TOPIC
Select three of the texts that we’ve read together in class. (“The Basic T
TOPIC
Select three of the texts that we’ve read together in class. (“The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel” by David Rabe, “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, and “A Novel without a Name” by T.H. Duong)
Be sure to formulate an argumentative thesis that you support with those three texts.
Do NOT propose a split and/or descriiptive thesis. An example of a split/descriiptive thesis would be “In
Novel Without a Name, Quan loses his idealism and will to fight whereas Billy Pilgrim and Ishmael Beah never seem to have a clear sense of purpose.” This kind of statement is so sprawling and general that it does not indicate what specific argument you will be making.
Rather, you might make a more focused argument such as “In Novel Without a Name, Slaughterhouse Five, and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, war is depicted as an unstoppable natural force, indicating the powerlessness combatants experience.”
The body paragraphs must support the thesis through a close reading of the literature. Quote each of your selected works directly (and correctly!) at least four times, meaning you will have at least twelve quotations in your essay. Be sure that your discussion remains focused on your
specific argument throughout the course of the essay.
You should end with a conclusion that avoids summarizing your essay. Focus instead on
showing the ground covered in your discussion.
MISCELLANEOUS
Please remember the following when writing about literature:
• You use the present tense when talking about the literature itself. Here is an example:
Billy Pilgrim often travels through space and time.
• If you want to refer to a historical event, you use the past tense. Here is an example: Kurt
Vonnegut survived the firebombing of Dresden when he was a prisoner of war; that
experience forms the basis of his novel, Slaughterhouse Five (please note that “forms” is
in the present tense because we are now talking about the book).
• Do NOT use “I” or “you” in an essay. You should be using appropriate academic
language, avoiding slang and familiar language.
• You should always introduce the author(s) and text(s) you are going to be discussing in
your introduction.
• After you have introduced the author the first time (using the author’s full name), you
should then refer to the author by last name.
• The thesis should be proposed in the introduction.
• Poems and short stories are in quotation marks, NOT in italics or underlined, whereas
plays and books are in italics.
• Any time you quote a text, you must include a parenthetical citation in which you put the
author’s last name and the page number.
• Ensure that every body paragraph has a clear topic sentence that structures the paragraph
and supports the essay’s thesis.