Course Assignments:

English 222 Writing Assignments:

In this course there will be six periodic writing assignments to be posted to a course "webboard", each consisting of five short essays (200-250 words). Questions for the short essays will be posted on "Course Schedule" page on the internet. Each weekly writing assignment is worth ten percent of the total grade for the course.

There will also be a formal critical/research essay of 6-8 pages. This assignment is worth 40 percent of the total grade for the course.

Suggested Topic for the Formal Essay (6-8 pages; due May 10)

In a critical essay, situate one or more characters, situations or themes found in one of the plays we have studied in relation to the historical conditions in which the play was originally written and performed. Note that in addition to the historical contextual materials presented in the Bedford Texts and Contexts editions of the play, you can make use of the additional primary and secondary sources found in the Bibliography at the back of each of these texts.

Grading Standards for Short Essays

In General:
Complexity and range of analysis, significance of conclusions, logic and coherence of arguments, etc. are the focus of my grading. However, rhetorical development and writing style are inseparable from these features.

Essays should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Use the spelling and grammar checkers on Microsoft Word before you print your final draft of the essay. Note that the spelling checker will not catch homonyms used out of context. Also note that since the grammar checker is designed for business writing it will suggest that you change some sentences and phrases (because they are long, for instance) that are quite acceptable for academic analysis.

The A essay exhibits these strengths:
1 Has a controlling sense of purpose.
2 Synthesizes information, draws inferences and makes analogies which show insight into the topic.
3 Maintains a consistent awareness of audience.
4 Has unified organization with an engaging introduction, graceful transitions, and a substantial conclusion.
5 Has a clear thesis developed thoroughly with specific details, examples, reasoning.
6 Uses precise word choice and appropriate and effective variation in sentence structure, emphasis, and figures of speech.
7 Is free from serious errors in standard English and from common stylistic weaknesses (ineffective use of passive voice, inexact word choice, inappropriate shifts in tense and person, wordiness).
8 Further, the A paper is often distinguished from the B paper by a more assured prose style, more creativity in form or content, more subtlety in
rhetorical strategy.

The B essay exhibits most of these strengths:

1 Has a controlling sense of purpose and a consistent clarity of exposition.
2 Synthesizes information, draws inferences and makes analogies which show insight into the topic.
3 Maintains a consistent awareness of audience.
4 Has unified organization with an engaging introduction, graceful transitions, and a substantial conclusion.
5 Has a clear thesis developed thoroughly with specific details, examples, reasoning.
6 Uses precise word choice and appropriate and effective variation in sentence structure, emphasis, and figures of speech.
7 Has few if any serious errors in standard English or stylistic weaknesses (ineffective use of passive voice, inexact word choice, inappropriate shifts in tense and person, wordiness).

The C essay exhibits these characteristics:
1 Displays a sense or purpose, which may not be consistently met.
2 Is logical, but rarely presents distinctively insightful or thought-provoking perspectives.
3 Displays a sense of audience and usually addresses that audience.
4 Is organized well enough to be easily readable, with a beginning, middle, and end.
5 Has a clear thesis, reasonably developed with some specific details and examples.
6 Has adequate but undistinguished word choice and sentence structure.
7 Contains almost no serious errors in sentence boundaries, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

The D essay may exhibit some but not all of the following weaknesses:

1 Fails to rise above the obvious in content, substitutes repetition for development, or relies too heavily on a secondary source.
2 Lacks a clear or appropriate sense of audience.
3 Has lapses in clarity.
4 Has lapses in organization; shows weakness in introduction, transition, and/or conclusion.
5 May have a single subject but no controlling idea.
6 Lacks variety in sentence structure and/or precision of word choice.
7 May have several errors in Standard English: mixed construction (confused sentences) sentence boundary errors: run-on sentences, unjustifiable sentence fragments, comma splices, agreement error (subject/verb; pronoun/antecedent) inappropriate shifts in tense, voice, mood, punctuation errors and excessive misspellings.

The F essay exhibits some of the following weaknesses:

1 Lacks substantive content.
2 Lacks any consistent sense of audience.
3 Consistently lacks clarity.
4 Lacks unified organization; lacks adequate introduction, transitions and/or
substantive conclusion.

5 Lacks a clearly-defined thesis and/or a controlling idea.
6 Has frequent errors in Standard English (see list for D paper, item 7).