it is based on a novel named "how to pronounce knife" written by : Souvankham Thammavongsa
Hudson ENG 4U Literary Analysis Essay (Course Work/Culminating Task) Modern Novel Unit You will be developing an essay based on a topic/theme that you find prevalent in your novel. This assignment will include research, essay plans, peer editing workshop, final draft and a works cited page. You will be participating in various stages of the writing process including brainstorming, drafting, roughing, editing and finalizing. You will focus your thoughts/ideas and come up with a thesis statement, supporting ideas and quotes. You will be responsible for creating an outline (template provided), rough draft for peer editing, and final copy. Using the quote cards you developed throughout your reading, narrow your ideas to make an argument about human nature or identity (our focus for this course). You will receive a mark for participating in teacher-student conference at the planning level, as well as a mark for editing a peer’s work. A full citation is necessary for this essay, including proper in text citation practice and works cited page. Your essay should be 5-7 pages long, double spaced in 12 pt Times or Arial type font. You should be including 2 secondary sources in your work. This essay is dual-purpose! You will receive a course mark for the first submission (due Friday, November 5th), and then your final version (edited during class time on Monday) will be the main portion of your culminating task (20%). STEP 1: Brainstorm topics that appear in the book. Use the bubble chart below to brainstorm various themes/topics/ideas that occur in the book. STEP 2: Narrow a Topic. Choose a topic above as your main concept/idea for your essay by highlighting/circling your choice above. STEP 3: Support your choice. Use the following Spider Map to support your choice with ideas and correlating quotes from the text. (Remember to use your page numbers) STEP 4: Narrow your Thesis/Finalize Outline. Make sure that you thesis argues for a point and outlines what you will be talking about specifically in the body of your essay. (see “How to write a Great Thesis”) Once you have written your thesis, go back to your support in STEP 3 and make sure that everything works cohesively together. You may have to make minor changes or choose a better quote to support your point. STEP 5: Write a Rough Draft. Now its time to put your ideas into full paragraphs. Write your body paragraphs first and then write your opening and concluding paragraphs. Think about a quote or message you could use as a “hook” for your essay. STEP 6: Peer Edit. Trade Essay’s with TWO PEERS and edit one another’s work using the attached sheet. Can they find your Thesis Statement and main arguments? STEP 7: Revise your work!. Make any changes from your peer edit recommendation as well as anything you can improve after reading it through yourself. STEP 8: Create a Works Cited and Title Page. Using the MLA Reference Guide, create a list of works cited for the end of your essay as well as a title page. STEP 9: Submit a Final Copy! STEP 10: This is Ms. Hudson’s step - she will mark it and provide feedback. STEP 11: Culminating Task: Essay Revisions - Monday, November 8th (Final Day of Class) Area of Assessment Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Level R Content- thematic analysis of literature Author makes connections between textual support and overall main idea/ theme and thesis. Moves beyond WHAT happens and analyzes the WHY. Author has expressed unique insight, depth of thought, resulting in a convincing and enlightening paper. Author makes connections between textual support and thesis, though some may be more stilted. The WHY is discussed, but in a more pedestrian manner, leading to more obvious conclusions or showing less depth of thought overall, yet essay is still sound and interesting. Author waivers in connection between textual support and thesis. Some ideas are unoriginal or only skim the surface of the novels’ content. The thematic ideas may not be incorporated throughout the essay well, resulting in a weaker argument overall. Author has little connection between textual support and thesis, or does not explore the WHY, simply identifies elements to outline the plots of the novels. Essay may be unoriginal in thought, leading to a regurgitation of already- stated facts and observations. Author has failed to focus the text itself, relying instead on research to analyze the time period or author without using adequate textual reference for a substantiated claim. The essay lacks depth and does not interpret text, simply revisits and summarizes. Style- organization, clarity and fluency of ideas, focus on main idea Overall fluent and focused essay. Paragraphs are framed with connections to claim/thesis and are organized by idea. Transitions aid in fluency and author’s prose incorporates textual support in a sophisticated manner. Intro and conclusion aid in power of the essay. Paper is mostly focused and fluent. Paragraphs contain connections to thesis/claim, though perhaps