Midterm Exam
You have this week to create a literary analysis paper that will discuss the essay written by Michael Torres called “As if to Say”. It is located in Content and in Links.
• This is an open book exam, so you can refer to the essay as much as you wish, and you can use your own notes.
• However, you cannot use the internet for any portion of this midterm. Even if you re-word statements from a website, you are still plagiarizing. I will be using Turnitin and other resources to check your originality, and if I conclude you have plagiarized, you will fail this midterm, and you will be reported to the dean.
• I am interested in seeing your responses and analysis. There are no wrong answers, but please avoid hasty reasoning and evidence. Make sure you are concrete, and that you support your claims.
• You can use
• Please format your paper in MLA format. If you have forgotten what this is, please refer to the content, where I have provided multiple sites that describe it and how to use it.
• Please create a thesis statement and well-supported paragraphs that discuss one of the following topics.
• Your paper should be at minimum 3 pages (around 1500 words), and it should be double spaced and submitted in12 pt Times New Roman font.
Numbered below, are your questions. Please only select one question to write on.
1. Discuss communication and how it affects the author of the essay.
2. Discuss family dynamics in relationship to power (who has it when and why—sometimes it is the father, sometimes the mother, sometimes the author, himself).
3. Discuss the author’s interpretation of a bicultural life.
4. Discuss what love means to the author as he remembers it now and in the past.
You will want to brainstorm and outline a bit before you begin writing your essay, but I do not need to see your outlines, so do not include those with your submissions.
• Your essay should contain an introduction with a thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph.
• Your essay should contain body paragraphs that use evidence from the text to support your thesis.
• Please cite within the text in MLA style.
• When you cite within the text, use proper MLA citations—if you do not remember how to do this, use the links in the content
• You do not need to include a Works Cited page.
• Your paragraphs should be well-formed and contain topic sentences that relate to your thesis.
• Your evidence should be followed by analysis—here is what analysis is:
You will be graded on the following; and your rubric is provided in the content, which specifically describes grading:
• The strength of your thesis statement
• How well you follow your thesis
• How well you use evidence that supports your points
• How well you explore your topic in relationship to literary analysis techniques we have discussed in class
• How well you use evidence that is relevant to your topic
• How well you express your knowledge of the stories and their details
Read all of the writing prompts provided below before you write your essay. These are the sort of questions the assignment requires you to answer/ponder/ and write about in your midterm. You should definitely use these prompts to guide your writing, as I will look for some of your points related to the prompts below in a general sense.
