Your final paper will be due in my office or via e-mail at 9 am on the 3rd of May. Do not forget to send me a rough draft, email me with questions, or come to see me (by appointment or during my office hours) if you would like help. Your English language paper should be about 6-8 pages long or 3-4 pages in Russian. Make a cover sheet / header with your name. Do not forget to number your pages.

 

An electronic copy of your paper can be sent to me as a MS Word attachment.

 

NOTE: Your topic can involve several authors. Do not consider yourself bound to discuss them all. Depending on your thesis, the attempt to bring all the authors in might lead to superficiality or incoherence.

 

 

 

(reflect my expectations and evaluation criteria)

 

Your essay should be focused on the text(s) you select. The following will apply both to comparative and non-comparative papers. A strong essay will display:

 

 

· strong (comparative) thesis statement about the chosen reading(s) [the main point of the essay should be clear to the reader from the introductory paragraph]

· development of the thesis statement with several supporting points

· close reading of the chosen text(s) to develop your (comparative) points

· strong supporting evidence of each point from your reading of the text(s)

· care with the logic of transitions

· recognition and if possible explanation of any potential contradictions or exceptions to the point you are making which can be found in the text

· conclusion which summarizes your thesis and evaluates the strength of the case made by (each) author for that perspective

· good organization, clarity, originality

· care with technical aspects of writing such as sentence fragments, paragraphing, word choice, punctuation, spelling, etc.

Also: if you quote or paraphrase ideas from the texts, be sure to cite the source and page numbers.