March Madness

Ever since midterm breaks were invented, they have been a time for just getting a shipload of work done. They're not really "breaks" except in the sense that you don't have to go to class for a couple of days. Not so long ago, the midterm break was actually longer, but that's a whole other issue for another day. I hate that we've become a society that doesn't really know how to stop and stand still for five minutes. My weekends are usually busier than my weekdays. During the upcoming month of March, besides lectures, classes and seemingly countless meetings with students (and other kinds of meetings), I will be grading about 300 essays, launching a new book of fiction into the world, and judging a short story competion. March is alwys the month of madness, but this one looks to be busier than most. But I digress.

I assume most of you have been working on essays over the break, including one for my English 1101 class. I scheduled it when I did so that you would have the maximum amount of time to do your best by meeting with me and reflecting on your previous essay a bit. A lot of you did exactly that because my office was a pretty busy place in the week before the break and it will be again tomorrow and probably Wednesday.

I've already told you about how to approach each question and I've also blogged about sentence structure and general essay structure, but a lot of you still have questions about the assignments. It's hard to know exactly what you want to know, so I'll try a Q & A style approach.

Q. Do I need a title page?

A. Yes. It need not be anything fancy. Just a mostly blank page that contains a TITLE, your name, my name, the course number, and the date submitted. It would be nice if your title was something halfways creative (not just "Frankenstein Paper") but as long as it tells me what your topic is, it should be fine. Remember, it's not just "Morality," for example; it's "Morality in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." It's always about the book).


Q. How should I bind the pages together?

A. A single staple in the top left corner.


Q. How long should it be?

A. 900 words, maximum. Maximum means at the very most.


Q. What font should I use?

A. 12-point Times New Roman. No other font or size will be accepted.


Q. Should I double-space the lines?

A. Yes. (I had a student once who put extra space between words instead of between lines. Don't do that.)


Q. When I write the title of a novel, does it have to be underlined or italicized?

A. Yes. When typing it, the title of a novel or large work should be italicized. (When handwriting, the title of a novel is underlined.)


Q. How much should I revise my essay?

A. Revise it until it has no mistakes and each and EVERY sentence flows smoothly and makes complete sense. If your essay looks like a first draft (still has spelling mistakes, comma splices, sentence fragments, and follows no kind of pattern), then I'll be passing it back to you without a grade. Not many people can write a perfect first draft. At the very least, your thesis statement should be revised until it encompasses what your entire essay is about. Your topic sentences should be revised until they reflect the content of that particular paragraph.


Q.How much attention should I pay to comments about my first essay that I just got back?

A. Lots. I take a lot of time with those comments and they are not meant to pass judgement on your essay so much as to tell you what problems to look for in future essays that you write. When you've finished your essay, go back to your other one and look for the problems you had on that one. Then go through your new essay and fix those problems.


Q. Should I use quotes from the novel (Frankenstein) in my essay, and how long should they be?

A. Use quotes, but use them sparingly. They should be mostly brief--just a few words, whenever possible and your quotes should be set up properly. Don't use hanging quotes, meaning you've just taken a quote and stuck it into your essay without any kind of proper framing. Here's an example of how quotes should be set up:Victor's parents consider him their "plaything" (3).

Notice the placement of the page number and period. Notice the use of brevity in the quote itself and that it's incorporated into the sentence so that it flows smoothly and no words are wasted (900 words isn't very much if you're constantly using words, phrases, and sentences that don't need to be there at all).

If you're using a longer quote, it should look something like this: We see an undercurrent of the theme when the creature says to Victor, "'I should have been your Adam'" (95).

Always lead in to the quote by at least suggesting (if not saying outright) who is speaking. Notice also that if you're quoting dialogue, you need the extra set of single quotation marks. Also, you can lead in to a quote by using a colon.

e.g. The creature often makes allusion to the Bible: "'I should have been your Adam," he says, showing his awareness of great works of literature while displaying an understanding of his own wasted potential.

Avoid using really long quotes that take up several lines (unless you absolutely have to). The point is to analyze, not to repeat the novel word for word.

Also, and this is VERY IMPORTANT: if you use a quote of any length, make sure you follow it up with some sort of explanation as to why you're using it. Go back and look at the quote you've used and choose a key word (or phrase) or two to discuss in relation to your thesis statement and/or topic sentence. For example, in the quote above, you could discuss the words "Adam" and "should". Talk about how what that Biblical allusion means, especially as it relates to your topic. If you're trying to prove that Victor is a negligent parent, then the meaning is obvious: that Victor has created the first male of a new species and, instead of nurturing it as he "should" have (implying that he has moral obligations, according to the creature, as well as according to what Victor himself says when he is dying on Walton's ship). The creature's words suggest that he is aware of having been neglected and blames Victor for his actions. This novel is all about responsibility and neglect of those responsibilities. See how much you can get out one short quote, but especially by focusing on TWO little words ("should" and "Adam")? Always do this sort of thing with the quotes you use. You have used them as evidence and only by looking back at them closely can you SHOW why they are strong proof of your assertions. Sometimes, doing it this way can tell you that your gut feelings about the novel and about a certain quote is right on.


Q. Do I have to spell all the names of characters, titles, and places correctly?

A. Deep sigh. If in doubt, always check the book. If a name gives you some problems, check the book, just to be sure.


Q. Do I need to use a bibliography?

A. I don't expect one, but if you've used more sources than just the novel itself for your essay, the answer is yes. But this isn't a research essay. However, if you want some practice doing MLA formatting, go right ahead and show me what you can do. The worst that can happen is that I'll give you some feedback on whether or not you're doing it right.


Q. Do I need to use in-text citation (as in MLA)?

A. I won't deduct marks if you don't, but you probably should use them. "In-text citation" means giving the page number of a quote or reference within the body of your essay (i.e. in the text) as opposed to listing the page numbers in footnotes or endnotes.


Q. How serious are you about the 900-word limit?

A. Very. I rarely see an essay that can't eliminate a lot of words and phrases for the sake of clarity. If your essay goes beyond the limit even by a small amount, your content had better justify it and your essay should be devoid of clutter and redundancies.

That's about it for now. If I come up with any more things you might be wondering about, I'll blog about them later.

My best advice for now is to make sure you REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. Then REVISE AGAIN. The best work is written that way, whether it's poetry, novels, short stories, speeches, scripts, or essays. No matter how good something is when it first spills from your mind, you can always make it better. The main question to ask yourself is this: does this word or phrase express exactly what it should? (Reading it out loud might help. Scrutinize each word and sentence for clarity.)

The essays are due on Wednesday, March 2, although I am reconsidering that at the moment. Happy writing!

GC