Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
Final Essay Prompt – Analytical Essay
DUE: Wednesday, September 16th - Period 5, Thursday, September 17th - Periods 2, 4
Robert Burns once said, “The best laid schemes of mice and men go aft astray, and leave us naught but
pain and sorrow for promised joy.” This famous quote comes from his 1785 poem, To A Mouse.
Explain why you think John Steinbeck may have taken the title for his novel from this quote.
Use specific details and examples from the novel to explain the significance of this quote as it relates to the
novel, Of Mice and Men. Be sure your examples are explained thoroughly, coming from the beginning,
middle, and end of the novel.
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Typed, 12 font (TNR preferred), entire paper double-spaced, proper header, need an appropriate title
Have many people read/proofread your paper after they have reviewed the guidelines and handouts
Submit your FINAL paper into www.turnitin.com, and remember a hard copy to turn into the basket as
well
ON ROUGH DRAFT (in spiral notebook) AND FINAL COPY:
1) Highlight your Thesis Statement in pink
2) Highlight your CDs (Concrete Details-quotes) in green (body paragraphs only)
3) Highlight your CM (Commentary) in yellow (body paragraphs only – no need for Topic Sentence or
Concluding Sentence/transition)
4) Underline all transition/signal words (refer to handout and Writers Inc.)
Definitions of terms used:
CD or Concrete Detail: Specific details that form the backbone or core of your body paragraphs. For this essay,
it will be a specific, cited quote. In other essays, it may be a fact, specific, example, description, illustration,
support, proof, evidence, paraphrasing, or plot reference.
CM or Commentary: Your opinion or comment about something that supports the thesis and comments about the
CD; not concrete detail. May be an opinion, insight, analysis, interpretation, inference, personal response, feeling,
evaluation explication or reflection. This is NOT written in first person (ex: I think . . . get rid of first person and
just write the statement!)
Topic sentence: The first sentence in a body paragraph, this must have a subject and opinion (commentary) for
the paragraph. It does the same thing for the paragraph that the thesis does for the whole essay (again, NO first
person).
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Introductory Paragraph:
ICD (effective lead)(indented because it begins the paragraph)
***The next four sentences can be arranged in any order. Be sure to include BOTH the title and author of the
poem AND title and author of the novel somewhere in the intro paragraph.
A statement about the poem To A Mouse by Robert Burns, and include the quote “The best laid schemes of mice
and men go oft astray …..” (the entire quote).
A statement about the meaning of the quote.
A statement about how the quote relates to your thesis statement.
Strong Thesis statement (a statement that shows you intend to prove in your essay that the quote (by Robert
Burns) ties into the novel (Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck), without saying “I intend to prove ...”
Make sure you have both the title (underlined) and the author of the novel (Steinbeck) if you haven’t specifically
mentioned both of them in one of the earlier sentences.
(No extra space between paragraphs, just double-spaced like the rest of the essay.)
Body Paragraph I: (character and example #1)
Topic Sentence (indented because it begins the paragraph) (intro/thesis for the paragraph – what your
paragraph will cover – actually a commentary or opinion)
CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis - see Integrating Quotes handout)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
Concluding/Transitional sentence - (should conclude this paragraph and lead into the next)
(No extra space between paragraphs, just double-spaced like the rest of the essay.)
Body Paragraph II: (character and example #2)
Topic Sentence (indented because it begins the paragraph) (intro/thesis for the paragraph – what your
paragraph will cover – actually a commentary or opinion)
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CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
Concluding/Transitional sentence - (should conclude this paragraph and lead into the next)
(No extra space between paragraphs, just double-spaced like the rest of the essay.)
Body Paragraph III: (character and example #3)
Topic Sentence (indented because it begins the paragraph) (intro/thesis for the paragraph – what your
paragraph will cover – actually a commentary or opinion)
CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CD - (quote – be sure to lead into quote – use quotation marks for quotes, and document page numbers with
parenthesis)
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
CM - analysis of above quote showing how it supports the topic sentence/thesis
Concluding sentence - (should conclude this paragraph and does not need to be a transition for this third body
paragraph)
(No extra space between paragraphs, just double-spaced like the rest of the essay.)
Concluding Paragraph: (Tie everything together, showing in depth the meaning and significance; So what?
Why is it important? The novel, the quote … how does it affect our lives? Add philosophical insight. NO
PERSONAL PRONOUNS)
(Indent as this is a new paragraph) Flexible with this paragraph - 4-6 sentences (much like a short answer
response)
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