Summer Reading Essay Due:

Choose just one of the following prompts and write a convincing essay, four to six paragraphs in length, about the book you read for summer reading. The last paragraph of your essay should be a review in which you explain reasons for either recommending or not recommending the book. Using specific examples from the text you have read is how to garner the most points. Essays that do not provide specific examples, or that are exceedingly vague and/or exceedingly general, will receive fewer points.

1. One of the most revealing types of conflict occurs when a character’s inner struggles are resolved at great personal price. Often, the character learns a lesson, but too late to help himself or another character. Explain how, in the work that you read, a character struggles. In your essay, focus on the conflict within the character. Be sure to include the price paid (if any) as part of the resolution and the lesson to be learned.

2. Authors often use descriptive details to develop a setting for several purposes. In an essay, explain how the setting of your book relates to events from the plot, relates to characters, or helps build suspense. You may write one body paragraph about each aspect of setting, or you may chose to elaborate on one particular aspect (plot, character, suspense) in multiple body paragraphs.

3. What is the theme of the novel? In your introduction, state a theme of the novel (remember that there can be dozens of themes in a novel, so there isn’t just one correct answer). In your thesis, explain how the theme is developed. In your body paragraphs, give specific examples of scenes from the novel in which the author developed the theme.

4. Discuss the author’s use of figurative language. Identify three examples of figurative language from the novel. Why did the author use these examples? What impact does the figurative language have on characterization, description of setting, mood, foreshadowing, theme, or the novel overall? In your essay, use a different example in each body paragraph. Be sure to explain the significance of each use of figurative language.

Reminders & Tips

Don’t forget that after answering either question 1, 2, 3, or 4, your essay should culminate with a review of the book in which you explain reasons for either recommending or not recommending the book. This is the place for your honest opinion—if the book was bad, I want to know! But at the same time, if the book was great, please tell me, and tell me why! 

Use MLA formatting (12 point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, MLA heading, and MLA header). No need for a Works Cited page, though, because you’ll only be discussing one book. You should, however, use citations when quoting from the book, like this (5).

Paragraphs are cohesive units that convey ideas and back those ideas up with evidence and reasoning. Because of this, your paragraphs will vary in length. If you’re tempted to ask how long your paragraphs should be, first ask yourself if you have successfully backed up the point you’re attempting to make. If you can be more thorough or more specific, perhaps your paragraph should be longer. If you’ve written an essay with paragraphs that only have five sentences each, you have not been thorough enough

Content
Title, Author, Genre 3 pts for accurate identification / 3

Thesis 2 pts for a thesis that informs the reader what you’ll be arguing / 2

Textual Evidence 10 pts for integrating textual evidence throughout the essay to support your argument / 10

General Interest & Clarity Up to 8 pts for writing an engaging, interesting essay (not boring!) that makes it clear you have read the book / 8

Structure
MLA Heading, Font, Margins, and Spacing ½ pt each for your name, instructor’s name, name of class, date due, Times New Roman 12 pt font, 1-inch margins, double-spaced paragraphs indented / 4

Title 1 pt for a centered title, 1 pt for a title that communicates a central idea of the essay or book / 2

Paragraphing 3pts for an essay that is four to six paragraphs in length; 4pts for paragraphs that are not excessively short or excessively long / 7

Cohesion 2 pts for including information in your paragraphs that aligns with the flow and ideas in your essay (in other words: does it flow well?) / 2

Conclusion
(final body paragraph) 2 pts for recommending or not, 2 pts for explaining why or why not / 4

Grammar and Punctuation
Capitalization and Spelling 1 pt for capitalizing the first word of each sentence, 1 pt for correctly capitalizing or not capitalizing all other words, 1 pt for no misspelled words (including homophones) / 3

End marks 1 pt for correctly ending each sentence with an appropriate end mark / 1

Complete sentences 2 pts for not having any sentence fragments; reduced to 1 pt for having no more than 1 fragment / 2

Correct sentences 2 pts for not having any run-on sentences or comma splices, reduced to 1 pt for having no more than one of either / 2

Total Score