1. “Macbeth” Take Home Essay Exam Final Draft Due Thursday
British Literature
“Macbeth” Take Home Essay Exam
Final Draft Due Thursday

2. “Business” Stuff
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 week to write a rough draft or two. You WON’T do your best work if you wait until late Wednesday night to start this!!!

3. Format 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-right justified-single spaced
Your Name
Teacher/Professor Name
Course Name
Date (8 October 2015)
Title should be centered and in the same font size of the essay.

4. Thesis
All 3 of the prompts require you to make a statement about a theme in the play and then prove that statement by showing at least 3 specific examples from the play.
Of course, this means that you’re set up nicely for a fairly simple 5 paragraph essay if you choose to present 3 quotes.
DON’T OVERLOOK the need to present a central thesis statement in response to the prompt.
This thesis is something that you then need to prove.

5. Using Text as Evidence
Whenever you make a claim, it should be supported by either evidence from the text!
If you say…”It is clear that Lady Macbeth thinks her husband is kind of a wimp” 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 ?”
The answers to that simple—not easy— question will lead you to textual evidence that you can use to defend your arguments.

6. Presenting Quotes As Evidence
Your best and only (?) source of evidence to prove your arguments is the text of the play!
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.85-8).

7. Citations
When you cite the play, use proper play citation format (I. ii ).
You don’t need to cite page numbers !

8. Step 1: Context
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.

9. Step 2: The Quote (evidence)
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, 10-12).
Many students make the mistake of ending their discussion of text here. But, you must take it a step further…

10. Step 3: Demonstrate/explain how the text proves your argument.
Your goal here is to explain 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.”

11. Page Length…
The paper needs to be approximately 2 pages long. Once you start setting up quotes by providing context, presenting the quote itself and then explaining the connection between your argument and your evidence, space fills up quickly.