Hey guys!
Following are the essay topics for the essays you will be writing over the next two days. Instead of the review session we had planned for Monday, you will be working on your notes and quotes page (one double-sided, 8.5" by 11" sheet, handwritten only) and doing your pre-writing for the essay finals tomorrow and Wednesday. USE YOUR TIME WISELY - THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS IF YOU DO NOT FINISH YOUR ESSAYS IN CLASS IN THE ALLOTTED TIME.
Also, we have been working on essay writing and construction all year, in addition to grammar and mechanics. I expect that you have developed your skills over the course of the year, and I will be holding you to a higher standard this time around as a result.
A few things to consider:
- Be VERY careful with spelling and grammar - I will allow each of you to have a Dictionary in class. You will not be allowed to use the computer dictionary, as you will not be allowed to log in on Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Just because the essays will be handwritten does not preclude them from formatting. Remember to format exactly as you would a typed essay, with one change: Instead of indenting your paragraphs, I would like you to leave a line blank in between each paragraph.
- Quote, quote, quote. I am leaving you an ENTIRE period to prepare for your essays - I expect exceptional support for your ideas from the text. The rules for quotations, revised:
* Citations: Quotations are vital when citing specific documentation. If you are quoting an author, book, article, or person, then you must always use a quotation. You can introduce the quote by saying that John Doe says in The Times Daily News that, "People like to use quotations marks." Or, you can simply write the quotation (using the quotation marks) and end the sentence with the internal documentation. See the next bullet for internal documentation.
* Internal Documentation: In essays, you will inevitably use quotations from original and primary sources. Consequently, you will need to cite them internally (or via footnotes, an antiquated style). When documenting a specific quotation, you will omit the end punctuation (period, exclamation mark, question mark), put the close quote mark, and then add a parenthesis with the citation. After the citation, you will close the sentence with a period. See this example: "I will not eat green eggs and ham" (Seuss, 5). The sentence concludes after the internal documentation.
* Indented Quotes: Sometimes in an essay, you will use a long quotation. This means, absolutely no quotation longer than five lines should be within the body of the text of your essay. If you choose to use a long quotation (longer than five lines of text), then you should indent the quotation one inch on either side and sometimes italicize it. The quotation should end with a punctuation mark and quotation mark. The internal documentation comes afterwards without any end punctuation.
Finally, the essay topics:
THE CHOCOLATE WAR
1. Write an essay in which you compare and/or contrast the novel The Chocolate War with the novel 1984.
2. What does the The Chocolate War suggest about the benefits and dangers of 'disturbing the universe'?
FAHRENHEIT 451
1. Write an essay in which you compare and/or contrast the novel FAHRENHEIT 451 with the novel 1984.
2. Fire imagery appears throughout the novel FAHRENHEIT 451. Write a paper discussing Bradbury's use of fire imagery in the work.
Good luck!
Brenton Parsons
English II Honors
