Required Information:
Course Code: ENG 4U1-02
Semester: Two
Period: Two
Teacher: Ms. Bokpe
E-mail: renata_bokpe@kprdsb.ca
Please use this e-mail for all requests and questions, as well as for proving that you did indeed
write your essay – but your printer was out of ink.
A few things you must know before I mark your work…
George Orwell compared good prose to a clear windowpane. It is not supposed to be
noticed. When I am able to glide through your writing and savor your thoughts, opinions,
and analysis, I will have found something which must be richly rewarded.
1. I have a never-ending and severely nauseating fear of the word “very” when it is
found within formal writing. Improve your writing by finding the precise word to
represent your ideas and avoid weakly modifying words which do not.
2. Give your essays an interesting and suggestive title. Don’t succumb, with a sigh
of boredom, to: Essay #1. If you do that you set up certain expectations in the
mind of your reader. This title will not encourage the reader to approach your
essay with eager anticipation.
3. There are two ways NOT to begin your essay. The first is with a dictionary
definition; the second is by telling me that Toni Morrison is a great author. The
reputations of the authors we read here are not really at issue. Instead, catch my
interest with what you plan to tell me.
4. Strike out unnecessary words. I believe strongly that you are all intelligent people
with tremendous vocabularies; therefore you have no need to use eight words
when five would suffice.
5. Avoid run-on sentences. A good way to test for a run on sentence is to read
portions of a long sentence without other clauses. If a portion makes sense
without its “friends” then divide and conquer.
6. Do not use periods to break sentences in two. The result being that the second
sentence is incomplete, as is this one. This is called a sentence fragment.
Naughty. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb.
7. Consider your essay an argument with me, where I am obstinately refusing to see
your point of view. You must justify your comments with clear references to the
text. If I write “where do we see this?” on your paper I will have won the
argument.
8. The only serious bit of evidence you have to offer to support your argument is the
text itself. Therefore when you quote you must quote exactly. Get the spelling
right; get the punctuation right.
9. Number your pages. Date your essay. Reference titles of books and plays
properly. Please double space your essay. I will return any essay which does not
meet these standards.
10. Proof-read your essay. Out loud! Seriously. You’ll be amazed at what you can
hear that you haven’t seen. Better yet get a friend to read your essay to you.
You’ll be amazed at how much nonsense (literally) you will discover.
Taking notes in class or in a lecture is not as easy as some may think. Here
are some pointers to help you improve your listening and note taking skills.
Pay Attention: following along as the speaker talks is the way to get the
most out of the lesson.
Point Form: don’t try to write down every word. It’s not necessary and
probably not possible.
Use Titles and Headings: break your notes into sections and give them
titles
Pick Out Key Points: some things are more important than others. Try to
get down headings, titles, definition, etc. They usually help around test time.
Leave Spaces: Usually a speaker will have breaks in their lesson or lecture.
You can often find these by paying attention to slight shifts in topic or
summing up of ideas. When they break and switch focus leave a space in
your notes which will show you they have started a new area of the lesson.
Be Neat: or as neat as you possibly can. There is nothing more infuriating
than not understanding your own writing, short-forms, or commentary.
Rewrite and Re-read: every so often go back over your notes and
summarize or add insights. Also go through your notes to highlight or
underlines important points or terms.
Order and Date: being able to find your notes helps to make them useful.
Integrating Quotations
1. If you want to use only a few words of the author’s, you can blend them with your
own without any punctuation:
Throughout the novel, the young Mrs. de Winter often experiences feels of anguish and
helplessness in her new home, Manderly, which is “a thing of grace and beauty, exquisite
and faultless” (70).
Sometimes, minor changes must be made so that the quotation fits in grammatically
with your words. Indicate that you are changing a minor word, the case of a letter, or
the tense of a word by using square brackets.
Even the room in which her wedding feast was to be help is left
untouched, in spite of the fact that “every discernable thing in it [is]
covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces”(102).
2. Otherwise, introduce quotations with a colon:
Mrs. Danvers always seems to be obsessed with Rebecca, even though she is dead, and
these feelings make Mrs. de Winter feel utterly intimidated by her: “The touch of her
hand made me shudder. And her voice was low and intimate, a voice I hated and feared”
(176).
3. Using very brief quotations is a good way to stay close to the text:
Estella’s formerly proud eyes now have a “sadder, softer light” (596) and her once cold
touch is now warm. Drummle’s treatment has made Estella suffer, and she has been
“bent and broken” (598) into a better woman.
4. Quotations which are longer than three lines of typing or writing (which ever you
are using) should be “blocked” – indented – and single-spaced.
Although she has passed away more than a year ago, Rebecca’s spirit
seems to linger around the halls of Manderly. It is as thought she is
everywhere:
she was in that room in the west wig, she was in the library, in the
morning room, in the gallery above the hall. Even in the little
flower room,…And in the garden, and in the woods, and down the stone cottage
on the beach. Her footsteps sounded in the corridors, her scent lingered on the
stairs (243).
Mrs. de Winter’s feelings always made her believe she is being compared
to Maxim’s first wife.
5. Use ellipsis to indicate that you have eliminated some text, but never eliminate
words to change the author’s meaning:
“I turned away into the hall… I could not tell him that I had never seen the morning
room” (87).
Rhetorical Devices
An incomplete glossary…
Allusion
reference to a person, place, or event from literature,
History, Bible, or mythology.
Ambiguity
written so that there is more than one interpretation
Analogy
comparison made between unlike things, i.e. an abstract
concept is explained in concrete example.
Anecdote
a short narrative episode used to make a point
Bombast
verbose or inflated diction disproportionate to the matter it
expresses
Cliché
expression or word that has been used so much that it is no
longer vivid
Climactic Order
ideas or details arranged in ascending order of importance
Deductive Reason
writer applies know or established generalization to a single
or specific situation, believing the first will explain the
second
Development
strategies a writer uses to support and illustrate key ideas
(details, examples, anecdote, analogy, etc.)
Diction
choice of words (meaning, sound value, connotative
association)
Didactic
tone and style used by a writer with purpose to provide
guidance or instruction
Epigram
short, witty, concisely-worded saying that makes a point
(waste not, want not)
Euphemism
use of mild or inoffensive words or expressions in place of
those viewed as offensive
Fallacy
a flaw or weakness in the logic of a particular argument
Imagery
mental picture, reliant on the senses
Irony
Juxtaposition
contrast between what something is and what it appears to
be
compare unlike things
Inductive Reason
write examines specific evidence and draws from it a
generalization
Metaphor
compare two things, but you don’t use like or as (simile)
Mood
emotional attitude of a literary work
Parallel Structure
emphasize ideas of equal importance by placing parts in
similar phrasing and development
Parody
imitate style, form, and concern of another specific work to
entertain or make a point
Persona
mask a write adopts and presents as a speaker
Purpose
controlling reason behind a work (in fictional works this is
also known as a theme)
Rhetorical Question
a question posed for effect and not followed by or inviting
reply
Structure
a larger organizational pattern of a work (logic and effect)
Style
the texture, that is the manner in which ideas are expressed
(diction, tone, syntax)
Symbol
an object which represents something else
-conventional: commonly recognized
-personal: created in work and specific to work
Thesis
main idea of position of essay writer
Tone
implied attitude of writer
Unity
principle where each part of work should relate to a single
purpose
Vernacular
ideas expressed in language close to everyday speech (often
called colloquial when not being used for an affect)