English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Analytical Essay Assignment Guideline and Timeline
In-class Essay will be Friday, February 20th
You will be writing a 5-paragraph essay that will include the following steps:
Wednesday - 2/11
1)
2)
3)
Brainstorm and choose an essay topic from the list provided.
Peruse your book for proof/evidence to support your chosen topic.
These are direct quotations from the book.
Write down at least three quotes that connect to your essay topic.
Thursday – 2/12
1)
2)
3)
Periods 6 & 7
Period 5
Brainstorm and choose an essay topic from the list provided.
Peruse your book for proof/evidence to support your chosen topic.
These are direct quotations from the book.
Write down at least three quotes that connect to your essay topic.
Periods 5, 6, & 7
Friday – Monday 2/13 – 2/16
Re-read the summaries and parts of the play that correspond to your chosen essay
topic. Place Post-It Notes on the pages that contain quotes that you might use in
your essay.
Tuesday - 2/17
Periods 6 & 7
1) Brainstorm a thesis statement from your chosen topic.
2) Create an outline of your essay – using the template provided.
Wednesday – 2/18
Period 5
1) Brainstorm a thesis statement from your chosen topic.
2) Create an outline of your essay – using the template provided.
Period 6 & 7
1) Complete essay outline
2) Prepare your copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for in-class essay on
Friday – 2/20.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Analytical Essay Template for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Due: Wednesday, February 18 (Periods 6 & 7)
Due: Thursday, February 19 (Period 5)
Paragraph # 1 - Introductory Paragraph
Engager or hook: (Draws reader in…can be a quote, a philosophical statement or an
anecdote).
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Basic Info (bullet points): Author, Title, and Basic Plotline
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Thesis Statement (include complete 1-2 sentences):
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Main Body Paragraph 1
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Topic Sentence (general idea/phrase):
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Examples of topic from literature/play:
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Quote (complete quote): Use proper MLA formatting and (Act: Scene: Lines)
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Analysis:
The examples and quotes connect to the topic because…
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English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Main Body Paragraph 2
Topic Sentence (general idea/phrase):
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Examples of topic from literature/play:
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Quote (complete quote): Use proper MLA formatting and (Act: Scene: Lines)
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Analysis:
The examples and quotes connect to the topic because…
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English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
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Main Body Paragraph 3
Topic Sentence (general idea/phrase):
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Examples of topic from literature/play:
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Quote (complete quote): Use proper MLA formatting and (Act: Scene: Lines)
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Analysis: The examples and quotes above connect to the topic because…
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English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
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Conclusion
Write about your personal or general (real-world) connections to the essay topic.
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English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Essay Outline Examples:
Topic #1
It is only in the last few decades that the position of women in society has
been reexamined. From reading Shakespeare’s plays, we have some
information about their negative treatment in the 1500s and 1600s. What,
precisely, was this negative treatment of women to which we no longer
adhere?
Outline
Introductory Paragraph
Hook/Engager:
Thesis Statement: In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
demonstrates the negative treatment women received from society in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through the female characters of Hermia
and Hippolyta. Women were often considered as property by men and were
forced to marry for position and power, not for love.
Body Paragraph One
Topic Sentence
Hermia is considered as property and, in a way owned by her father.
Evidence/Example #1
Father has the right to choose daughter’s husband (Egeus)
Evidence/Example #2
Failure of daughter to comply with father’s choice will lead to either death or
banishment to a nunnery (Theseus & Athenian law)
Body Paragraph Two
Topic Sentence
Hermia and Hippolyta are unable to choose their own marriage partners.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Evidence/Example #1
Hermia faces death or banishment be eloping with Lysander
Evidence/Example #2
Hippolyta is won in battle by Theseus and must marry him as his ‘prize’
Introductory Paragraphs:
Purpose: To introduce the general topic and the specific argument (the thesis
statement) of your essay
Content:
- a descriptive element (the engager or hook) to draw the reader in
- the general who, what, when, and where (this includes author, title,
setting, basic plot, 1-2 sentences that direct the content toward the thesis
statement
- the 1-2 sentence thesis statement
Format:
- start with general information
- become more specific as you write the paragraph
- end the paragraph with your thesis statement
- 5-7 sentences total
Main Body Paragraphs:
Purpose: To give evidence that supports your specific argument (thesis
statement) and to analyze that evidence (to prove your specific argument or
thesis statement using that evidence)
Content:
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the specific who, what, when, and where
the why
Format:
English 7
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Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
start with a topic sentence (a sentence that introduces the topic you will be
discussing in the paragraph)
give evidence that supports your argument (if you use a quote from the
text as evidence, this is the place to include it)
end with analysis
5-7 sentences total
Concluding Paragraphs:
Purpose: To look at the specific argument (thesis statement) in your essay in
more universal ways. To answer questions like: “How does this argument apply
to my life or other people’s lives, to other cultures or to events?” “What does this
mean?” or “So what?”
Content:
- you will talk, not necessarily about specific evidence from the text, but
rather about other examples or thoughts you have that relate to your
thesis statement and the arguments made in your essay
- you will apply your argument to “the wider world”
- you may use “I” or 1st person here
- you may refer to the book, but you definitely need to blend outside ideas
into your conclusion
Format:
- the format of a conclusion is much looser and less structured than other
paragraphs
- in general, you start with more specific information or thoughts and
become more general as you write
- 5-7 sentences total
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Creating a thesis from your essay topic
Essay Topic
The importance of the character of Bottom as comic relief in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Although A Midsummer Night’s Dream has many serious elements and embarks
upon an exploration and treatment of some of the most serious of life’s
experiences and themes, there is a comic element that is evident and which keeps
the reader engaged and this is classified as a comedy.
Analyze the character of Nick Bottom and explore the function that he plays in
injecting comic relief into an otherwise serious play.
