“Of Mice and Men”
Essay Assignment
Your task: Write an essay on one of the following topics. Your essay
should be at least 500 words long.
1) Compare and contrast the book Of Mice and Men to the film.
2) How does Steinbeck present the theme of loneliness in the novel?
3) Dreams help people to survive, even if they can never become real. How
does Steinbeck present the theme of dreams in the novel?
4) Of Mice and Men shows us that characters can be both kind and cruel.
Explain how this is true by comparing 2-3 characters in the novel?
5) Look at the various examples of discrimination in Of Mice and Men. How does
discrimination affect different characters? How do characters respond to
discrimination, and how does it impact their lives, and the outcome of the story?
6) "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men / Gang aft agley" ("often go awry")
Explain how this quote relates to the novel, particularly the theme of
dreams/future plans.
7) Another topic of your choice (as long as it’s ok with the teacher).
Whenever you are asked to write an essay, you should always:

Choose your topic carefully. Choose a topic that you feel you
understand and that you would be most confident writing about.

Use pen and paper to brainstorm all of the ideas that come to mind when
you consider your topic. Fill pages if you can! The more ideas you can
think of in your brainstorm, the easier it will be for you to write your essay!

Once you’ve brainstormed, spend some time planning the structure of
your essay. Group your thoughts into sections (these will become your
paragraphs) and try to make your essay flow.

Once you’ve planned your structure, write a first draft. With essay writing,
practice makes perfect. Often, to get an essay to work really well, you will
need to rewrite or rework it, again and again.
Make sure you understand every single word in your essay topic, and
that you constantly refer back to your essay topic throughout your essay.

Every sentence in your essay should somehow be helping in your
response to the words contained in the topic you have chosen.

Remember, all essays require paragraphs (with at least four sentences in
each paragraph) and in all essays, your first paragraph should be an
introduction and your final paragraph should be a conclusion.

Back up all of your thoughts with evidence from the novel. Without this
evidence, your thoughts will seem weak and flimsy. You need to provide
evidence to show that your thoughts have substance.

Use TEEL (Topic sentence, Explain, Evidence, Link) for your body
paragraphs, to ensure that you are staying on track and structuring your
paragraphs well.

Please submit your first draft on Tuesday, 26th March (so that I can get it
back to you before the Easter holidays)
The final draft will be due after the Easter break, and must be submitted
with the first draft and the self review checklist.
You can handwrite or type your essay. If you type your essay, make sure
your formatting is consistent and neat. If you handwrite your essay, make
sure the final draft is very neat!
“Of Mice and Men” Essay Rubric
Length of essay
Essay is 500
words long. 4
Structure and
format
Essay includes
at least 5
paragraphs,
including an
introduction and
a conclusion. 4
Writing style is
very original and
very coherent,
and is easy to
understand.
Ideas put forward
are well
considered and
sound. 4
Ideas in the
essay are very
well supported
by very well
chosen evidence
from the novel. 4
Writing style
Evidence from
novel
Grammar,
punctuation
and spelling
Essay includes 5
or less grammar,
punctuation and
spelling
mistakes. 4
Presentation
Presentation is
excellent and
formatting/
handwriting is
very neat. 4
Total:
Essay is less
than 500 words
long but more
than 400 words
long. 3
Essay includes 4
paragraphs or is
missing an
introduction or a
conclusion. 3
Essay is less
than 400 words
long but more
than 300 words
long. 2
Essay includes 3
paragraphs and
is missing an
introduction or a
conclusion. 2
Essay is less
than 300 words
long. 1
Writing style is
quite original and
quite coherent to
read, and is
reasonably easy
to understand.
Ideas put forward
are sound.3
Writing relies too
heavily on other
sources or is
difficult to
understand. 2
Writing includes
sections which
have been cut
and pasted from
another source.
0
Ideas in the
essay are well
supported by
well chosen
evidence from
the novel. 3
Essay contains
some examples
from the novel
but the examples
are limited in
number or poorly
chosen. 2
Essay includes
between 10 and
15 grammar,
punctuation and
spelling
mistakes. 2
Presentation and
formatting/
handwriting are
of a satisfactory
standard. 2
Essay does not
include evidence
from the novel to
support ideas
that are put
forward. 1
Essay includes
between 5 and
10 grammar,
punctuation and
spelling
mistakes. 3
Presentation is
good and
formatting/
handwriting is
neat. 3
Essay includes 2
paragraphs and
is missing an
introduction and
a conclusion. 1
Essay includes
between 15 and
20 grammar,
punctuation and
spelling
mistakes. 1
Presentation is of
an unsatisfactory
standard. 1
/24
Comments:
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
Self review checklist
Read over your work and try to correct any mistakes you have made. Feel free to
cross bits out, jumble things up, add more – anything that will help improve your
essay!
Checklist:
Have I thoroughly proof read my essay? Y/N
Is the essay at least 500 words long? Y/N 
Does it include an introduction? Y/N 
Does it include a conclusion? Y/N 
Does it include at least 5 paragraphs? Y/N
Does each body paragraph have a topic sentence? Y/N
Does my conclusion sum up my argument and restate my contention? Y/N
Is the writing style interesting to read Y/N 
Is the writing style easy to understand? Y/N 
Do I constantly refer back to the essay topic throughout my essay (i.e. link my point
of view to the essay topic)? Y/N 
Have I backed up all of my ideas with evidence from the novel? Y/N 
Is my evidence well chosen? Y/N 
Are there any grammar/spelling mistakes? Y/N 
Is the essay well presented, with correct formatting/neat hand writing? Y/N
Has somebody else proofread my essay and given me feedback? Y/N
Name of peer reviewer ______________________________________