Essay writing tips: See the handout from the lecture on essay writing.

ESSAY TOPICS:                                                                 

Choose one of the following questions and answer it in 1200-1500 words excluding quotations.

 1.  Discuss the importance of ordered social communities in The Rape of the Lock  OR  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  OR  Beowulf.

 2.  Discuss the treatment of individual self-assertion in Paradise Lost Books 1, 2 and 9,  OR  Wuthering Heights  OR  King Lear.

 3.  Discuss the opposition between civilization and the uncivilized in Gulliver's Travels 4 OR The Rape of the Lock OR Beowulf.

 4.  Discuss the narrative technique in King Lear OR Gulliver's Travels 4  OR  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

 You must refer in some detail to at least three literary critical texts (books or journal articles) that respond to

* your chosen text, or

* the genre of the chosen text, or

* the wider issue (e.g. "civilization" or "narrative technique") the topic asks you to address, in its particular literary-historical and cultural context.

Starting points for your research are the bibliographies in the back of the Norton Anthology, the Norton Website (http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/welcome.htm), and the MLA International Bibliography which is an online database accessible through the Library webpage. (Library ->Databases->M->MLA International Bibliography.  At that point you will have to insert your Library number to get a password for the database.)  

 The essay is due at the EMSAH Office on Friday 31 Oct at 4:30pm.

• use clear, correct expression
• adhere to the School of English, Media Studies, and Art History's presentation guidelines (see below)

Marks will be deducted for the failure to follow the protocols of style summarised in EMSAH's Style Sheet available free from the office on the fourth floor of the Michie Building.

These include:

• Keeping to the word limit
• Using one-and-a half or (preferably) double line spacing and leaving a left and right margin of (at least) 3 cm
• Submitting on time. (Marks will be deducted at the rate of 2% of your total grade a day for late essays unless you have made a prior arrangement with your tutor).
• Proofreading.
  

Please do not use folders or plastic covers.

For a grade of 4, you will

• address the question
• argue coherently--this includes structuring your essay logically, and choosing and developing a focus
• show a clear understanding of the primary text
• acknowledge scrupulously secondary sources, and document accurately
• use correct, clear grammar, syntax, and spelling
• be punctual.

For a grade of 5, you will

• address the question
• argue coherently--this includes structuring your essay logically, and choosing and developing a focus
• show a clear understanding of the primary texts and juxtapose them intelligently
• acknowledge scrupulously secondary sources, and document accurately
• use secondary sources to further your argument
• use correct, clear grammar, syntax, and spelling
• be punctual.

For a grade of 6, you will

• address the question
• provide a fluent and coherent argument--this includes structuring your essay logically, and choosing and developing a focus. This aspect of the essay will be more sophisticated than for those that earn a 4 or 5.
• Interpret the primary text so as to show a high level of understanding, adctive engagement and some originality
• acknowledge scrupulously secondary sources, and document accurately
• build on secondary sources in order to develop your argument
• use correct, clear grammar, syntax, and spelling
• be punctual.

For a grade of 7, you will

• address the question
• provide a fluent and coherent argument --this includes structuring your essay logically, and choosing and developing a focus. This aspect of the essay will be more sophisticated than for those that earn a 6.
• Interpret the text so as to show a high level of understanding, active engagement, and originality
• acknowledge scrupulously secondary sources, and document accurately
• build on secondary sources in order to develop an original argument
• use correct, clear grammar, syntax, and spelling--indeed, you will write like a dream
• be punctual.