10H English @ NSHS

Honors Essay Rubric

Honors Essay Rubric

Mrs. Davison~ 10H English

Due 5/28/2010

Total 100 points

 

30 points – Thesis:

The writer articulates the thesis clearly and presents cogent evidence in favor of his or her argument in every paragraph.

30 points - Critical Thinking:

An intelligent voice seems to speak; the writer raises original questions about the texts, gives evidence of having thought about these questions from several perspectives, and offers fresh and compelling answers to them. 

20 points – Organization:

Every paragraph is in its proper place, and the transitions are smooth.  The argument builds methodically toward a conclusion.  In addition, the sentences within each paragraph are well-articulated:  there is a topic sentence in every paragraph, followed by evidence and reasons for the claim laid out in the topic sentence.  Quotations & Literary Criticism fit seamlessly into the text. 

10 points – Mechanics & Language:

Grammar, spelling, and citations are nearly perfect. The language is clear, concise, and sometimes elegant.  The word choice is apt; the writer chooses his or her words carefully and does not suffer from “thesaurus-itis.”

10 points – Assignment: 

The paper fulfills the requirements of the assignment. There is a cover page with a paper title, student name, teacher name, and date.  All pages are numbered (student name & pg. #). Everything is handed in on time, printed in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced, and stapled together.

What every Honors Essay needs

Your Honors Essays are finally due, on Friday!  Yay! You will be so proud of yourselves for completing what seemed like such a daunting task when you first heard about it back in September.

Here's what you need to hand in:

1. Cover page (with essay title, your name, my name, date)

2. Page numbers (your last name and page number on the bottom right hand corner)

3. 7-9 pages of brilliant literary analysis : ) with correct citations throughout

4. Works Cited page in perfect MLA format (go to www.bibme.com for help)

**Remember: 5 points off your total score (of 100) for each day the paper is late.  This can add up fast so get your work done and turn it in!  Remember, you've already written 1/2 the paper.

Scary story!

Here is one of the great stories submitted by a group from the Period 3 class.  Check it out!

Download From Normal to Criminal

Who has the power?

On Monday and Tuesday in class we focused on the question of power in Frankenstein and tried to see who held the most power in the book. By looking to see who has power, and what kind of power they have, we can start to analyze literature on another level.  When we look at Frankenstein we can see that all of the action and most of the power is in the male characters (even Elizabeth's power is most evident in her ability to persuade and influence Victor, which makes her a pretty passive character).  This type of analysis is known as Feminist Literary Theory (which is when you pay particular attention to the female characters in a novel and see how their roles within the novel are dictated by their status in society). We also spoke briefly about Marxist Literary Theory, which is when you pay particular attention to the role of money and privilege and how that affects the characters in the novel (for example, would Victor even have had the opportunity to create the Monster if he had been a peasant? How have the privileges of his upper class status affected his decisions and relationships with others?).

I really enjoyed our discussion today because both classes raised excellent questions and offered some pretty advanced critiques on Frankenstein after taking a look at the novel in this way. 

REMINDERS:

HONORS ESSAY DUE FRIDAY, MAY 28!!!  There will be no revisions on this one.

IN-CLASS FINAL EXAMS: JUNE 7 & 8

AHHHHHHHH!

The scientists are at it again!

It looks like we might not be too far away from a real life Frankenstein.  Check out this link.

Can I use "I" in my paper?

I've been getting this question a lot from the students and I wanted to share my thoughts on it.  Throughout college and graduate school my professors always allowed for the use of "I" in papers - everything from my most difficult literary papers, to the more personal response papers. It seems that academia has moved to a place where the student voice is respected and acknowledged, and I think that is the most important thing to learn about writing.  When I realized that my English papers could actually be about what I thought was important or interesting in a text, my writing improved immensely and my grades soared; the study of literature became less mysterious and more manageable.  

Putting a distance between yourself and the paper you are writing sometimes results in writing that sounds forced or unnatural.  It is my goal to make student writing feel more natural, and as a result, important to student and teacher alike. 

That is why in my class I allow for the use of "I" in writing. 

