Essay 1 (20%): This essay must be a minimum of 600 words (at least 2  and 1/2 pages long). Longer essays are acceptable.

• Choose one of the discussion questions provided to date and write a detailed response. You may include your discussion board response, but this essay should be more detailed than that of a discussion board response and  should be constructed as a complete essay. Critical thinking and a thoughtful analysis of the text are important to achieving a good grade.
• Secondary sources are encouraged but not required.
• The essay is due by Saturday evening of week 4.

—You can and should cite from the primary text (the story). Be sure to use appropriate in-text documentation. (Review MLA citation).

—This essay should have an introduction with a solid thesis, a body, and a conclusion.

Every essay should have a beginning (introduction, which clearly states the subject, goal, and thesis *statement* [the thesis is never a question; it is the answer to the question], and a brief map of your essay. Review: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/ (Links to an external site.) ), middle (body, in which you cite evidence and use facts to support your thesis), and ending (conclusion: summarize and synthesize the evidence for your essay).

A few tips for formal writing:

• Avoid contractions
• Never use you/we/us
• Avoid overuse of first person (I)
• Avoid informal style and colloquial language
• DOCUMENT EVERYTHING —if you look it up, you must document it
• Make sure your works cited/bibliography has all the primary and secondary sources you have used
• State the full title and author in the introductory paragraph
• Develop a title personalized to your essay
• Develop a coherent thesis/argument & reiterate this in your conclusion

For MLA style documentation help, review the Style Guide in Course Information, and also refer to Purdue OWL:

• https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ (Links to an external site.)  (MLA)
• https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/2/ (Links to an external site.)  (On Academic Writing)