SUMMER READING ESSAY How to Read Grendel Like a Professor

TASK

Pick one chapter (or maybe two that are related) from How to Read Literature Like a Professor to be your analytical focus for the essay.

Write an essay in which you use the ideas explained in the chapter(s) to examine and analyze the novel, Grendel.

CHAP

TER O

PTIO

NS

Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 7 Ch. 9 Ch. 11 Ch. 12 & Ch. 25 Ch. 13 Ch. 14

“Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion” “Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires” “…Or the Bible” “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” “…More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence” “Is That a Symbol?” “It’s My Symbol and I’ll Cry If I Want To” “It’s All Political” “Yes, She’s a Christ Figure, Too”

Ch. 16 & Ch. 17 Ch. 18 Ch. 19 & Ch. 20 Ch. 21 Ch. 22 Ch. 23 & Ch. 24

“It’s All About Sex…” “…Except Sex” “If She Comes Up, It’s Baptism” “Geography Matters” “…So Does Season” “Marked for Greatness” “He’s Blind for a Reason, You Know” “It’s Never Just Heart Disease…” “…And Rarely Just Illness” *You may discuss IRONY as an extension to any other chapter/topic.

PROC

ESS

1. Write your own prompt/central question. The answer to this question will become your thesis. 2. Select textual evidence from both Grendel AND How to Read Literature Like a Professor that

specifically relates to the topic of your chosen chapter, and write commentary that draws meaningful connections between the novels and Professor. (We suggest you pull from your annotations.)

3. Organize your ideas. Your essay should contain an intro, 2-3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each body paragraph should have at least three pieces of textual evidence (at least one from Professor and two from Grendel).

4. Read through documents on the class website that give examples and discuss introductions and conclusions, thesis statements, and body paragraphs. You are responsible for the information contained in those documents.

5. Format and type your essay (see below). 6. Be sure to proofread before submitting your draft!

FORM

AT

12pt, Times New Roman, Double Space, Remove Space After Paragraph MLA Heading (first page only), Last Name and Page Number in the header Meaningful Title, Centered Indent the first line of each paragraph Format in-text citations like this: “This is my fabulous quotation” (Foster 12). Works Cited page should include Grendel AND How to Read Literature Like a Professor, as well as

any other sources you cite in the essay. See back of the page for updates to MLA formatting.

MLA 8

TH ED

ITION

UPDA

TE –2

016

In an effort to adapt to the changing demands of the 21st century, MLA has released an update to their style manual. I will only list the changes relevant to this assignment here, but there are other changes that will be addressed as needed. Long quotations should be indented ½ inch (not 1 inch) Do not give the medium of publication in BOOK citations. Do not use the place of publication for BOOKS. Use full publisher names, except for terms such as Inc. and Co. Retain terms such as Books

and Publisher. Continue to use U and P for university presses. Examples: Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Books, W. W. Norton, Florida UP, U of Michigan P.

Use a URL for all Web sources (omit http://); DOIs and permalinks are preferable to URLS

Use the date of access for Web sources that don’t have a publication date: Accessed 3 Mar. 2016.

MLA 8’s Container Concept:

Example:

Book Examples:

Bowker, Gordon. James Joyce: A New Biography. Farrar, Strause and Giroux, 2012.

Cunningham, Stewart, et al. Media Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Harner, Avril, and Anne Rowe, editors. Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch. Princeton

UP, 2016.

Website Example: Enzinna, Wes. “Syria’s Unknown Revolution.” Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, 24 Nov.

2015, pulitzercenter.org/projects/middle-east-syria-enzinna-war-rojava

NOTE: The best online resource for formatting is the Purdue Owl. Online citation machines are rarely accurate and cause more problems than they solve.

Summer Reading Essay—Content Rubric Scoring Criteria

Exemplary The essay exceeded expectations—

awesome!

Proficient The essay did everything

that it was supposed to do.

Not Yet The essay fell short of my

expectations—not there yet!

Introduction & Conclusion

9-10 points 7-8 points Clear, focused introduction Uses one of the types of introduction

learned in class Conclusion effectively ends the essay

without unnecessary repetition or presenting new information

0-6 points

Thesis Statement

9-10 points

7-8 points One sentence

Provable response to the prompt Shows connection between HTRLLP and

Grendel.

0-6 points

Textual Evidence

17-20 points

13-16 points Relevant textual evidence that supports

the writer’s claim (thesis) Introduced and embedded (i.e., context

is provided, speaker identified, etc.) Parenthetical citations

0-12 points

Development of Ideas

17-20 points

13-16 points Commentary draws connections

between textual evidence and thesis

There is more commentary (at least 2x) than textual evidence; for every one sentence of textual evidence, there is at least two sentences of commentary

5-12 points

Organization

17-20 points 13-16 points Topic sentences provide a specific focus

(related to the thesis) for each body paragraph

Logical sequence of ideas Transitions between ideas

Essay is balanced, giving equal time to each idea presented

Summary sentences conclude the paragraph and transition to the next paragraph

5-12 points

MLA Format There are no “exceeds expectations” points for formatting.

9-10 points 12 pt, Times New Roman Double Spaced, Remove SAP

MLA Heading and Title on page 1 Last name and page number in header

0-8 points

Works Cited Page

There are no “exceeds expectations” points for the Works Cited Page.

9-10 points Last page of the essay Cited correctly (MLA 8th Ed.)

Citations are double spaced with hanging indention

If more than one, sources are in alphabetical order by the first word in the citation

0-8 points

Final Draft Rubric: This is a single-point rubric. The base score is range is 70-84 and represents the proficient completion of all standards for this assignment. Students may earn or lose points based on areas of the essay that are above or below expectations.