argumentative essay about fiction

The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can successfully write an argumentative essay about fiction.  Success on this assignment demonstrates reading skills, writing skills, and critical thinking skills–all skills that you will use in the future in subsequent classes, in your careers, and in your private lives as citizens of the world.  Beyond college, you will probably not be asked to form arguments about short stories, but you will be asked to think carefully about complicated written material and evaluate it.  Even though the material you will be asked to analyze in the future will be different, the skills you use to analyze these poems are the same skills you will use to analyze patient charts or new aircraft specs or myriad other workplace subject matter.
This assignment satisfies all the Student Learning Outcomes listed on your syllabus.

Task

Choose one of these two short stories:  “The Cask of Amontillado” or “A Rose for Emily.”  Write a 1000 word essay on one of the following topics:
1.  Analyze the story’s setting. What role does it play? What does it reveal about character, mood, theme, or any other element of the story?
2.  Analyze the story’s structure. What does the way the story is put together reveal about character, mood, theme, or any other element of the story?
3.  Analyze, or characterize, the narrator of the story or if there is no narrator, the main character. What motivates him or her?  What kind of person is her or she?
4.  Choose a symbol from the story and explain how it functions. What does it reveal about character, mood, theme, or any other element of the story?
5.  Choose one theme from the story and explain how the author uses the other elements of fiction (setting, story structure, point of view, character, symbolism, style, tone, and irony) to convey that theme.
6.  Explain how the author of the story uses style, tone, OR irony to convey its theme.

Tips for Success
Don’t forget to use the MLA Formatting Template to format your essay correctly.

Remember that you are making an argument.  The same advice for crafting a thesis applies here as it did for crafting a thesis for your poetry essay.  For example, you might argue that the setting of “The Fall of the House of Usher” mimics the mental state of the main character of that short story by Poe.  Or you might argue that the theme of “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is the danger of silencing women’s creativity.  If you have trouble coming up with a thesis that’s an argument, you can always ask me for help!

A good rule of thumb is to quote from the short story at least once per body paragraph to support the point you’re making in that paragraph.

Criteria
1.  Your essay will be at least 1000 words long to receive full credit.  If it is 999 words or less, you will receive a D or lower.
2.  Your essay will be formatted according to MLA. Please open the MLA Formatting Template attached to the Welcome announcement to the course and  type your essay inside that document.
3.  You may not conduct research for this essay.  You will only use the short story you are writing about to support your ideas.
4.  You must quote directly from the short story to support your ideas.
5.  Your essay should be as free of spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes as possible.
6.  Essays which are plagiarized, accidentally or on purpose, will earn grades of zero.  You will be able to view your plagiarism report when you upload an essay to Turnitin.com.  It may take up to an hour for your plagiarism report to generate. You can upload multiple files to an Assignment area; if you discover that you have accidentally plagiarized, you may correct your error and upload another document.
7.  You will write a first draft on which I will give you feedback. Then you will turn in a final draft after revision.  Your final draft must correct the mistakes in your first draft and build on the good qualities I point out.

Qualities of a Fiction Essay that Earns an A Grade

Your written work will earn no higher than a D if it doesn’t meet the length requirement.

Content, Development, and Organization

Paragraphs break in logical places, and all content is in the paragraph where it belongs.

Evidence from the short story is relevant and well-developed. Examples serve to fully illustrate and substantiate your  thesis.

There is intelligent and thoughtful exploration of your argument. The reasoning behind all your claims is fully explored.

The introduction is well-structured and does the job of introducing your position and your thesis.

The conclusion is well-structured and does the job of tying up your ideas into a developed thesis.

You remain on topic, and you include all the information you need without any filler or needless repetition.

Your body paragraphs are well-structured with topic sentences, transitions if necessary,  explanations and examples, and you tie back to your thesis at
the end.

Grammar, Vocabulary, and Mechanics

Punctuation, verbs, pronouns, and sentence structure are correct.

The vocabulary you use is appropriate. Your words mean what you think they mean and are also non-slang.

You follow MLA formatting correctly in the body of your paper. In order to get this component correct, use the template I’ve uploaded to the Welcome
Announcement.
Your essay does not contain the “you” pronoun except in quotations from the short story.