SBL – Beowulf Essay
Assignment: Beowulf is a classic ancient story of a “hero” who fights monstrous creatures. There are many
reasons that this tale has survived thousands of years and many reasons why this tale still relates to modern
cultures. Besides relating to modern society, Beowulf also is a glimpse into the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture.
In this paper, you are being given two choices on which to focus.
1. How does Beowulf reveal the qualities of an epic hero
OR
2. Focus on the role of religion or conflict of religious beliefs.
Your essay will be 4 paragraphs in length. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence with a topic and
a controlling idea. The rest of the paragraph should support the topic sentences using quotes from the story and
analysis of the quotes. Avoid summary of the story at all costs in the body paragraph.
Paper must be:
 typed
 have proper formatting
o double-spaced
o Times New Roman
o 12 pt. Font
o proper heading
o default margins
o no extra line spacing.
 Be sure to avoid all use of the first person and second person pronouns (I, me, my, you, your, etc.)
 You should have a title that tells the reader what your paper is going to be about.
 Your paper is NOT about Beowulf’s plot.
 When writing about literature keep the paper in present tense.
 No contractions or slang
Paragraph 1 (Introduction):
When writing an introduction, follow ANT.
Attention getter – get the reader’s attention. Whichever method you decide to use, make sure the attentiongetter is relevant to the topic of your paper.
• relevant quote from an outside source
• relevant quote from the story
• fact or statistic
• description of initial response to the work
• shocking or amusing generalization
Necessary information:
• Title of novel – Beowulf or Beowulf
• Brief plot summary – in two or three sentences briefly remind your readers what happened in the story.
Highlight the major action of the story, especially those parts that are relevant to your analysis.
Thesis:
Your thesis should consist of a topic and limiting ideas. It should never be a question. It should
be the last or second to last sentence of the introduction paragraph. The thesis should clearly state
which areas you will be discussing.
Paragraph 2 & 3 – Body: Body paragraphs should follow TIQA:
Topic sentence: a topic sentence has a topic and a controlling idea, or a focus.
Introduce quote: Before you supply the quote that supports your topic sentence, you need to
introduce it. What this means is that you give some context to the quote. If someone is speaking the
quote, you should tell your reader who is talking.
Quote: Provide a quote that supports the topic sentence.
Analysis: After the quote, spend about 2 to 3 sentences discussing how this quote proves your point.
Transition: Use a sentence or half a sentence to transition into a second quote for support.
o Example: Another time the reader sees...
Introduce quote
Quote
Analysis
Conclusion:
• Reword your thesis. (You may want to start the rewording of your thesis with a signal word: e.g., thus,
therefore, in short, as one can see, it is obvious then, and then.)
• Tie all your points together. Then in 1 – 3 sentences, tell your reader the significance or importance
of the ideas you have been analyzing. You might want to tell your reader what they should learn from
the ideas you analyzed in the body paragraphs. (Warning: do not use you or I.)
• Clincher: try to end your paper with a short sentence that reinforces your argument. This last
sentence should do one of two things: it should either include some words from your attention-getter or
it should include most words from your title. This gives a sense of closure to your paper.
When Finished:
1. You need to upload your paper to: www.turnitin.com
2. Official directions are on my webpage.
3. You need to create an account
3rd SBL
ID: 680996
Password: 3SBLWallace
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