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For your second essay, you will choose either William Shakespeare's play Henry V or Richard III, and write a one-thousand-word argument on it. As with the previous essay, you will create a thesis statement that reflects your opinion about what you think Shakespeare is saying about the topic you choose. Your essay will then support the argument put forth in the thesis. For a thesis to be sound, you should be able to answer "yes" to the following question: Could a reasonably intelligent reader familiar with the play logically disagree with what I'm arguing? Remember also that the thesis must be an opinion of what you believe Shakespeare is saying about the topic, not your views about the topic. Use incidents and lines from the play to support your argument. When you quote lines from the text, document them according to these guidelines:

Introduce the quotation by letting your reader know who is speaking and to whom.
Use present tense verbs in your introduction. Remember that the play is always with us.
Example: In the play Richard II, the king reveals his weakness as a leader when he says the following to Bolingbroke and Mowbray: "We were not born to sue, but to command, / Which, since we cannot do, to make you friends, / Be ready, as your lives shall answer it, / At Coventry upon Saint Lambert's day" ( 1. 1. 202-205). The numbers in parenthesis represent act one, scene one, lines 202 through 205.
If you choose a quotation of longer than four lines of poetry, then separate the quotation ten spaces from the left margin of your text. You should not use quotation marks for a long quotation. The indentation tells the reader that you are quoting. Such a quotation would look like the following:

In the play The Merchant of Venice, we can hear Shakespeare's irony ring through Portia, disguised as Balthazar, as she delivers her speech about the quality of mercy to the court:

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown. (4. 1. 190-195)

The above lines should be double-spaced, but the program I'm working with won't allow that spacing here. But you should double space everything in your essay.
A maximum of 15 % of your paper should appear in quotation marks, and keep your long quotations to a minimum.

If you have trouble understanding what I mean by a thesis, then check out the link on my website dealing with the thesis statement.

The above form of documentation is referred to as in-text documentation. To complement it, you will also have to include a works cited page at the end of your paper. Such a page would appear as follows:

Shakespeare, William. Richard III. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New

Of course, if you use any source that influences your essay--whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary--you must give credit to that source, in the text of your essay and in the work cited page. For further information about how and what to document, and how to avoid plagiarism, visit my website on documentation.

I will read rough drafts of your essay, so don't hesitate to show me what you're working on; however, once you turn in your essay, you may not rewrite for a different grade. Also, it would be prudent to show me the thesis of your essay before you hand it in. The due date for the essay is on your syllabus.