A Rose for Emily

The literary research essay is just a long analytical essay with more research. You may choose any poem, play, or short story that has been assigned this semester.

This essay is ANALYTICAL. IT IS NOT A SUMMARY. Don’t retell the story; assume your reader has read it. Check your calendar for the due dates!

Your essay must have these components: (1) an introduction, (2) body, (3) conclusion, (4) thesis statement, (5) good development, (6) topic sentences, and (7) transition words. Your paper must be double-spaced, four (4) full pages (about 1600 words), and written in 12 point Times New Roman. You must cite your main source (primary source), incorporate and cite four (4) secondary sources from the library databases, and adhere to MLA style formatting.

– YOU MUST DO RESEARCH to aid you in writing this assignment, and you must use proper MLA documentation that accurately credits your sources.

-For this assignment, a secondary source is one that discusses or analyzes your chosen story. Many academic journals contain articles that discuss short stories. You must locate your secondary sources from the library databases (such as Gale Literary Databases, Academic Search Complete, Literature Resource Center, Gale Virtual Reference Library).

Secondary sources such as Shmoop, Cliff’s Notes, SparkNotes, enotes.com, bookrags.com, 123helpme.com, Wiki anything, and exampleessays.com ARE UNACCEPTABLE. Your secondary source must come from an academic journal or published book.

NOTES AND REMINDERS:

– If you submit an essay with plagiarism in it, your instructor will determine the consequences, which could be as much as a 0 on the assignment or dismissal from the course.

-Primary Source: The piece of literature you are analyzing is your primary source.

-Secondary Sources: The literary criticism found in the Literary Reference Center in GALILEO is the secondary source. You may use more than four secondary sources. 4 secondary sources is the minimum required for this assignment.

– Use MLA FORMAT (Times New Roman 12; double spaced; 1 inch margins; headnote; MLA pagination with last name page number inserted using header function).

– You must use quotations and paraphrases from both the literature selection you are analyzing AND from the four secondary sources. Use correct in-text citation formatting. Remember that quotations must connect to your words and cannot stand alone in the essay as floating quotes are fragments.

– When quoting from a story, you use the author and page number in the parentheses. When quoting poetry, you must use the space/space format between lines of the poem and put the line number in the parentheses. Ex. Cullen concludes, “Of all the things that happened there / That’s all I remember” (11-12).