Check out this link to the writing center at Dartmouth College.  Here is what they have to say about using the word "I" in an academic paper:

Watch your personal pronouns. Students often wonder if it's OK to use the pronouns "I" and "you" in a paper. In fact, it is OK - provided you use them with care. Overusing the "I" might make the reader feel that the paper was overly subjective. In fact, when a writer too often invokes himself in the first person, he may be doing so to avoid offering proof: "It's my own personal opinion, and I have a right to it. I don't have to defend it." But of course, he does.

More on this topic:

Here is another link to an article on the same subject by Rebecca Feldbusch, for the National Writing Project. Seeing Academic Writing with a New “I”

Advice from University Writing Centers:

The University of North Carolina Writing Center: "Should I Use 'I'?"

Duke University: "Because I Said So: Effective Use of the First-Person Perspective and the Personal Voice in Academic Writing"

 

Analyzing Critical Lens Quotes

 Today in class we discussed the importance of analyzing the critical lens quote as the first step to writing an excellent "Critical Lens" essay.  On Friday I asked everyone to write a critical lens essay for me to use as a diagnostic (a preliminary test to ascertain the student's familiarity with this style of essay).  While grading them I noticed that some students struggled with their interpretation of the quote, which is a crucial step in the writing process. Analyzing quotes is beneficial to everyone, and so today we took it step-by-step and worked our way through the quote from Friday, and began practice on a few new ones.  Here's a link to today's handout. Download Critical Lens Quote analysis An excerpt appears below.

 

ANALYZING CRITICAL LENS QUOTES

When you write a “critical lens” essay the first thing you have to do is analyze the critical lens quote.  This is the most important part of your essay-writing process because if you don’t understand the quote and have a few ideas about how you can apply it to the books you’ve read, then you won’t know what to write about.

So, how do you analyze a quote?  Here are a few things to try:

1.   Circle the most important words/phrases and think about all of their possible meanings.

2.   Rewrite the quote and put it in your own words.

3.   Make a list of books you’ve read that relate to your quote.

4.   Make a more detailed list of particular scenes/characters from the books that relate to your quote.

MLA Citations

I thought I would put up some more information about MLA citations for you to review.  If any of you have questions about citations in your honors essay, please see me.  Also, check out this link.

The Morality of Science

Today in class we considered the following quote from Frankenstein:

“Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (39).

We asked the following questions and posed our own new ones.

Why does Victor say this and what does he mean?  Can you make a connection between his message and your own life? Explain.

Then we read the following article and had a class conversation on the morality of science and what Mary Shelley believes about whether or not we should study science at all.

The Frankenstein Syndrome

REMINDER: Tomorrow you will have a short reading quiz on Frankenstein, chapters 9-16, pgs. 77-134.

 

Reading Schedule

1.   “Introduction,” by Diane Johnson; “Author’s Introduction,” by Mary Shelley, Friday, 4/30

2.     “Preface,” and Chapters 1-8 (pgs. 1-76)  Friday, 5/7

a.    Response due Monday, 5/10

3.    Chapters 9-16 (pgs. 77-134),  Friday, 5/14

a.    Response due Monday, 5/17

4.    Chapters 17-24 (pgs. 135 – 213), Friday, 5/21

a.    Response due Monday, 5/24

 *Supplemental reading will be supplied as needed.

Response Options: CHOOSE A DIFFERENT RESPONSE EACH WEEK!

1.    Keep a “dialogic journal” (at least 10 entries).

2.    Write a poem using only words/phrases from the text that conveys the events or character(s) in the selected reading. Write one paragraph explaining your poem and its connection to the book.

3.    Write a letter to the author (1-2 pages) in which you ask the author about questions you have and explain your thoughts on the reading.

4.    Make a list of 10-12 objects mentioned in the reading.  Choose one and write a paragraph in the author’s voice describing that object in much further detail.

5.    Response paper: Write a 4-5 paragraph essay detailing your thoughts on the novel.  You should have a thesis statement (your opinion of the text), details and quotes from the text, and avoid plot summary.

Chapter 5

In today's class we reread chapter 5 and asked ourselves how Victor must have seemed to Clerval when they met in Ingolstadt, just after Victor created his monster.

In both classes we created a list of questions that we thought would have been running through Clerval's mind when he met Victor.  In pd. 1 (we had a double) we changed the direction of the story a bit and imagined what it would have been like if Clerval took Victor immediately to a psychologist to work out his problems (he seemed to be very troubled and sick at that time).  The students wrote the dialogue that Victor would have had with a doctor at that time.