“Hamlet” Take Home Essay Exam Final Draft Due Wednesday, Dec. 9

 Late Papers will have 20% deduction each day. You don’t want this—and it is not negotiable.  Grace period.  If you have questions, please see me.  Give yourself time this weekend to write a rough draft—more on that in a few slides…

 1” Margins (I’m picky about this—get it right.)  Double Spaced, but NO extra space between paragraphs. (be aware of this if you have Word ’07 or ‘10)  4 line header-left justified-single spaced ◦ Your Name ◦ Teacher/Professor Name ◦ Course Name ◦ Date (18 December 2009)  Title should be centered and in the same font size of the essay.

 First and foremost, recognize that this is a position paper. You must take a position in response to a critic’s argument.  Therefore, you must identify and clearly explain (summarize) that critic’s argument. ◦ How can we understand your position in response to the critic’s argument if we don’t understand the critic’s argument itself?  Whether you defend, challenge, or qualify the critic’s argument, your goal is to use the text of Hamlet to prove the validity of your argument.

 Sort of, but not really. It is an argument that is based in thoughtful consideration of the text.  Therefore, you must present this argument as FACT  1 st person narrative can be appropriate, but avoid phrases such as “I think” “I believe” “In my opinion”  Your argument will be a statement that people might disagree with; therefore, you will spend the rest of the paper demonstrating to your readers why your argument is true and valid.  Your “proof” comes from the text of the play.  Your “reading” of the play and the critic is your interpretation…you present that interpretation as fact and then back it up!

 Since you need to use evidence from the text to support your arguments, you must use quotes from both texts.  When using a quote, supply your reader only what they need.  Don’t use quotes to fill space in your paper.  This is a short paper, so it’s probably best not to use a block quote unless its ABSOLUTELY necessary.  Use an ellipsis if you need to string meaning together.  Example: “Our last king…was…dared to the combat” (I.i.85-88).

 You don’t need a works cited page, because you aren’t using another source beyond the play and the article…I gave you both of them…  When you cite the author of the article, simply supply the last name in MLA format. (Bradley).  When you cite the play, use proper play citation format (I. ii ).

 One of the biggest mistakes that high school and early college writers make is that they don’t give themselves time for a drafting process!  Writing itself is an act of discovery—writers often don’t know what they are going to say until they sit down and try to say it.  TURN OFF THE EDITOR FUNCTION!  ALLOW YOURSELF TIME AND SPACE TO DISCOVER WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY ABOUT HAMLET IN RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE!

“Hamlet” Take Home Essay Exam Final Draft

 Whenever you make a claim, it should be supported by either implicit or explicit textual evidence.  If you say…”It is clear that Hamlet has disobeyed his father’s stipulations by dragging his mother into his plan for revenge” you have made a claim that must be supported by textual evidence.  SO—ask yourself the question, “what in the play makes me think that?”  When you agree or disagree with the critic, ask yourself…”what IN THE PLAY makes me think that?”  The answers to these questions will lead you to textual evidence that you can use to defend your arguments.

 When introducing a quote in your paper, first give it context, so that we know where in the play this is happening. Your summary skills will be at work here. ◦ “After meeting the witches on the heath, Macbeth immediately writes his wife a letter to tell her his news.”  By doing this, you’ve set your readers up for the evidence you’re about to present.  The point is that the quote itself makes sense within a certain context—not all on its own. You want to make this context clear to your readers.

 After you’ve given your evidence context, you can present the quote… ◦ After Macbeth has written about the witches’ prophecy, he comments that “this I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee” (I. v ).  Many students make the mistake of ending their discussion of text here. But, you must take it a step further…

 Your goal here is to make the connection between the quote and the argument to help convince your audience that your argument is valid. This is the most important step, because this is where you explain your interpretation of the text. ◦ “The fact that it is so important to Macbeth to immediately share this news with his wife, whom he calls his “partner in greatness” demonstrates that the two of them have clearly discussed his, or possibly their, ambition to sit on the throne of Scotland.”

 Your critical essays are long. You must read and study them; however, you don’t have space to respond to every point that the critic makes in the essay—your job is to zero in on an aspect of their argument.  Remember that part of your goal is to prove that you have a solid understanding of the play “Hamlet” through the lens of the critic’s argument. Don’t stray too far away from the play…always come back to the text.  Here’s an analogy—you’re in a discussion with this critic about the play. Both of you have studied the play and understand it well. Now, the two of you are either agreeing or disagreeing on a particular aspect of the play.

 The paper should be 2-3 pages long. If it’s over 5, you need to start editing. Make sure that you don’t have 2-3 pages of unneeded text to get to only a few points.  You want to be concise—8 pages doesn’t automatically mean that you’ve actually said more. It might just mean that you’ve used more words…

 Because we didn’t have an opportunity to finish the final draft discussions, I am extending the deadline to Wednesday morning. I will collect your final draft then.