Topic for Your Essay (mitation by chimamanda n adichie)
First step in writing your essay is to come up with a research question:
My essay is going to be about imitation by chimamanda n adichie
Next,
come up with a research question to ask about your story. You can use
the literary elements (for example, symbolism, setting, theme) you
learned about as a magnifying glass to look at the text more closely.
Below are some research questions I created using the literary elements.
You may use one of the questions as the research question for your
essay. You may come up with your own question, but below are a list of questions if you can’t think of your own. Select ONE of
the below questions. Your essay/thesis should respond to this question.
Remember, your essay is an analysis (not a summary) of your reading.
Focusing on one of the questions below should steer you away from simply
summarizing the story.
How does the external setting reflect the internal turmoils and emotions of the characters in the story?
What is the theme of the story? How does the setting of the story help illustrate the theme of the story?
Is there an essential symbol in the story? What does the symbol represent?
How do symbols in the story help reveal the theme?
Discuss the relationship between the internal and external conflicts we see in the story.
How does the story’s setting help us understand the characters in the story?
What is the theme of the story?
How do the characters in the story help us understand the story’s theme?
3. Write down the question you’ve selected. You do not need to submit anything in this step.
Write Outline for Your Essay & Bring It to Our Next Class
At
this point, you’ve already selected a story to analyze in your long
essay. You completed research on that story and wrote an annotated bib.
Now
it’s time to write an outline for your essay. The essay will be five
paragraphs. But you are not writing the essay yet. First, you are
writing the outline:
1. Read this sample outline
. It is an example of the outline you will be writing for your paper.
2. Read this sample outline with my notes.
On the right-hand side of the document, you will see my
comments. Click on each comment. Read them carefully to understand all
the key elements you will need to include in your own outline.
3. Download this outline worksheet
. Fill out the worksheet to create your own outline. Note
that you are being prompted to provide at least three citations for each
body paragraph. The three citations may be pulled from your primary
text and a secondary source like an article or other published sources.
Although a secondary source is not required (meaning you can stick to
citations from the primary story), a secondary source is permitted and
recommended for this paper.
4. Bring your outline to our next class session. You will need the outline to participate in the graded class activity.
