Literary Essay

Literary Essay for In the Heat of the Night

This literary essay will have a minimum of four paragraphs, will be in MLA format, and will require quotations from at least two secondary sources (as well as quotations from the novel).

The introductory paragraph will have a thesis statement.

Each body paragraph will have at least two quotations from your primary source (i.e., the novel), as well as at least one quotation from a secondary source.

Your concluding paragraph should be at least three sentences long.

The essay should be double spaced and in 12 pt, Times New Roman or Courier font.

Here is a link to the scoring rubric.

Here are some resources.

If you are unsure of how to write a literary essay, please visit the following website.

Here is a brief order of operations for writing an essay:

Order of operations for writing a literary essay:

-          Decide on a topic

-          Gather quotes from the novel about your topic

-          Gather quotes from secondary sources about your topic

-          Organize quotes into groups/paragraphs

-          Introduce quotes (eg: “At one point in the novel, our narrator tells us that, “

-          Explain quotes (eg: “This shows us….”   “Here, we see that …)

-          Insert quote from secondary source (eg: “As the experts at Sparknotes tell us…)

-          Write your intro (with thesis statement) and conclusion.

-          Create title (eg: An Examination if the Character Sam Wood in the novel,

Independent Novel Study

Part A - Keeping a Notebook (GLO3)  50 marks

Directions:             Students will create and maintain a well-ordered notebook. Students will have a page for each of the following:

Characters -             Keep an ongoing list of important characters. For each character, provide a brief description and a quotation either said by the character or said about the character (with a page number).

Symbols -             Keep an ongoing list of important symbols and a brief explanation of what each one symbolizes.

Concepts (Ideas) -            Keep an ongoing list of important concepts. These concepts will later be turned into themes.

Events -             This will be the largest section of your notebook. After each section (usually a chapter), write down a brief description of at least one important event that happens. Find and write down a short quotation about the event (with page number). Then write down the related concepts for that event. Finally, write down any important symbols related to that event and a very short analysis of those symbols.

Part B – Presentation (GLO4) 50 marks

Directions:            Students will create an online presentation using a format of their choosing. The presentation will be approximately 5-10 minutes in duration.  The presentation will cover the following aspects of the novel:

The Genre:             What genre does the novel fall under? How does it fit the criteria of this particular genre?

The Plot:            Give a VERY BRIEF description of what happens in the novel, and tell us about the main characters.

The Main Themes:            What is being said about the concepts that you’ve listed in your notebook? What is the a main message that comes across through your study of the novel?

The Symbols: Find and display images that represent the main symbols in your novel, and talk about what these symbols represent.

Metaphors Made Literal

For this assignment, you will be working in pairs to make an RSA Animate-style video about metaphors in the play. Please follow the procedure below accurately.

Your final submission will then be a comment in the comments section at the end of this blog post with a link to your project and a link to your script. You could also hand in a hard copy of your script.

Here is the Scoring Rubric for the project.

 With their permission, previous students' projects have been made available for you:  Example #1   Example #2  Example #3  Example #4


Step 1

Find and analyse a scene or group of metaphors (e.g., a particular motif or group of symbols) and find five (5) examples of different metaphors. Although it's not a requirement, you may want to do some research and find out what metaphors are important in the play you're studying.

Write down the quotes and imagine what the metaphors would look like if they were made literal, i.e., what would actually be happening if what the speaker is saying were real.

Step 2

Decide what type of video you are going to make: RSA Animate, Stop-Motion, Lego-mation, or something else. Consider your artistic abilities and go from there. Perhaps you want to use a program like Comic Life or something similar. Here is an example of something completely different that might inspire you.

Step 2.5 (this is to be handed in)

Develop a script in which you (1) say the quote, (2) explain the context of the quote, (3) explain its significance to the play, and (4) explain the metaphor, i.e., explain the comparison being made and why the speaker and/or Shakespeare makes this particular comparison. Here is an example analysis.
Be sure that you have someone edit this for you. It will be assessed for grammar (GLO4), ideas (GLO1), and critical analysis (GLO2).

Step 3

Begin filming. Remember: you are going to do the voice-over later; for now, just begin filming so that you have something to edit. Film all five metaphors.

Step 4

Edit your film and add voice-over. In your voice-over you should follow your script: read the quote, carefully explain the context and what would literally be happening, and explain the significance of the quote.

Step 5

Upload your completed video to the internet. Hopefully, you have your own YouTube channel and can simply make this particular video "public." Otherwise, upload it to your Dropbox account and share the link.


Once you finish, you can post the link to your video in the comments below. Remember to put the names of all group members before the link itself. Again, here is a link to the Scoring Rubric