Final Essay
You have read the work of many authors this semester, but you have not read all the authors collected in our class textbook, Bonnie Robinson’s British Literature: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond. This is your opportunity to have some fun and read some authors of your choosing out of our class textbook.
First, you must write and submit a short proposal for this assignment in which you pick two authors from our class textbook whom you have not been assigned to read for this class; see below for details. Then, you must compose an original analysis of the literature of those two authors in an essay of 1500 to 2500 words. The word count is total and covers what you have to say about both authors.
You must write about authors from British Literature: Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond; do not write about authors from earlier time periods, other literature textbooks, or American authors, because we have not covered those topics in this class.
If you wish to read additional work of one author whom you have been assigned to read this term, that is ok, so long as the work you choose has not been assigned this term. Similarly, if you are intrigued by an excerpt you have read, you may read the full text from Project Gutenberg or some other external source. However, if you do this then your second author must be someone you have not been assigned to read for this class this semester.
Analyze at the very least the following for each author: one short story or essay; OR one novel, either in whole or excerpted; OR two short poems (less than two pages); OR one long poem (more than two pages); OR one play.
Be sure to look ahead in the assignment schedule. Do not write about authors we will read in a future unit.
Complete the following four steps in your essay for each author (the grade percentage of each step is noted in the parenthesis).
1. Introduce your author and summarize the work of literature you have read. (10%)
2. Based on your readings of the textbook introductions and our online discussions, categorize the literary work you have read. What periods and/or movement/s does it belong to? Romantic? Victorian? Modern? Postmodern? Postcolonial? (20%)
3. Compare and contrast the literary work you have read for each author with the literary work of two other authors we have read this term (four compare-and-contrasts total). (30%)
4. Interpret the work you have read. What meaning do you get out of it? (30%)
5. Write in Standard American English, making appropriate use of grammar and style. (10%)
Thus, an outline for your paper may look like this: • intro of author 1
• categorization of author 1’s writing
• compare and contrast the writing of author 1 with the writing of two other authors
• interpretation of author 1’s writing
• intro of author 2
• categorization of author 2’s writing
• compare and contrast writing of author 2 with writing of two other authors
• interpretation of author 2’s writing
Keep the following in mind as you write your final paper:
• This is not a research essay. This essay is a reflection of your own personal exploration of two authors. Thus, this essay must be your own, original work, without referring to any outside sources or commentaries beyond those in the class textbook and D2L. As with your main posts and responses, do not read any other external websites or books about your authors and their works. I need to see your ideas in your essay, not somebody else’s.
• However, you may quote and paraphrase material internal to our course. The following are acceptable sources for your essay: the introductory essays in the textbook; any material linked to in my reading notes; my class lectures/reading notes; your fellow students’ main posts and responses; and the work of any author whom you have read in the class textbook.
• When you are paraphrasing or quoting, appropriately signal where your quotes and paraphrases are coming from with judicious use of signal words and phrases. If you copy phrases or sentences from the textbook then you must quote them and cite which page those passages come from in the textbook; if you don’t, your essay grade will be lowered significantly for plagiarism. Format your quotes and citations in either MLA or APA style.
• Consult the Purdue OWL for MLA and APA style guides. These will show you how to quote and cite and MLA and APA style, as will the online Gordon College Handbook you used in English 1101/2. Here is the Purdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
• If our textbook presents only selections of the work you want to write about and you wish to read the full work, or if you want to read work beyond that collected in the textbook, you may use an external source such as a library or Project Gutenberg to access the full or additional text.
• Use present tense when writing about literature: https://www.gutenberg.org/.
• Follow the essay format instructions posted below. Proposal (5 pts.). Due in the Final Essay Proposal assignment folder on D2L. Late papers will not be accepted.
By the due date of the proposal, you should have skimmed through the class textbook and identified at least two new authors you wish to read. All you need to do by the proposal due date is upload a brief paragraph (in MS Word format) to the Final Essay Proposal assignment folder in which you tell what two new authors you are thinking of reading, what works of theirs you may read, and why you chose them and those works.
Final Essay (95 pts.). Due in the Final Essay folder on D2L. Late papers will not be accepted.
Follow these Format Instructions for your Final Essay:
• Include the following in the upper right hand side of the first page: your name; a title for your paper;
the number of words in your paper; the name of your class; your professor’s name; and an original title for your essay.
• Your essay must be written in Standard American English, making use of proper grammar, diction, and spelling.
• Number each page. Center page numbers at the bottom of each page.
• Type your essay with double spacing and 1” margins; use 12 pt. Times New Roman font and left justify your body paragraphs.
• Cite your quotes in MLA or APA parenthetical citation style, using either the author name or, if you are citing an introductory essay in the textbook, the editor’s name “Robinson” (i.e., (Byron 471) or (Robinson 1154)).
• You can find MLA and APA style guides here at the Purdue OWL: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
• Since you are not allowed to use outside sources beyond the textbook and D2L in your essay, you do not need to include a works cited page.
• You must upload a MS Word file containing a properly formatted draft of your Final Essay to the Final Essay Assignment Folder on our class webpage. Your essay will be graded and commented on within the assignment folder; after your essay is graded, click on your submission in the final essay assignment folder to see your grade and your professor’s comments.