Rubric for Essay 1-1302

All your papers, not just this one, must in an MLA format. A word of caution: Most of you use MSWord and trust it when you tell it to set up your papers in an MLA format. It will only partially do this and part of it must be done manually. The standard font for an MLA paper is 12 point Times New Roman and this is what I want your papers written in. I do not require a cover sheet but I do want the standard MLA headers used. Either paper you choose to write, response or comparison and contrast must be organized with introductory paragraph, supporting topical paragraphs and a conclusion. This does not mean that it has to be the old five-paragraph theme. That is only a model of how to organize an essay, not the be all, end all of paper writing. Don’t box yourself in with this limited essay model. Either type of paper you choose to write should be around three pages in an MLA format. A response paper is a short essay that expresses your personal reaction to a work of literature. It is an analytical and evaluative paper; it is more that expressing like or dislike. It is not a book report or summary but passages may be referred to in summary to give focus to your reactions (thoughts and/or feelings). It is not a review which evaluates the quality of the work but that does preclude expressing a thought about how a passage did or did not work for you. Some of the questions you may ask yourself when you undertake a response paper are: What question does the story seem to ask me? What reaction does it elicit? What aspect of the story was the most dynamic, interesting, surprising, or even alarming. Aspects of a story are what I referred to in class as common elements of a story that occur in most stories, those being character, setting, theme, symbolism, point of view, tone and style. Some of these aspects are easier to approach in a response paper than others. It should not be necessary to go to outside sources but if you do they must be properly cited in the MLA format and a work cited page included. A comparison and contrast paper is just what it says it is. If you choose to this you must work from two of the assigned stories. It is still a type of analytical paper but it also involves some synthesis. It should be approached looking at the same aspects that you would look at in a response paper. The best things to work from in a comparison and contrast papers are elements like theme, setting, character, style, tone or symbols, but any aspect of a two stories may be compared and contrasted. Some are just more involved and lend