JUNIOR ENGLISH
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT FOR
THE CRUCIBLE
Overview: For this assignment, you will be writing a multi-paragraph essay where you analyze
one of the themes of The Crucible. Select one of the following topics:
- Examine the grudges and personal rivalries in The Crucible, and analyze how they
impact the events of the play.
- Develop an argument about which characters are most responsible for the
witchcraft hysteria in The Crucible.
- How are the concepts of justice and injustice demonstrated in The Crucible?
- What does The Crucible tell us about loyalty to others vs. self-interest?
- Why are Danforth, Hawthorne, and the other authorities so willing to believe
Abigail and the girls, and so resistant to believing John Proctor, Giles Corey, etc.?
- Develop an argument about the decisions John Proctor made throughout the story.
- Examine the character of Abby Williams and build an argument where you defend
and justify her actions.
You will choose one of these options as the main idea of your essay. Once you have selected
your topic, we will construct the essay by going through the following steps:
1) Ask yourself- What is your opinion about the subject you’ve chosen?
2) Develop your CLAIM, where you use your opinion to make your main argument
statement about the subject. Make sure you remember:
a. Your claim has to be debatable.
b. Your claim has to be narrow, specific, and direct.
c. Your claim has to be something you can support with evidence from the play.
3) Brainstorming- We will use a mind map to assemble the ideas and examples we’re going
to include in the essay.
4) Outline- We will use an outline to organize the ideas we came up with in the
brainstorming.
5) Rough Draft- We will write a rough draft of the essay.
6) Editing- We will edit the rough drafts in class, making corrections and improvements that
will strengthen the essay.
7) Final Draft- We will turn in the final version of the essay.
Requirements:
- The essay must be organized to prove your claim-dived into manageable chunks.
- Four direct quotes from the play are required in the essay.
- MLA format is required.
- The outline, rough draft, and final draft must be typed and double-spaced.
- The final draft must be uploaded to turnitin.com.
- DUE DATES:
o Outline: _____________________
o Rough Draft: _________________
o Final Draft: __________________
CLAIM DEVELOPMENT
Before we can move on to the brainstorming phase and start collecting ideas for our essays, we
have to figure out what we’re going to say. In other words, we have to develop our claims. We
will use this worksheet to develop some sample claims for each topic option.
Examine the grudges and personal rivalries in The Crucible, and analyze how they impact
the events of the play.
Develop an argument about which characters are most responsible for the witchcraft
hysteria in The Crucible.
How are the concepts of justice and injustice demonstrated in The Crucible?
What does The Crucible tell us about loyalty to others vs. self-interest?
Why are Danforth, Hawthorne, and the other authorities so willing to believe Abigail and
the girls, and so resistant to believing John Proctor, Giles Corey, etc.?
Develop an argument about the decisions John Proctor made throughout the story.
Examine the character of Abby Williams and build an argument where you defend and
justify her actions.
BRAINSTORMING SHEET
QUOTES AND CITATIONS
When you write your essay for The Crucible, here are the requirements for quotes and citations:
- You are required to use four direct quotes from the play.
- Quotes should be no longer than 8 words.
- Each quote needs to be cited with the author’s last name and page number in parentheses:
for example- (Miller 243).
- Anytime you’re using a direct quote in your writing, you must follow FOUR steps:
o Introduce
o Quote
o Cite
o Explain
EXAMPLES:
Quote:
Near the end of the play, John Proctor screams, “Leave me my name!” (Miller 207). This
statement makes it clear that he feels a desperate need to maintain his reputation.
Structure:
Near the end of the play, John Proctor screams, “Leave me my name!” (Miller 207). This
(introduce)
(quote)
(citation)
statement makes it clear that he feels a desperate need to maintain his reputation.
(explanation)
Quote:
Mary Warren tries to explain to that she “meant no harm” by giving the poppet to Elizabeth
Proctor (Miller 172). By saying this, Mary is showing that she does not understand how her
actions are being manipulated by Abby Williams.
Structure:
Mary Warren tries to explain to that she “meant no harm” by giving the poppet to Elizabeth
(introduce)
(quote)
Proctor (Miller 172). By saying this, Mary is showing that she does not understand how her
(citation)
(explanation)
actions are being manipulated by Abby Williams.
Remember:
- A period always follows the citation: (Miller 172).
- The citation is always placed at the end of the entire sentence. If your own sentence
continues after the quote (as with the Mary Warren quote above), the citation belongs at
the end of the completed sentence, not immediately after the quoted words.
- Do not begin a paragraph with a quote, unless you’re opening up your introduction
paragraph with a famous quote, something that is not from the story/play/book you’re
writing about. This is acceptable. In any other situation, your paragraphs should begin
with your own words.