Response Paper

You can submit your essay in the D2L Dropbox on any one of three deadlines. If you choose the first or second deadline, you will be eligible to revise your essay if you are not pleased with your original grade. If you choose the third deadline, you will not be able to revise.

The D2L Dropbox scans each essay for evidence of plagiarism. Be sure to document your sources if you consult websites or other resources.

Requirements:

- Meet or exceed 500 word (that's about 2 pages) minimum
- Use 12 point font, double-space, standard margins (usually 1-1.25 inches)
- Use MLA or equivalent page format: you should have a heading (your name, my name, date, class at top left), a title, and page numbers.
- Use MLA parenthetical citation format for quoted and paraphrased material
- Provide Works Cited page with correct MLA entry for the appropriate text(s) in the Norton Introduction to Literature (does not count toward your word/ page requirement) and for all other sources (websites, articles, books, etc)

- Your response should reflect your own ideas and your sources (if you consult websites, books, articles, etec) should be properly documented per MLA guidelines. Essays with evidence of plagiarism (intentional or unintentional) will receive an F.
- Your response should be supported by specific quotations from the literary text.
- Your essay should be written for a college academic audience and demonstrate evidence of careful editing and proofreading. Essays written like text messages or with several grammar/ proofreading issues will not receive a passing grade.

Response Essay Topic:

Choose one of your discussion board posts and revise it into a more formal response paper in which you critically engage the literary text you discussed in your post. In other words, you will need to move beyond basic plot summary (here's what happened in the text) and your reaction to the text (I liked it, I didn't like it, It reminded me of my brother, etc.) to a critical analysis. The bulk of your essay should consist of your own ideas in your own words; this is not a research paper. Your essay should have a clear thesis (your main point) and evidence from the poem, short-story, or play to support your point. See the Sample Response Papers in the Norton on pages 50-53, 502-503,794-96.

Review Norton "Writing About Literature" Chapter 17 Paraphrase, Summary, Description; Chapter 18 The Literature Essay; Chapter 20 Research Essay (note- you are not writing a research essay but you may find the section on Integrating Source Material useful if you consult sources); Chapter 21 Quotation, Citation, and Documentation.