Essay Guidelines

Essay Guidelines 9 Academic To Kill a mockingbird

Prompt • Literary Analysis • Purpose – to analyze • How do Harper Lee’s characters in To Kill a Mockingbird help to reveal her theme?

Thesis Creation • The last sentence of your introduction should be the thesis statement. • All thesis statements should contain the following: • 1. TOPIC—what the essay is about • 2. DIRECTION—how the essay will be organized • Ex-literary analysis, compare/contrast, cause/effect, argument • 3. DIVISIONS—the elements of support • 2-3 divisions

Sample Thesis • Harper Lee uses the characters of Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley to reveal her theme that people are not always as they seem. • TOPIC— deceptive appearances • DIRECTION— literary analysis • DIVISIONS—1. Mrs. Dubose (body 1) 2. Boo Radley (body 2)

Body Paragraphs • Topic Sentence • Subtopic Sentence 1 • Analysis in your own words • Evidence • Transition between subtopics • Subtopic Sentence 2 • Analysis in your own words • Evidence • Concluding sentence/Transition

Body Paragraphs • Must begin with a topic sentence. To begin, Lee uses Mrs. Dubose’s character to illustrate that people are not always as they seem when she is mean to the children at first but later shows that she is actually suffering from a terrible disease. • Must incorporate your own analysis/explanation of how the division relates to the topic. • This is the part where you develop your own ideas and provide an in-depth discussion of the topic. • Most of your paragraph should be analysis, not quotes. • AVOID TOO MUCH PLOT SUMMARY!

Body Paragraphs • Topic Sentence • To begin, Lee uses Mrs. Dubose’s character to illustrate that people are not always as they seem when she is mean to the children at first but later shows that she is actually suffering from a terrible disease. • Subtopic Sentence 1 • First of all, Mrs. Dubose appears to treat the children with little respect when Lee first introduces her character. • Analysis in your own words • Evidence • Transition between subtopics • Subtopic Sentence 2 • However, Lee later emphasizes that the only reason Mrs. Dubose acted that way was because she was ill and suffering from a morphine addiction. • Analysis in your own words • Evidence • Concluding sentence/Transition • Along with Mrs. Dubose, Harper Lee also uses Boo Radley to stress the importance of her theme that people are not always as they seem.

Quote Integration • The quote you are using should be relevant and illustrate your point. • All quotes must be • Introduced • Skillfully incorporated • Expanded/explained • Cited

Introducing and Incorporating a Quote • Introduce a quote with a sentence and a colon. • Scout finally realizes that the unfair verdict is a result of the unjust prejudices of the people of Maycomb: “ Tom was a dead man the minute MayellaEwell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 323).

Introducing and Incorporating a Quote • Use an introductory or explanatory phrase followed by a comma. • When explaining the confrontation that he has with Bob Ewell after the trial, Atticus states, “I destroyed his last shred of credibility at the trial, if he had any to begin with” (Lee 292).

Introducing and Incorporating a Quote • Make the quotation part of your own sentence. This is what you should be striving for when incorporating quotes. • In the end, however, Scout comes to the realization that the people of Maycomb are unjust and that it is a direct result of the “secret courts of men’s hearts” that “Atticus had no case” (Lee 241). If you choose the option above, you may have to change something in the original text to make the quote fit in your sentence. To do this place the change in brackets [ ].

Expanding on a Quote Do’s Don’t expand on how the quote ties into the assertion you are making – go beyond paraphrasing and analyze. relate your explanation to your thesis. repeat what the quote says or merely paraphrase it. explain the quote by saying “this quote shows.” narrate your essay. You should avoid saying things like “this quote is included to prove my thesis.”

In-text Citations - MLA • In-text citations go at the end of the sentence and contain the author’s last name and page number. • In the end, however, Scout comes to the realization that the people of Maycomb are unjust and that it is a direct result of the “secret courts of men’s hearts” that “Atticus had no case” (Lee 323).

Works Cited • A Works Cited page will be unnecessary for this essay because all quotes are from the same book and no research is involved.

Reminders • Write in literary present tense • Be sure to use transition words to smoothly transition between ideas • Avoid 1st (I, me, my, we, ours, us) and 2nd person pronouns (you) • DO NOT define literary devices – I am your audience • Avoid weak phrasing/words: a lot, nice, big, sad, very, etc. • DO NOT start a sentence with: I am going to defend this, I will show examples, That quote shows • Be authoritative – write in a confident voice. Do not use words or phrases like: It seems, I think or I believe, The character might be • DO NOT use contractions • Use MLA formatting

Essay Guidelines