General Essay
Instructions:
These instructions
pertain to both essays (i.e., the instructions apply to both Parts 2a and 2b of
the exam). Each essay must:
be
argumentative, with a thesis that makes a debatable claim
be
600-1500 words long
involve
at least one section of close reading of a specific section of a
text. The close reading section
must use at least three discrete elements of the section of text (e.g.,
different words or literary devices), and it must differ from close
readings provided in the course lecture notes
include
in-text citations and a Works Cited list. Be sure to cite the lecture notes
if/when you use them
examine a minimum of one
of the terms in the table below as part of its argument. Using this term as part of the argument
means not just mentioning the words but performing an analysis that uses term
as part of the larger argument
Alliteration
Code-switching
Figurative
language (simile, metaphor, personification, synecdoche, and/or apostrophe)
Sensory
imagery (be specific. E.g., visual,
auditory, tactile)
Anaphora
Fable/beast
fable
Liminality
Setting
Anthropomorphism
Foreshadowing
Narrator or speaker
Sign, signifier, and/or
signified
Binary
system
Enjambment
Plot
(and/or specific elements of Freytag’s pyramid)
Symbol/Symbolism
Character
(antagonist, protagonist, foil, dynamic, static, round, or flat)
Epistolary (adj.)
Point of view (first, second, or
third person)
The uncanny
Essays that do not follow these rules
or that are off topic will be penalized.
Notes on Formatting:
·
For the exam, formatting
such as line spacing does not affect the grade.
You do not need to include front matter, although a title is a good
idea.
·
Do indicate your choice
of topic and text at the top of each essay.
·
This exam document
provides you with space to write your essays pre-formatted with Times New Roman
12pt font, double-spaced, with indentations for the first lines of paragraphs.
· Research is discouraged but not prohibited. Research takes time that you could be using to write the exam, and its
usefulness rarely outweighs the time and attention that it requires. Excluding the course materials, any sources
used must be written in English or French and either available online through
the University of Saskatchewan library or publicly accessible.
· Citations are required for any sources
used, including lecture notes, YouTube videos, and texts from the course,
except where the exam explicitly states otherwise. Citations must be in MLA style (8th
ed.) and follow the 2-part citation system.