The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Paper instructions:
Remove use of secondary sources. This is a paper containing YOUR ideas, not those of another source.

The Document to revise is attached as Literacy Assignment.

Topic:
•    Your literary essay should analyze an aspect of the Appearance versus Reality motif found throughout The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Make sure you develop an arguable thesis.  Don’t just state that Tolstoy uses an “appearance vs reality” theme in his novel.  That just tells the reader something. You want to make the reader analyze your point or argument. Here are a few questions to get you thinking (don’t just answer these and consider that your essay though).  What does he use the theme to accomplish?  What is the message that he is trying to convey?  Does he succeed? The majority of your essay should be your thoughts and citations from the text to back it up. If a situation today suddenly comes to mind though, feel free to include a modern day example. Just make sure it is concise and does not become the bulk of your essay.

Guidelines:
1.    Length – Your essay should be approximately 3.5-5 pages long (3.5 FULL pages…all the way to the end of the page).  You will not receive any credit for an essay that does not meet the three and a half FULL page minimum. To analyze or discuss a topic sufficiently will require more than a brief paper.  The main consideration is: Did the discussion cover the topic adequately, or was it just a superficial treatment?  You have all had freshman composition courses and know how to put a paper together.

2.    Structure – Your essay should consist of an introductory paragraph which sets forth your topic and an arguable thesis statement.  Don’t just put forth a bland presentation of material.  The paper itself should argue a point.  The introduction should be more than just a sentence or two; its purpose is to interest the reader and give some indication as to the focus of your discussion.

You will want to include several supporting points to explain your argument. You may want to use brief quotes from the textbook to help support your argument, but remember that this essay is at least 80% you!!

You should end with a concluding paragraph.  The paper should not end with a discussion of your last point.  Write an adequate conclusion that brings closure to the paper.

You will also have a works cited page. Even though you are only using your textbook, you will want to cite it in your essay and on the works cited page in MLA formatting.

3.    In analyzing or discussing your topic, make sure that you use specific details from the work under consideration.  Give evidence from the literary work itself to support your topic.  This means referring to the characters, events, settings, and whatever else may be used to bolster your case.  You tend to strengthen your essay when you quote from the work itself.  Papers that deal in vague generalities will not receive high marks.

4.    Be careful about writing plot summaries.  A plot summary proves nothing except that you know what happened in the work.  ALWAYS assume that your reader has read the stories. You do not need to retell the stories again.  Your paper consists of a statement or idea (thesis) which you are trying to prove to be a valid analysis of the work.  You may have to include a few details of plot summary but remember: this is not a book report.

5.    Do not use secondary sources.  This is a paper containing YOUR ideas, not those of another source.

6.    AVOID PLAGIARISM!!  Plagiarism is the attempt to pass off the words or ideas of someone else as your own work.  This is illegal and is a violation of TSU’s Academic Honesty policy.  It is very tempting to go to a website and lift a paragraph or two, or even an entire paper.  IF YOU PLAGIARIZE, YOU WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF “0” ON THE ASSIGNMENT.  Blatant plagiarism could result in failure of the course and/or further ramifications from the university. Please review the plagiarism policy in the syllabus.

7.    Use correct grammar and mechanics and write in Standard English.  This is a college level course and you are expected to have the writing skills of a college student.  Grammar and mechanics (punctuation, style, sentence completeness, spelling, etc.) will account for 10 % of the grade on the paper, BUT no paper with significant and severe writing problems will receive a grade higher than 75 %.

8.    In writing your essay, use only standard, formal English.  This is a serious paper and your writing style should reflect this seriousness.  No cliches, no colloquialisms (such as “fixing to”), no first person singular pronouns (“I”), no second person pronouns (“you,” “your,” etc.), and no contractions (he’s, can’t, didn’t).

WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE:

1.    Be objective.  Use third person pronouns or first person plural (“we”).  No “you” or “I” point-of-view papers will be stylistically correct.
2.    Use present tense verbs when referring to the action, characters, events of a story, or to the author’s intentions in the story.  Use past tense when writing about the author’s life, the historical context of the work, or the work’s history.
3.    Book and play titles are underlined or italicized. Titles of short stories, essays, or short poems are placed in double quotation marks (“”).
4.    Short quotations from a literary work are placed in double quotation marks.
5.    Long quotations (4 lines or more) should be double-indented only—no quotation marks.  Single-spaced.
6.    Give a page number in parentheses following all quoted material.
7.    Make sure you use MLA formatting for your essay and works cited page.

Text Book used for class:
Text Book Used for Class:
Norton Anthology of World Literature (Volumes D-F)
•    Author(s)Lawall, Sarah
•    Edition/Copyright3RD 12
•    PublisherW.W. Norton & Co.
•    ISBN-100-393-93366-0
•    ISBN-13978-0-393-93366-6