Avoiding Plagiarism (YouTube video)

Paper Heading:

On the left side of the first page, include your name, class and class time, the date, and Essay#. Centered on the first page include a title for your paper. Like this:

Instructions:

• Choose one of the topics below.

• Write 5-7 pages (double-spaced, 12-pt. font).

• The conventions of Standard American English should be observed.

• You should incorporate the articles from your annotated bibliography into your essay.

  • Acceptable research sources include:

    • The Main Library and the Library's online resources.

  • Unacceptable sources:

    • Google Search

    • Wikipedia

    • Spark Notes, Shmoop, and similar websites

• I will deduct up to 20 points for using unacceptable sources and/or for failure to cite in text.

• You will receive a "0" on this paper and possibly an "F" for the class for plagiarism. "I didn't mean to plagiarize" and "I didn't know that was plagiarism" will not excuse you.

• Works Cited page, like this:

• In-text citations, like this:

Types of papers:

• Listicle (List Article)

  • Format

    • Introduce your topic, telling your audience ...

      • the impetus to write the article, or

      • the importance of the topic, or

      • the relevance of the topic

    • Make a list of "things" which have something in common, for example

      • 6 Reasons not to             

      • 5 things you never knew about            

      • 4 amazing people who            

    • Explain, describe, or analyze each "thing" on your list

  • You may use pictures, graphs, or videos (or video links) for emphasis or illustration.

  • Include a bibliography and cite your sources in your article.

• Traditional Essay

  • Featuring an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, this type of paper is perhaps the one you are most familiar with.

  • You may use pictures, graphs, or videos (or video links) for emphasis or illustration.

  • Include a bibliography and cite your sources in your article.

• Explication

  • An explication or "close reading" examines a short passage from the text.

  • The writer is looking for words/phrases or themes or motifs in the selection which he finds significant.

  • Finally, the explication should consider the small passage within the context of the play.

Topics:

• The Moon and Moon Goddess Diana

  • Explore the moon motif in the play by writing a listicle or a traditional essay about the many times the moon and moon goddess are mentioned.

  • Possible titles: “The 4 Virgins in Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “Virginity: Preference or Threat?”

  • Remember: Diana is also called Phoebe, and the moon goddess is a virgin and the patron goddess of the Amazons.

  • Consider using one or more of these questions to develop your thesis and come to a conclusion:

    • Consider “proud” virgins-by-choice, like Hippolyta and Queen Elizabeth, in contrast with the threat of life-long virginity toward Hermia or the disgraced Helena. How are virginity and the moon as symbol of virginity depicted? Is there a gender disparity in the way virginity is regarded? What, besides still having an intact hymen, might being a virgin mean to a woman?

• Distortions of Reality

  • In either a traditional essay or a listicle, write about the various conflicts between fantasy and reality in the play.

  • Possible titles: “Reality and Fantasy: Nighttime Escapades and Daylight Ceremonies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream’” or “The 6 Most Unreal Moments in A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

  • Consider using one or more of these questions to develop your thesis and come to a conclusion:

    • Does anyone in the play seem more in control of or more aware of reality? Consider the two male rulers (Theseus and Oberon) as arbiters and enforcers of reality. Consider the settings (wood and town) as ideal environments for an exploration of real and fantastic things. Consider how truth/lies coincide or clash with real/fantasy.

• Love and Marriage

  • In either a traditional essay or a listicle, write about the drama surrounding the various types of heterosexual relationships in the play.

  • Possible titles: “Love as a Disease of the Mind in A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “The 5 Ways Love Can Wreck your Day in A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or “Love: What’s so True About It?”

  • Consider using one or more of these questions to develop your thesis and come to a conclusion:

    • You will probably want to prove or disprove Lysander’s assertion that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Is Demetrius’ love for Helena at the end “true” or “real” and does it matter? Does Lysander’s momentary infatuation for Helena in any way negate his “true” feelings for Hermia? Compare and contrast the political marriages (Theseus and Hippolyta / Oberon and Titania) with the love unions (the four Athenian lovers).

• Explication

  • Explore the themes of love and reality in an explication of one of these passages:

    • Helena examines what love is (1.1.226-251).

    • Helena (2.1.220-234) and Titania (2.1.81-116) discuss the "upside down" reality they are living in.

    • Lunatics and Lovers (5.1.2-22).

    • Puck's epilogue (5.1.425-440).