirements or write on-topic (following this prompt) will result in a deduction of points or a “0.”
Research Essay: relating authors to themes or genres
Anne Bradstreet: Christian or religious writers OR Women writers
Margaret Fuller: Writers on women’s issues
Thomas Paine: Theories of government OR
Thomas Jefferson: The Age of Enlightenment
Washington Irving: Fairy tales, ghost stories
Fenimore Cooper: Adventure story plots and characters
Mark Twain: Rural writers (Western writers) OR Satire
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature writers OR Transcendentalist
Edgar Allan Poe: Horror stories OR Insane people OR Early modernists
Another Poe topic: Compare similarities in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell Tale Heart”
You should, basically, be writing the essay just like you learned in ENG 102. This is what I expect. That is why I am not going into extreme detail about how to write the essay; you already know how. All research should be done using our campus library. The AVL is, also, very convenient. https://coastalalabama.instructure.com/courses/7
Only use legitimate, scholarly, literature from our library for your sources. You must not use only Google searches for your research. This is an academic research essay and should only use materials from our college’s library. It is set up for just such research. Our librarians are ready to assist you if necessary, and are skilled in rendering help with student essays. All this means you need to either set aside time for a visit to the library, or prepare to use the AVL. If you are not used to using the AVL, you will need to email or call the library for help when needed.
You are absolutely not allowed to use Wikipedia, Spark Notes, Shmoop, Ecyclopedia Brittanica or any of that ilk as research material. Do not summarize the story in any part of the essay. All that is filler and is not essay material. Failure to follow any of these requirements or write on-topic (following this prompt) will result in a deduction of points.
This essay can, also, be on a work, or works, of Edgar Allan Poe. The essay should be on themes that are found in Poe’s works, or a particular theme, such as premature burial, madness, alter-egos, Gothicism, death, love and hate, or others.
You may choose to focus your essay on a particular Poe short story. You should explain how a particular theme is treated or developed in Poe’s works. There are many stories that would be a fine choice for a short essay like this. “The Black Cat,” “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Fall of The House of Usher,” and others will be fine. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I have tried to keep this assignment simple and provide some flexibility. Don’t delay getting started on the assignment. Do the opposite; get started early in spite of yourself, and your grade is almost guaranteed to be better.
This should be enough to get you started….
OUTLINE FOR FINAL RESEARCH ESSAY
Please follow this outline for
success. The goal for each paragraph is
about ½ page long. As always, practice
sentence variety.
PARAGRAPH
#1 – Introduces the
history surrounding your poet, and discusses their world. At the end of this paragraph, mention your
poet by name. A short historical quote might fit nicely in this paragraph.
PARAGRAPH
#2 – Continue with the
poet, his/her education, personal life, dreams, themes, and it discusses their
world. A biographical quote might work
nicely in this paragraph. This entire
paragraph is about your poet. The
end of this paragraph should feature your thesis + thesis map.
PARAGRAPH
#3 – Introduces the
first poem, short summary, analyzes & evaluates and ties it in with the
thesis. Write about a technique that is
being used (irony, imagery, symbolism, language, tone, other) that is
important. You need to quote the poem
at least one time, in the middle of this paragraph.
PARAGRAPH
#4 – Continues the
discussion of the first poem; brief summary, analyzes & evaluates and
continues to tie it in with the thesis.
Write about a different technique that is being used (irony, imagery,
symbolism, language, tone, other) that is important. You need to quote the poem at least one
time, in the middle of this paragraph.
PARAGRAPH
#5 – Introduces the
second poem, short summary, analyzes & evaluates and ties it in with the
thesis. Write about a technique that is
being used (irony, imagery, symbolism, language, tone, other) that is
important. You need to quote the poem
at least one time, in the middle of this paragraph. Remember that this poem should have something
in common with the first poem.
PARAGRAPH
#6 – Continues the
discussion of the second poem; brief summary, analyzes & evaluates and
continues to tie it in with the thesis.
Write about a different technique that is being used (irony, imagery,
symbolism, language, tone, other) that is important. You need to quote the poem at least one
time, in the middle of this paragraph.
PARAGRAPH
#7 – Introduces the
third and final poem, short summary, analyzes & evaluates and ties it in
with the thesis. Write about a technique
that is being used (irony, imagery, symbolism, language, tone, other) that is
important. You need to quote the poem
at least one time, in the middle of this paragraph. Remember that this poem should have something
in common with the first poem.
PARAGRAPH
#8 – Continues the
discussion of the third poem; brief summary, analyzes & evaluates and
continues to tie it in with the thesis.
Write about a different technique that is being used (irony, imagery,
symbolism, language, tone, other) that is important. You need to quote the poem at least one
time, in the middle of this paragraph.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|