Complete a researched critical essay of a minimum of 3 pages

Complete a researched critical essay of a minimum of 3 pages (not including the Works Cited page) on one or more poems selected from our textbook (not including Edgar Allan Poe).

Three pages may be hard to do on one poem so you may want to cover two or three poems with the same theme. Chapter 31: “Discovering Themes in Poetry” covers the following common themes: poems about death and “carpe diem” (seizing the day), poems about parents, poems about nature, poems about love, poems about war.

The critical essay must follow classic essay structure: the introduction with thesis, the body (at least three paragraphs), and the conclusion. The thesis must make an arguable claim about the meaning of the text (poem) you’ve chosen to write about (or some major aspect of that text). The thesis may not be focused on the author or the author’s life / bio. You must analyze and interpret the text on the page. The body of the essay must support the thesis by using information and examples from the assigned readings and must include additional, documented information from at least two credible sources from the library databases.

Your textbook may count as only one source, regardless of the number of literary works that you cite from it. The poem itself is considered a primary source.

You are required to obtain at least two secondary sources from the library’s databases, such as the Literature Resource Center. Make sure the secondary sources are specifically about the poem you are analyzing (that it is literary criticism) and not some tangential topic. Wikipedia, Shmoop, eNotes, Spark Notes, Encyclopedia Britannica, someone’s blog, and other such sites are not credible sources for academic writing, and if you use them, they will not count towards the requirements for this assignment. Not all poems have an article directly about them in Literature Resource Center, so if you can’t find an article about the poem you are doing specifically, then please use an article about the poet’s writing in general.

All paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from your sources, including your textbook, must be documented in strict accordance with MLA eighth-edition standards. The documentation must include attributive phrases (signal phrases such as “According to the article….” and/or in-text citations and a works-cited page. You may refer to the “Resources” area of our blackboard page for guidance on citations and formatting.

To eliminate plagiarism, you are required to submit your essay to obtain the Safe Assign Originality Report. In the Originality Report, do not be concerned if sources are highlighted. This highlighting merely indicates that other students have located the same credible sources as you have located. Also, do not be concerned if quoted material is highlighted. You must be certain, however, that you have enclosed quoted material in quotation marks and have provided corresponding attributive/ signal phrases and/or in-text citations. If paraphrases or other material that is not from a source and is not a quotation is highlighted, this highlighting indicates that the percentage of similarity is too high, and may be cause for concern. The originality report percentage given should be 30% or less. Most of the essay should be in your own words.

To be graded and to receive credit, your essay must be submitted as a PDF (.pdf) or Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) to the correct link. Email submissions will not be accepted.

Minimum Requirements:
3 full pages (not including Works Cited page)
2 library database sources (literary criticism on the poem you are analyzing)
Your textbook is one source (even if you use several sections of it), and it is not a library database source.
No plagiarism or self-stealing (using your own work from another class)
No use of unreliable sources such as Wikipedia, Shmoop, SparkNotes, etc.
Analysis and interpretation–not a report
MLA formatting and citations
Polished, grammatical writing
Clear, organized essay structure: introduction, at least 3 body paragraphs, conclusion paragraph
Clearly stated thesis which is supported by evidence throughout the paper
Body paragraphs with topic sentences and evidence and concluding/ transitioning sentences
Use third person. Do not use the words “I,” “we,” “our,” “you,” or “your.” Do not write “in my opinion” or “I believe” (this is already implied and does not need to be stated).
Interprets one of the poems in our textbook. Essays about poems which are not included in the textbook will not earn credit. Additionally, you may not write about any poem by Edgar Allan Poe; essays about Poe will not earn credit.

Textbook references:

Chapter 2: “Reading and Writing About Literature”

Chapter 3: “Approaching Assignments in Literature” especially “Writing an Explication” pages 43-47 which contains a sample essay on Robert Frost’s “A Road Not Taken”

Chapter 23: “Reading and Writing About Poetry” that contains a comparison essay of two poems about fathers (final draft pages 672-674).

See also student examples in this week’s folder for guidance:

Example 1: Essay on “The Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall (p. 708).

Example 2: Essay on “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins (p. 970).