Honors English 111 -- Essay #5 -- Richard Wright
For the previous four essays, I have provided topics for you. By now, you certainly have some idea of what I consider to be engaging, argumentative issues in a novel. Now, for your fifth essay, you should create your own topic. I want that topic to be argumentative. That is, a reasonable, intelligent person who has read the novel and who reads your paper should be able to say, "I disagree with that." And that person should be able to provide an equally compelling argument refuting your findings. It goes without saying, I hope, that I want the essay to go further than we have in our class discussions.
*Please be sure to clear your topic with me before you begin to write.
Once again, for this essay, I want you to do research to support your views; incorporate three outside sources--plus the novel-- into your text and works cited page. Do not use the Bible, other fiction/poetry, a standard dictionary, or an encyclopedia as one of these sources. And do not waste any time telling me about Richard Wright's biography. You should focus this paper on a literary analysis of the novel. Be careful of each source that you use; that is, simply because it is in print--on paper or in an electronic format--that does not mean that it is a reputable source. Read your sources with a critical eye, and use only those who have something substantial to say.
Document according to the MLA format that we have discussed in class. Remember that for the most part, all that is necessary for an in-text citation is the author's name and page reference: (Wright 29). If you introduce the source, then usually include the full name: According to literary critic Robert Bone, "Richard Wright is a . . . "; then simply place the page reference in parenthesis at the end of your quotation (33). If you summarize or paraphrase someone else's findings, you are still responsible for giving credit to that souce. It would be to everyone's benefit to read the section in your handbook on "plagiarism," pages 498-503, as well as the link off my homepage. Although we have gone over this in class, a refresher will be helpful.
If there is no author's name in your source, then for an in-text citation, put the title of the article or the name of the website in quotations and parenthesis, plus the page number if it's given: ("The Black Writer and Communism" 49). Whatever appears in the in-text citation should match the beginning of the works cited page. Therefore, for the Robert Bone source I gave you, I will look for Bone, Robert (alphabetized, of course, according to the surname) in the works cited, plus the name of the work and so on. In the source without an author's name, I will look for "The Black Writer and Communism." This should be alphabetized under "B," not under the article The.
Remember that everything in the works cited page is alphabetized. For a sample works cited page, see your Bedford Handbook, page 588. For further documentation help about in-text citations, see your handbook, beginning on page 609; for further help with a works cited page, see the material that begins on page 529.
Proofread your work scrupulously; there is no sense in putting hours into reading the novel and your sources and then turning in a poorly written essay, one that has misspellings, fragments, dangling modifiers, comma splices, and misplaced modifiers. Such an essay tells the reader that you don't care about accuracy. What reader wants to waste his or her time reading a work in which the writer doesn't care?
Hold your quotations (including all your secondary sources) to no more than fifteen percent of the paper. This will require that you use your direct quotations prudently.
Given the length and depth of the novel and of the sources I'm asking you to use, you should think in terms of at least twelve hundred to fifteen hundred words.
Check your syllabus for the due date.
Good Luck!