World Literature
Mr. Nurenberg
China
FINAL ESSAY
READ THESE DIRECTIONS BEFORE YOU PROCEED!
This essay will be due at the end of class on Monday, 12/22. We will have Monday’s entire class period to
work on it as well.
In either case:
1. You may use your book, notes, and study guides that you filled in. Just be sure to cite
what you use.
2. If you are using any sources besides these, you need to cite them in full whenever you use
them, clearly indicating, with full publication data (author, title, date, etc) where the
information came from. Failure to do so would constitute plagiarism.
3. Please read the directions carefully on the next few pages. Aim for between 1 and 2
pages (250-500 words). You can go longer if you wish.
4. If you take the essay as a test on Monday, no extra time will be given unless you have a
504 or Ed-plan that allows it. Do the best job you can in the time allotted. You have had
several days in which to prepare.
HOW TO WRITE THIS PAPER
Texts from the China Unit:
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
To Live by Wei Lu and Hua Yu (directed by Yimou Zhang)
Step one: Create a specific thesis by asking the right questions
Your questions for this paper are twofold. You need to ask, and answer, both in your thesis.
1. What do Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress and To Live have in common, in terms of
themes and patterns?
2. How do they differ when dealing with this theme or pattern?
Be specific!
EXAMPLE OF A VAGUE AND UNCLEAR THESIS (BAD):
To Live and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress both
show the effects of Communism in China.
This doesn’t make an argument. It just points out the obvious. Who could
disagree with that statement?
EXAMPLES OF A SPECIFIC THESIS (GOOD):
To Live offers a more nuanced picture of Communism in China than the uniformly
anti-Communist Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
In To Live, Jiazhen shows more power and agency than The Little Seamstress does in
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress.
See, these are arguments! They give your analysis, just like you do every
day in class discussions.
Step two: Decide on a structure for your paper
The structure of your paper is up to you. One possible model is as follows:
Paragraph#1: Thesis
Paragraph#2: Evidence supporting Balzac and To Live’s similarities
Paragraph#3: Evidence supporting Balzac and To Live’s differences
Paragraph#4: Tell us why we should care, why it matters.
Alternatively, you could try this model:
Paragraph#1: Thesis
Paragraph#2: Evidence supporting one similarity between Balzac and To Live, but then right
afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#3: Evidence supporting another similarity between Balzac and To Live, and then right
afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#4: Evidence supporting yet another similarity between Balzac and To Live, and then
right afterwards describe a difference between them.
Paragraph#5: Tell us why we should care, why it matters.
Step Three: Support your thesis with arguments backed by specific evidence from the text
However you structure your paper, the key to a strong, compelling argument is specific evidence.
Not specific: “Homer Simpson is always doing stupid things.”
specific!)
(Not very
Specific: “Homer Simpson is always doing stupid things, such as eating
sandwiches that are five days old, or running outside in the freezing
cold with no clothes on, or dumping Spider-Pig’s poop into the river and
poisoning everyone.” (Good! Look at all those specific examples!)
I encourage you to use quotations from the text in your essay, but keep the quotations short (one to two
sentences tops) and relevant.
In other words, don’t use quotations just for the sake of using quotations, and don’t quote entire paragraphs just
to “get length.” If you use quotations, please cite them in the proper format, like this:
“This is my quotation. Note how the period is left off before the end of
the quotation marks, and only appears after the parentheses” (Achebe, 10).
Step Four: Conclusion
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Your conclusion should not just re-state your thesis.
Instead, it should go a step farther, discuss why the whole issue is important at all, why we should care.
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Nothing stings more than losing points over a seemingly minor issue. So…make sure you have read over and
confirmed all of the following items on this checklist:
[] I have proofread my paper, and maybe even asked someone else to also look it over to see if I
missed anything.
[] I have gone back and made absolutely, positively sure that I cited all sources, including wikipedia,
sparknotes, or anything else that did not come out of my own brain.
[] I have added a works cited page at the end, which, at minimum, cites both the book and the movie
(imdb.com can give you info on the movie). All sources are cited with full publication info and not
just by name and author (for more info here, visit
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/06/). I will expect that you are familiar with
MLA format.
[] Finally, make sure your paper is typed, double-spaced and stapled for neatness.