By now you should have finished your essay outline and Zero Draft, you should also be well and truly ready to work on tweaking your Zero Draft into something more presentable. Lets take a look at what you need to accomplish with this essay and how it will be graded.
Download a PDF of the rubric here. (Adobe Reader required)
Lets look at Voice:
- Your paper should contain a strong sense of voice. I want to see that this paper is coming from you, I want to be able to see the way you think.
- Even though your essay needs to contain your voice, you aren't talking to your friends. Keep your audience in mind (me, your teacher, as well as the judges of the essay contest.) No chat speak, emoticons, and watch the grammar mistakes.
- Keeping the audience in mind, remember this is an analysis essay, and should be written as such. It's important to remember to never use the word "I", "you", or "we". Do not refer to yourself or the reader at any time in the essay. If you get stuck try using the word "one" as in: "It makes one think." or say "the reader" instead of "you" as in: "The use of first person perspective really draws the reader into the story"
Lets talk Citations:
What is a Citation?
A citation is the tag that is placed is a direct quote from a book or short story, that is placed in academic writing. Citations and quotes are used in analysis essays to make connections between the reading, and the essayist's claims. For example, if I claim that the light bulb in Anthem is a symbol for knowledge, I had better include a quote and a citation to help the reader see that connection.
Why are Citation's important?
Citations and quotes help the reader understand the connections you are trying to make in your essay. They are especially important when you start pulling in other resources to back up your ideas. Citations let the reader know when you are using someone else's ideas, which is a really good idea in academic writing. If you don't give someone credit for their idea with a quote and a citation, then you are plagiarizing their ideas, and that will get you into a lot of trouble.
What does a Citation look like?
For this essay, we're keeping things pretty simple, you are probably only going to be citing the novel, so your citations will look something like this:
"Quote" (Author Last Name, Page #)"I am done with this monster 'We,' the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame." (Rand, 97)
How many Citations and Quotes do I need?
There is no hard and fast rule, it really depends on what you are trying to say. For the beginners you should aim for at least 3 per page, OR 2 per body paragraph.
