The essay must be a minimum of 750 words, but it can certainly be longer if necessary. You will choose the topic for your essay from the weekly discussion forum questions or from a list of essay topics that may be provided by your professor in the Course Announcements. Thus, in some cases, you can think of your weekly responses to the forum questions as possible drafts for these longer, more detailed, and more polished essays. Choose a topic from any of the units covered up to this point in the course.

In these essays, students should include the following:

– a specific thesis statement that makes a sophisticated, original, and arguable claim about the text (thesis = the topic + your assertion)

– a tightly constructed, unified argument that coherently supports and clearly develops the thesis and addresses the meaning of the text (as opposed to the texts value, importance, history, greatness etc.)

– well-interpreted, fully supported evidence from the text for all claims with citations and relevant quotations from the text that tie your argument specifically to the text.

Procedure

1. Using a discussion topic from Units 1 – 5, write a detailed, polished essay.

2. Use a cover sheet for title, name, etc. Do not reprint title or name on any other page.

3. Underline your thesis in the essay

4. Text of essay must be double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins.

5. Number your pages.

6. Use MLA documentation style.