For Essay #3, I want you to write about someone who has died or some thing that has died. You may praise the person or thing; you may also lament its (or his or her) passing; you may wish it/her/him...

For Essay #3, I want you to write about someone who has died or somethingthat has died. You may praise the person or thing; you may also lament its (or his or her) passing; you may wish it/her/him good riddance; or any combination of these sentiments. You might also imagine an audience and circumstance for the reading or hearing of your piece. This envisioning will help determine your tone: humorous, grave, solemn, cautionary, elegiac, wistful, exultant.

For this essay, I would like a two-part title, with a colon between the two parts. The first half will provide you an opportunity to be clever and creative, while the second half for all of you will be one of the following: “The Death of _________,” “A Eulogy for _________,” “An Elegy on ___________,” or __________ Has Passed,” with your subject filling in the blank.

This is not an obituary, so I do not want, for example, a chronological history of a person’s life. You may certainly tell some juicy stories about theperson orsubject, but your piece should not be all narrative: stories should illustrate something about the person or thing, and each body paragraph should have a topic sentence. When I finish reading your piece, I should know that person or thing and understand your attitude toward your subject.

1250-word minimum, MLA format.

A minimum of five citations from at least two sources, one of which may be an interview.

Based on my reading of the margin essays, I suggest you reserve one editing run-through focusing on each of the following:

1. Use of detail without cliche; thus, not "my aunt" but "Aunt Hortense"; not "went to college" but "went to a very conservative Christian college where even hand-holding was forbidden"; not "he always gave 110%" but "if Coach asked for 20 push-ups he'd do thirty and throw in a clap in midair for each one"; not just "he was very self-centered" but also, "he would give you the shirt off someone else's back."

2. Avoiding the run-together (rt). A comma by itself is not enough to separate two complete sentences (even if the second one begins with a basic little word likeitorthis). A sentence withhoweverin it is always really two complete thoughts and will need a period or semi-colon in the middle.

3. Regarding pronouns, 1st person (I, me, my, mine, we, etc.) is fine except for filler (For example, "In my opinion, it seems to me"), but 2nd (you) is not. Make sure all other pronoun references are clear: What isit? What isthis? Who isthey?

4. To almost everyone except Ismail, a reminder: Try to open your essay with a "hook"--something interesting or exciting or even weird to make reader want to read.

Rubric