Essay Guidelines

Choose a prompt from the list. Getting Started Choose a prompt from the list. Write a five paragraph essay: introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion As your essay-writing skills mature, you can certainly move beyond this model (and by the time you do university courses, you will be expected to do so), but it’s a good basic model to start with.

Introduction Hook or attention-getter: Create interest, draw the reader in Title of the play (underlined) + name of the author The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare is about… Background: necessary background information about the play (very little) Thesis = Topic + Opinion + How/Why This paragraph should tell the reader what your paper is going to be about. The following information (not necessarily in this order) needs to be included in an introductory paragraph:

Introduction Example Real men don’t cry … or watch soap operas … or wear pink. Or do they? Every society has certain ideas attached to what it means to be “manly” or “womanly.” Shakespeare’s great tragedy Macbeth, the story of a Scottish lord who kills the king in order to become king himself, is no exception. Throughout this play, characters constantly make reference to manhood and the idea of “being a man.” In Macbeth, the idea of manhood is a motivational force and is always associated with physical courage and sometimes even with cruelty.

Body Paragraphs 1. Topic Sentence: like a mini thesis, explaining what the main point of the paragraph will be. 2. Contextualize: Where in the story does it appear? In what situation? 3. Introduction to the quote: Who says it? To whom are they speaking? Use a comma before the quote, and enclose the quote in quotation marks

Body Paragraphs 4. Use in-text citation: Give act, scene, and line number“……..” (3.5.33-35). 5. Explain the quote in your own words 6. Analysis of the quote: Why it is important and how it relates to your thesis. Be specific about how the quote connects to your thesis. Analysis should be the largest part of your paragraph.

Body Paragraph Lady Macbeth uses the idea of “manliness” to motivate her husband to commit murder. Before Macbeth murders King Duncan, he begins to have doubts about what he is doing. Lady Macbeth challenges him by saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.22). She says that when Macbeth was willing to kill Duncan, then he was acting like “a real man” in her opinion . It is clear that Lady Macbeth associates manhood with courage – specifically, the courage to kill. She follows this up by saying that she would even be willing to kill her own infant while nursing it if necessary – demonstrating that her “womanly” feelings can be overcome by “manly” courage. Manhood, to Lady Macbeth, means physical courage and violence, and she uses this view to motivate her husband.

Body Paragraphs Body Paragraph 2: Macbeth uses the idea of manliness to motivate his hired murderers to kill Banquo. Body Paragraph 3: Macbeth demonstrates “manly” courage by fighting to death at the end of the play even when all is lost.

Conclusion Restate the thesis Restate main points and examples for each main body paragraph.

Essay Guidelines You are allowed to use your book for the essay. Use sticky notes to mark quotes in your book that you intend to use for your essay. You may use an outline template

What makes a good thesis statement? Turn to the person sitting in front of / behind you and discuss. Specific… takes some sort of stand…. Last sentence in the intro… one sentence

Practice: Thesis development Develop a thesis statement using the Topic + Opinion + How/Why model.