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WRITERS RULES
Honors English 9A/B
----------------------------------------------------------Note: These rules apply to your essays for Honors English
9A/B. The SOONER you incorporate them into your writing,
the SOONER your writing scores will improve.
----------------------------------------------------------Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
--Carl Sandburg
01. The following is an example of an EMBEDDED QUOTE. The
writer paraphrases the poem's content then uses words from
the poem within the paraphrase.
Embedded quotation example:
The speaker compares fog with a cat by noting fog's
"little cat feet" (2) and "haunches" (5).
Note #01: The words directly quoted are placed within
"quotation marks".
Note #02: The line numbers are placed within
(parentheses).
Note #03: The END quotation marks come BEFORE the
citation for line 5.
Note #04: The period is saved until the very end.
Note #05: There is no "p" or "pg" within the
(parentheses).
Second embedded quotation example:
The fog "sits looking over harbor and city on silent
haunches" (3-5) before moving on.
Note: The above shows citing lines from a POEM or PLAY.
The exact same technique is used to cite a quotation from a
short story, essay, article, book, or novel. In these
cases, however, the numbers inside the parentheses refer to
pages (not lines).
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02. Sometimes for a sentence to make sense you must modify
the quotation. Use [BRACKETS] to show the modified parts.
Modified quotation example:
The fog sits and "[looks] over [the] harbor and city"
(3-4).
03. Do NOT use references to YOU, YOUR, YOURS, I, ME, MY,
MINE, MYSELF, WE, US, OUR, OURS, OURSELVES, etc. in
literary analysis essays.
04. Always refer to content of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that you're analyzing in the PRESENT TENSE. The
story takes place in the past tense; however, you refer to
its content in the present tense.
05. Do NOT assume that a poem's author is its speaker.
NOT say for "Fog" (as an example) that Carl Sandburg
compares fog with a cat.
Do
06.
*Use COURIER FONT only!
*DOUBLE SPACE your essays.
*WORD PROCESS all drafts of every essay you do at
home.
*Do NOT double-double space between paragraphs.
*Put TWO SPACES after end marks (.!?).
*Put ONE SPACE after commas (,), semicolons (;), and
colons (:).
*No contractions in literary analysis (cannot, not
can't)
*Only two sentences in your essay that begin with
THERE or IT.
*Avoid slang (Romeo's type of love was the bomb, but
it could really be cheesy too.)
07.
THESIS: a subject and an opinion about that subject.
Thesis example:
This essay will argue that the speaker in Carl
Sandburg's "Fog" combines knowledge of cats and fog to draw
a comparison.
08. TOPIC SENTENCE: a mini-thesis with a subject and an
opinion drawn from the thesis sentence.
Thesis example:
Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet is a fickle lover.
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Topic Sentence #01:
Romeo declares undying affection for Rosaline.
Topic Sentence #02:
Romeo’s affection switches when he falls for Juliet.
Note: The topic sentences bisect the thesis into two
arguable parts (that is, parts that logically build
your argument).
09. Begin your literary analysis papers with a HOOK, five
or six LINKERS (more than example below), and your essay's
THESIS.
Example of Hook, Linkers, and Thesis:
The fog over a harbor can be so thick as to disguise
the movement of ships within.
One perceives the ships'
presence, though, by the mournful lowing of their horns.
Or is that sound the mewing of forlorn cats?
Only when the
fog has slipped away can the observer tell for sure.
This
essay will argue that the speaker in Carl Sandburg's "Fog"
combines knowledge of cats and fog to draw a comparison.
10.
Denote the various sections of your essays as follows:
*UNDERLINE: thesis and topic sentences
*YELLOW HIGHLIGHT: concrete details (CDs)
*NON-YELLOW HIGHLIGHT: commentary (CMs)
11. Thesaurus Words: Five = 1 bonus pt; Ten = 2 bonus
pts; Fifteen = 3 bonus pts.
*List your Thesaurus Words on a SEPARATE SHEET of
paper at the end of the essay as follows:
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Thesaurus Words
1.
see – perceive
2.
rich – lavish
3.
kind – considerate
4.
crazy – demented
5.
home – mansion
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12. You will be formatting your body paragraphs according
to the CD/CM method. This is the format to use in each
body paragraph:
Topic Sentence #01: this paragraph's mini-thesis
CD #01: a supporting quotation from the text
CM #01: why the quotation supports the topic
CM #02: why the quotation supports the topic
CD #02: a supporting quotation from the text
CM #03: why the quotation supports the topic
CM #04: why the quotation supports the topic
Concluding sentence: a reference back to the
topic sentence
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Blocky Essay Layout
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
Opening Paragraph:
Hook – Don’t start your essay with a question!
Linker
Linker
Linker
Linker
Linker
Thesis
First Body Paragraph
01.
02.
03.
04.
Topic Sentence
First CD
1st CM
2nd CM
5
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
Second CD
3rd CM
4th CM
Third CD
5th CM
6th CM
Concluding Sentence
Second Body Paragraph
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
Topic Sentence
First CD
1st CM
2nd CM
Second CD
3rd CM
4th CM
Third CD
5th CM
6th CM
Concluding Sentence
Concluding Paragraph
01. Transition to conclusion
02. Revisit your hook (not word-for-word)
03. Revisit/Rephrase your body paragraphs’ most important
observations/insights. (Maybe 4-5 sentences.)
04. Revisit your thesis (not word-for-word).
-----Note: Three CDs (pieces of evidence) is bare minimum.
Note: If you drop your essay onto a flash drive for oncampus printing, it might be a good idea to save the file
as Word version “1997-2004.”