English 287:  Great Books

Fall 2003

Assignment for Essay #2

For this course, you are writing two out-of-class essays.  Each is worth 50 points.  You have already received back your Essay #1.  This now is the assignment for Essay #2.

Deadline

The second out-of-class essay is due by 5:00 p.m., Monday, November 24, under the instructor's door at Denison 210.

Topic options

The topic options are extensive.  Therefore I have reserved them to a separate page.  When you go there, however, keep in mind that they are to be understood in light of the information on this page -- the one you are currently reading.

Format

(1) Each essay should be about 1 page, single-spaced, with standard 1-inch margins, in 12-point typeface.  This is a rough guideline for helping you determine whether you've gone deeply enough into the problem you've chosen to address.

If you find your draft significantly short of this length, you'll want to consider whether you might 

• add a point, or 
• develop further a point that you've already made (for example, by adding another illustrative example and/or by explaining further the significance of an example you already have).  

Of course, mere repetition that does not advance the analysis is not a suitable way to increase length, because it does not increase depth, and just irritates a reader.

You are welcome to exceed a single-spaced page if necessary.

(2) Equip your essay with an appropriate title.  This should indicate (however cryptically) something about your particular angle on (or conclusions concerning) the specific subject (topic) you elect.

(3) At the very top of your page (right-justified), put the following information in a single line (not stacked in a column):

Your Name   |   your e-mail address   |   the section you are enrolled in [i.e., either 1:30 MWF or 2:30 MWF] 

(4) At very the bottom of your essay (don't append a separate sheet), you should include the following statement (handwritten is OK), and append your signature to it:

"On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work."

For a description of what aid is and is not authorized for these essay assignments, see ground rules for collaboration, below.

Criteria for evaluation

There is both a succinct and a detailed discussion of the criteria I will be relying on in evaluating the essays you submit.  The latter is most useful, and you will want to study it carefully as a guideline for revising your successive drafts into the one you decide eventually to stand upon.

Ground rules for collaboration for these assignments

For this assignment, students are expected to write their drafts without assistance from anyone else -- except that anything you exchange among yourselves on the class message board is eligible for you to adapt to your own purposes, so long as you cast your points in your own words.

• Students are not to rely on any other materials that may be available on the web beyond our course website.  
• Nor are they to consult discussions that might be turned up by library research.  

The reason for these requirements is that the point of these assignments is to enable you to display your own reasoning about connections you are able to make among the episodes and/or works you are focusing on.  The topics options have been designed with this purpose in mind.

For more information, see the Undergraduate Honor System at Kansas State University.

  Suggestions are welcome.  Please send your comments to lyman@ksu.edu .

   Contents copyright © 2003 by Lyman A. Baker. 

Permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other rights reserved.

  This page last updated 17 Nov 2003 .