Step 1: Write Out Your Thesis – The argument you want to make in your essay
Thesis Statement: Nick Bottom’s character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream acts as
a kind of comic relief in a plotline of possibly serious consequences. Bottom
provides comedy and fun to the reader, through his personality as the ‘arrogant
fool’, his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his ability to
make the best of his situation.
Step 2: Underline Each Key Element in Your Thesis
Nick Bottom’s character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream acts as a kind of comic
relief in a plotline of possibly serious consequences. Bottom provides comedy
and fun to the reader through his personality as the ‘arrogant fool’, his being in
the wrong place at the wrong time, and his ability to make the best of his
situation.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Step 3: Turn Each Key Element into a Main Body Paragraph Topic
Paragraph 1 Topic: Bottom’s personality as the ‘arrogant fool’
Paragraph 2 Topic: Bottom being at the wrong place at the wrong time
Paragraph 3 Topic: Bottom’s ability to make the best of his situation
What content do you need to know from the book for following thesis statement
to make sense to a person who has not read the book?
Thesis Statement: Nick Bottom’s character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream acts as
a kind of comic relief in a plotline of possibly serious consequences. Bottom
provides comedy and fun to the reader through his personality as the ‘arrogant
fool’, his being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his ability to make the
best of his situation.
What basic information is necessary to include before you introduce the reader
to your thesis statement?
1.
Why is Bottom an important character? What makes him an arrogant
fool?
2.
In what ways is he in the wrong place at the wrong time? Why is he
considered a lively ‘fool’? – Give examples
3.
In what ways does he continue to make the best of his situation? Give
examples?
In order to create a thesis, you must have examples for each of your topic that you
will discuss. Sometimes it is best to look for three to four examples, then formulate
your thesis in chronological order of when those examples occur in the plot.
How do I choose good quotes to support my examples/evidence?
Choose quotes that directly relate to your argument, that provide deeper
meaning of an element of the text, that prompt analysis
(discussion/explanation), and that you couldn’t say in your own words.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Would the following quote be good, and if so, what topic sentence would it
help support?
“The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath
not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to
conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I
will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream. It
shall be call'd ‘Bottom's Dream,’ because it hath no bottom;
and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the Duke.
Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I
shall sing it at her death.” (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 214-221)
QUOTATION FORMAT AND CITATION
How to Incorporate Quotes into an Essay
When incorporating quotes into an analytical essay on a piece of writing (novel/short
story/poem), follow these rules:
1. The quote should clearly support your thesis argument and should act as
an essential piece of evidence. It should include analytical content that you
will use to support your thesis statement NOT factual content that can
easily be replaced with your own writing.
2. If the quote is three or less lines in the novel, then you should insert it into
your essay as an in-text citation.
a. Before the quote, write a transitional phrase that will make the
transition from your writing to the quote smooth. (including where,
when, and/or who is a great way to create a smooth transition)
b. Place quotation marks around the quote.
c. After the quote, cite (author’s last name, page number).
d. After the citation, place the end punctuation.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
e. Make sure as you begin your own writing again, you create a smooth
transition out of the quote. (a basic way to transition from a quote to
your analysis is to use the phrase “this shows….”)
f. The quote needs to clearly connect to the other evidence and to the
analysis in the paragraph.
3. If the quote is four or more lines, then you should insert it into your essay
as a long or block quotation.
a. Before the quote, write a transitional phrase that will make the
transition from your writing to the quote smooth.
b. Place a colon (:) after the transitional phrase.
c. On a new line, write out the long quote (the entirety of the quote
should be indented 10 spaces from the left margin).
d. After the quote, place end punctuation.
e. After the end punctuation, cite (author’s last name, page number).
f. DO NOT place quotation marks around the quote. The fact that the
quote is indented and separate from the rest of the text shows that it is
a quote; therefore you do not need quotation marks to show this as
well.
g. The long/block quotation should be double-spaced as well.
h. On a new line begin your own writing again. Do not indent unless it is
a new paragraph. Make sure you create a smooth transition out of the
quote as well.
i. The long/block quote needs to be an essential and excellent piece of
evidence. There is no point in putting something this long into your
essay unless it’s great! Therefore, make sure you take time to analyze
the content of the quote before or after it – don’t ever simply include a
long quote without explaining what it reveals/how it helps to prove
your thesis statement.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
Possible Analytical Essay Topics for
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You may create your own as well! 
1. Love is portrayed in many different ways in A Midsummer Night’s
Dream: Forced, Romantic, Infatuation, Parental, Friendship.
2. Argue FOR or AGAINST Lysander’s quotation, “The course of true love
never did run smooth”. (Give 3 arguments to support your statement)
3. The love portrayed among the four lovers is similar to love among teens
today (the times have remained unchanged). ex: same problems (give 3
examples)
4. Hermia was treated unfairly by her father and the “Athenian Law”
5. Oberon is the root behind all of the problems in the play.
6. Puck is the root behind all of the problems in the play.
7. The theme of dreams and dreaming are important in the play.
English 7
Analytical Essay Assignment Guidelines and Timeline
8. Shakespeare use of magic in the play Ex: Shakespeare uses magic to
create conflict, establish an atmosphere, etc.
9. Egeus needs to “get with the times”…he needs to set his old-fashioned
ways behind him OR Egeus is a horrible father.
10.The foolishness of the characters in the play. Puck states, "What fools
these mortals be" (3.2.115). The lovers and fairies are foolish. Explain.
11. Discuss the change in Theseus. How he evolved from stern to
understanding (consider how he dealt with Hermia and her desire to be
with Lysander, in the beginning and the end of the play).
12.Discuss the similarities/differences Theseus and Oberon (as rulers)…and
determine which is the better ruler of the two.