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A.  Write three papers, 3-4 pages (750-100 words) each. You should write several drafts.

B.  Write your essays in the tenses of the present:

even if you are writing about a novel in which the action takes place in the past!

C.  Use the microsoft word spell check (red underlining).  The grammar check (green underline) also helps a bit.

D.  Detailed Instructions

    1. Writing and Rewriting the First draft

A) First:

1) choose one of the list of poems for the paper.

2) Try to figure out what the poet is saying in each sentence (subject/verb/object).  If necessary translate the poem.  Most problems in interpretation come from not understanding or from ignoring what the sentence structure is saying and jumping to conclusions about specific words or metaphors in the poem.

3) Write out your ideas as they come to you.

B) Second, write your first draft:

1) focus in on a central thesis, question or problem raised by the poem. Look for a major opposition or question (death/life; nature/culture; etc.) that the text poses. The central question may be social, psychological, political, etc.

2) write an argument (reasons/evidence/conclusion) about how the poet, dramatist, or narrator tries to answer the question or solve the problem, and decide whether or not he or she succeeds;

3) quote and/or summarize relevant passages of the text (evidence) in support of each step in your argument. This evidence should support your reasons for your conclusion. Some should show how the form of the text as play, novel, or poem supports your conclusion.

                C) Write three more drafts.  Try to organize your overall discussion into a coherent argument (this should involve several several versions)

        1)  Be critical of you first draft.  Tell yourself that you can do better.

        2) Try to link the ideas between paragraphs by stating in topic sentences

                a) how each develops or changes the previous one.

                b) what each says about your central thesis or question in the introductory paragraph.

        3)  Try to make a strong argument for the topic sentence in each in each paragraph.  Everything in the paragraph should support the topic sentence.

    2.  Sample Essay Structure

A) Introduction: thesis statement (main idea of entire paper) or central question that you will discuss throughout the essay.

B-D) Each following paragraph:  (If you have a short paragraph you can devote each paragraph (other than introduction and conclusion) to each stanza).

                    1)  State in your topic sentence a first idea that supports your thesis or develops the two ides
                    of the question. You should emphasize what the sentence(s) says about its words and                     metaphors.  Pay special attention to the syntax of the sentence(s) in the stanza, particularly
                    the relation between subject/verb/object in trying to figure out what the poet is saying in the
                    stanza.

2) Discuss a first specific example of this supporting idea about what the stanza is saying and and explain how the words cited, events narrated, objects described in the example illustrate this supporting idea.

3) Possibly discuss a second specific example of this supporting idea and explain how the words cited, events narrated, or objects described in the example illustrate this supporting idea.

4)  Cite an example of the form in the stanza (alliteration, assonance, rime, etc.) that reinforces what the stanza is saying and explain how it does so.

C) Conclusion: summary of your argument in support of your thesis or your answer to the question. How have you explained your abstract thesis in the introductory paragraph.