not as explicitly at times. Transitions are present between paragraphs and leading into textual support. Intro and conclusion frame essay. Paper focus waivers or fluency is interrupted at times. Paragraphs are organized but not in the most logical way. Transitions may be mundane and paragraphs may contain more implicit than explicit connections to the thesis/claim. Intro and conclusion may contain more “fluff” than substance. Paper is organized in an illogical manner, and the connections between paragraphs may be vague. Implicit connections to the main idea throughout. Lacks some transitions and perhaps quotes are simply “plopped” into prose. Mundane intro and conclusion. Paper lacks any fluency or organization of ideas. Focus waivers drastically. The main idea gets lost along the way. Lacks transition or explicit connections between ideas. Textual support chops up prose. Intro or conclusion may be irrelevant or omitted altogether. Support- adequate support and textual analysis from primary source novel, balanced with commentary. A minimum of 2 secondary source citations. Abundant use of textual support from novel adds to the power of the essay. Support is applicable to author’s main ideas and is used to guide the essay. Secondary source support aids in the analysis and provides additional insight that provides depth of thought. Good use of textual support from the novel, which is applicable to the main idea, but perhaps less explicitly at times. Secondary source support may not be as well integrated, perhaps. Textual support is adequate, although not very thorough. Student seems to try to incorporate text, although some is not connected to the overall main idea. Textual support is present, but sparse. Student omits a source, including less than the required 2. Support may be irrelevant to the main idea at times. Student fails to use textual support from novel and secondary sources. Textual support does not indeed align with the main idea of the essay at all. Conventions Grammar, spelling, subject/verb agreement, punctuation, usage, tense Essay uses 3rd person, active voice, present tense, with strong verbs and a variety of sentence structures. Has clearly been proofread, as errors are sparse and language is, in turn, sophisticated and formal. Essay contains occasional flaws in grammar and conventions, perhaps with more repetitive sentence structures or more common language. May have missed some of the more difficult language errors. Essay contains obvious errors in grammar and conventions throughout, although they do not distract from the meaning. Language usage is sentence structure is basic but still conveys the point. Essay is peppered with errors in grammar and conventions and frequently must be re read to follow the ideas. Language and structure begin to distract from the meaning, lacking the maturity of strong essay writing. It appears the essay was not proofread at all. Various errors in usage, grammar, and conventions distract greatly from the ideas and mar the essay to the point of incoherence. Formatting- MLA including Works Cited Paper is correctly formatted in MLA style including the heading, header, page numbers, titles, citations (punctuated correctly), Works Cited (hanging indent, alphabetical order). Paper contains a noticeable number of MLA errors and does not consistently follow formatting rules. Paper does not include any elements of MLA style in formatting, nor is a Works Cited included language errors. Comments/Next Steps: Essay Writing ENG 4U ESSAY WRITING TOOLS DIGGING DEEPER Questions and Strategies Analyse Analyse the drawing in the Models section. Analyse literally means “to take apart.” In order to analyse something, one must examine and discuss it one part at a time, and be able to say how each part contributes to the whole. Compare Compare Darwin’s theory of natural selection with Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. When one compares, one should look for qualities and characteristics that resemble each other. The term compare is usually accompanied by with, implying that one is to emphasize similarities. However, one can also mention differences. Contrast Contrast the laws pertaining to consumer protection fifty years ago with those in effect today. When one is asked to contrast, one should present differences, although on may also mention similarities. Focus, however, on those things, qualities, events, or problems that one can contrast. Criticize Criticize the federal government’s policy on Canadian ownership of Canadian resources. When one is asked to criticize, one should not merely find fault but give one’s opinions about both the merits and demerits of something. Take a strong stand, but do present all the facts; in other words, for the above question, one should discuss the reasons why the government did what it did. Discuss Discuss C.D. Howe’s role in the pipeline debate of the 1950s. The term discuss appears often in exam questions. One should analyse, examine, and present the pros and cons regarding the problems involved in the question. One will receive a good mark if