English 130 Reading Fiction

Final Paper

Due: 
     * a complete rough draft is due on Friday, December 14 in class
     * the final draft is due anytime before 4:00 pm, Monday, December 17

Technicalities:
     * One inch margins
     * 12 point Times New Roman Font
     * Double spaced
     * Upper right hand corner includes in this order: your name, name of assignment, English 130, Dr. Steven Thomas, date
     * Title in bold, centered above first paragraph -- absolutely NO separate title pages

Length:
     * 4-6 pages
     * This means "significantly more than four pages but less than seven pages."
     * It does NOT mean "almost four pages" or "almost nine pages."

Prompt:
     * Choose three texts from Unit Three, and compare and contrast how they diagnose the symptoms (or signs) of societal ills. It is not enough for you to merely observe that there are such symptoms (or signs) of society ills present in the text. A diagnosis reveals the hidden causes. So, just as a doctor uses medical technology to diagnose medical illness (i.e., to find the virus that causes the symptoms), literature uses literary devices (e.g., point of view, characterization, plot, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and especially irony) to diagnose societal ills.
     * One of the texts must be Devil in a Blue Dress.
     * Also bring in at least one text from each of the previous two units.

Expectations:
     * Proper essay form -- e.g., introductory paragraph, body paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting evidence, etc.
     * Have a clear question that your paper seeks to answer and a clear thesis.
     * Do not just make a claim. Support all claims with some form of reasoning and evidence from the text. An Evidence in the text includes events that take place in the story and quotations -- and you should cite both.
     * If you use any of the terms from unit one or unit two (e.g., satire, metonymy, realism, etc.), be sure to define them.
     * Use proper MLA citation. If you aren't sure how to cite something correctly, see this website.