Draft Your Paper
The Unit 1 essay is a Close Reading essay. You will be drafting and revising this essay in Module 3. See What We Write About When We Write About Literature and Five Ways of Looking at a Thesis.
Here are the instructions for the Close Reading essay:
- Choose one of the readings from Module 2 and identify a theme in that reading.
- Develop a thesis that makes a claim about the theme you’ve chosen.
- Write an essay to support your claim that uses examples from the text to persuade readers that your interpretation and analysis of the story, poem, essay, or journal is acceptable.
- The essay must be 3-5 pages.
- Use MLA Style for this essay. That means double-spaced, Times New Roman font in size 12, with all works cited in MLA format.
- The paper should have a clear, concise focus, and each paragraph should present a unique point which supports your focus.
- Illustrate and support each point you make with examples and quotations from the text. You cannot succeed in this assignment if you don’t quote from the text.
- Quotations must be properly formatted and cited, using MLA style citation. Use in-text parenthetical documentation and a Works Cited list.
- The essay should have few or no grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Optional, Supplemental Readings
(Note: These readings are not required. They are available if you would like more information about writing.)
If you would like to read more about prewriting, annotating, and drafting, read these supplemental lessons.
- Planning to Write
- How to Annotate a Text
- Outlining
- Introductions and Conclusions
- Quoting Plays and Poetry in MLA
These optional, supplemental lessons discuss developing a the thesis statement: