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| spud (profile) wrote, on 1-5-2005 at 6:52pm | |
| Current mood: amused Subject: formal essay magic! |
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| well, it was magic for me, anyway. have at it you youngsters! i'm assuming you have eilola, and i'm making suggestions according to her strictness. the paper i received was not in mla format, so i'm hoping you did all that. it can be rough if your word processor gets temperamental. the biggest thing i noticed is how you did (or didn't) do your prep work. when i'm writing a formal paper like that, i have steps that i like to follow, and they make the rest of the work much easier. first, i'll find a topic or argument, or whatever, to go with, and i'll make my thesis statement. here's what i gathered your thesis statement to be: "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of several American poets who helped create a new sense of literature throughout the 19th century, and who utilize romantic features such as nature, imagination, and individualism to enhance the characteristics of life in their poetry." the thesis statement basically outlines the body of your essay. therefore, if she requires 3 main pts, 10 supporting quotes, etc. i can plan everything out to mold with that skeleton, or framework. before i even begin a rough draft, i will write an outline based on my thesis and quotes, figuring out how they will all fit together. once i have them organized in front of me, the rest is just a matter of plugging it into the equation. a little trick mrs. millard showed me is to make a powerful introduction by using a strong quote. so, i'll take the quote i find, transition from the quote to my thesis, and then begin the body. with the thesis that you have, the first body paragraph is nature, 2nd is imagination, and third is individualism. i'll find 3 quotes for each body theme (thus fulfilling my 10 quote obligation - including intro), and plug them in wherever i can make it work. that much varies, depending on quotes and stance, etc. each body paragraph should start with a topic sentence, like "Longfellow uses nature in 'The tide rises, the tide falls,' to support his belief that life is cyclical." that way the reader knows exactly what you mean, and all you have to do is convince them that you are right. plus it helps you keep things straight in your head, and it helps you transfer your thoughts and information to the paper in an organized way. the conclusion simply rephrases your thesis, maybe works in an extra quote as a clincher, and again summarizes your main points, kind rounding off the whole thing. there's a french word for it that i can't remember right now..... "Denouement," i believe. other things to watch out for throughout the paper are: - historical present tense (talk like you've traveled back in time, and they're not all dead). - formal vocabulary (stay away from slang and generic phrases. swap different nouns and adjectives to shape what you're saying into something that is concise and rolls off the tongue). i.e. fix awkward sounding sentences. - punctuation, mechanics, grammar. (again, that yellow book is the holy grail) - use artistic license to make the paper yours ( it's one of the more difficult things to do.) realistically, i don't expect you to do everything i just said. i'm just telling you what i do to make my papers decent, and maybe you'll find something in there that works for you. usually i don't even accoplish all of this stuff. also, this is for a formal paper. if it doesn't have to be formal, then don't stress yourself over all of this stuff. but i know most of American Lit. is formal essays, and i'm sure you'll have one for your 2nd semester novel. i actually had 2 2nd semester novel essays. so, hopefully that helps, and i will now concede my soapbox. |
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atman | 01-07-05 3:28pm Wow, that stuffs pretty handy...
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spud | Re:, 01-07-05 4:31pm sorry, i just figured you wanted to scrape by. and my rule of thumb, is it's a waste of time for me to do this stuff for people unless they're banging on MY door for answers.
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