Humanities Homework Help

The Assignment:

Twice during the semester, you are tasked to write a 4-5 page response paper on Macbeth Your response may take one of three forms:

1. Address an aspect of the play itself

1. Address a film adaptation of the play

1. Relate the play to another topic or field of your choice

Regardless of which option you choose, response papers should be centered around a close-reading of one (maybe two) moments from the text and/or film, and should be organized around a central thesis statement,or argumentative claim. In other words, be specific, stay rooted in the text, and make a declarative point to your reader.

A close-reading is an originalanalysis of a very smallportion (~10-20 lines) of text which illuminates and ultimately argues for or against something in the text the general reader may not discern. Your close-reading should be centered around an activeand arguable thesis statement, and should employ the close-reading tools we work on throughout the semester. Your close-reading must present new and original informationabout the specific selection of text with which you are working, and therefore you need not consult sources beyond the Norton or the Oxford English Dictionary.

Considerations:

In a paper of such short length, you will need to think about thepointof your response; what are you trying to solve? Answer? Uncover? Good response papers often come from good questions, which require close-reading to parse out.

Your responses should go further than class discussion, and should illuminate an aspect of the text we have not studied, or not studied in great detail. The point is for you to have a chance to express your reactions and responses to a moment, a character, a scene, etc. that we don’t get to in class.

Response essays are also an opportunity for you to work on your writing, a necessary skill in any professional field. Response papers should be polished, and should demonstrate effort to both edit and proofread (yes, they are different). Plot summaries and general points about the text should be avoided, as should grandiose generalizations (“In all of time…”; “In the history of the world,” etc.) and non-argumentative, obvious statements (i.e. “Many people die at the end of Shakespeare’s tragedies.”)

Formatting & Style:

Your paper should be formatted in MLA 8^thEd. (double spaced lines, 12-pt. font in Times New Roman, one-inch margins, and page numbers & last name in the top right-hand corner). Please review the Course Writing Style Guide on Canvas for detailed information about expectations for all written work in this course. Your works cited page should be properly formatted as well. For help with formatting, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/), or visit one of the on-campus writing centers.

In order to meet the word-count, you must write a minimum of 4 full pages, and no more than 5 pages.Please review the grading rubric below for a detailed breakdown of all formatting and style evaluations.

Submissions:

Please submit your response papers on Canvas (as a .doc or .docx file)by the start of the class period in which they are due. Responses are due the class period after we have completed a text. Check the course syllabus for specific dates. No late assignments will be accepted.

*It is highly encouraged that you write at least one of your response papers early in the semester. This will give me a chance to engage with your writing early on, and to provide you with constructive feedback. I expect you to incorporate feedback between your first and second response papers, so spacing them out is a recommended strategy.