The essay assignments for a particular course will be similar from week to week. Most will ask you to research the meaning of a rhetorical or literary term, to write a clear definition of it, and then to apply the term in an analysis of your reading assignment.

For example, your reading assignment might be "Guests of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor and the term you are asked to define might be "irony." You would look this word up in several appropriate sources such as a literary handbooks and then write your definition of it. After this, you would study your reading assignment carefully and think about how it exemplifies irony. You would complete your essay by drawing examples of irony from the story and explaining these to your reader. Here is a model paper on irony.

Your response to the essay assignment should have three parts: a beginning or introduction, a middle or body, and a conclusion.

Introductions for the essays you will be writing should do several different jobs:1) give a complete and detailed definition of the literary term that is the focus of the assignment, 2) orient the reader by giving information about the authors and titles of the literary works you will discuss, and 3) state the main idea of your essay.

The main idea sentence, or thesis, should be the last sentence in the introduction. Notice how the following sentence from an essay on irony orients the reader and states the main idea:

In the short story, "Guests of the Nation," Frank O'Connor uses irony to illustrate the conflict that men face when their roles as combatants force them to disregard the humanity of their enemies.

This sentence tells us the kind of writing that will be considered (a short story), the title of the story, the name of the author, and it lets us know that the focus of the discussion will be on irony.

It also makes an assertion about how Frank O'Conner uses irony in his story. The writer says that he uses it "to illustrate the conflict men face etc." Thus, this single sentence serves two important purposes: It orients the reader and it tells the main idea of the essay.

The sentence may be used as a model for beginning your writing assignments. Just substitute the name of the kind of writing you are looking at (a story, poem, essay, etc.), the title, the name of the author, and the rhetorical or literary term you are dealing with.

Stating the main idea is harder. Rhetorical and literary devices such as irony, satire, paradox, imagery, metaphor, etc. are tools writers use to tell us something. The "something" that the writer is trying to tell us is the main idea. So you have to ask yourself, "What point is the writer trying to make?" When you can write this out in your own words, you have done the most difficult part of the job.

Sometimes, the main idea may be explicitly stated, meaning that you cn point to the particular sentences that state the main idea. More often, however, readers must make an inference,figuring out the main idea for themselves.

The next thing you should do in the introduction is to define the literary term if that is part of the question. For this you must use appropriate sources. On my links page, I point you to several online sources. These may not be useful in every case, so be prepared to visit a library or to purchase the handbook of literary terms that I have listed on the course outline. Don't forget to look for a glossary in the back of your reading anthology. Be aware that standard dictionaries like Webster's will usually not give you an useful defintion because the literary terms have specialized meaning which are not often included in ordinary dictionaries.

In defining the rhetorical or literary term, you should use several sources and combine the best information from each. Put the information into your own words. To do this, you must read and reread and think about the ideas. Give yourself time. Don't try to finish the job at a single sitting. More on this below.

Begin writing your definition with a sentence that lets the reader know what you are going to do. For example, you might say, "According to The Handbook on Literature, the word ‘irony' means . . . ." Or, "The word ‘irony' may be defined as . . . ." When you write the definition, quote sparingly and only the key phrases which express the core of the idea. Do not forget to insert your parenthetical documentation when you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source. You should use at least two sources in writing your definition.

The definiton is very important. Without a complete and detailed defintion of the rhetorical or literary term, you will not be able to do a good job of analyzing the reading material. Also, combining information form several sources using your own words is an writing skill that you are supposed to learn in these courses. You cannot earn full credit if you do not do the job.

When you have finished your definition, you need to begin the body of your paper. Here you want to show how the story, poem, or essay illustrates the use of the rhetorical or literary element you have defined. For example, you will identify some example of irony in the story and present it to the reader by either a brief quotation, a paraphrase, or a summary. Often you will combine these methods. Integrating borrowed material into your own writing is discussed in your Little Brown Handbook. Also, look at this document.

But presenting the evidence of irony from your reading assignment is not enough. You must also explain to the reader what makes the words or situation ironic. To do this, you must understand both the meaning of the term and the story you are writing about. You cannot write about what you do not understand, so reading and thinking before writing are essential.

As a rule, two examples are better than one and three are better than two. Provide as many as you can within the space you have while maintaining proportionality in your paragraphs. This means it would not be a good idea to give ten examples to support your first point and one example to support your second and third points. Remember that the total length of your response should be at least four hundred words, but it may be longer if the importance of the content justifies the added length.

The essay should have a concluding paragraph. It should not just stop after you have presented and explained your last piece of evidence. For a short essay, the conclusion may only one or two sentences. The conclusion lets the readers know that you have completed your thoughts on the topic and you are ready to leave consideration of the matter to them. It will commonly refer back to the main idea, reminding them of what you set out to do in your essay. It may touch on the main points of evidence that you have provided, and it may include some final observation about the reading assignment and the literary or rhetorical device the author has used.

However, a conclusion should not introduce new evidence or suggest a new aspect of the discussion. If you think of something important that you want to add as you write the conclusion, you should go back and put it at the proper place in the essay.