The “Little “ Essay
Due Friday, December 4
6-8 pages, 1.5 spacing, duplex printed. This is in the neighborhood of 2400-3000 words.
You should:
• Hand in 3-4 pages of draft by Monday 11/30 or Wednesday 12/2.
• Write your paper about poetry of Seamus Heaney.
• Choose ONE longer poem or TWO shorter poems that have “synergies” you can explore in some depth. Other poems can be brought in as accents.
• Use me as a resource to test ideas, ask questions, suggest other sources of information.
• Use at least ONE source apart from the primary sources of the poems themselves to enrich your critical perspective. We have good Putnam Library Reference tools to help you find high quality material. I also will suggest Seamus Heaney’s prose writing as a superb source of additional, quotable material.
• CITE your SOURCES. Any and all outside sources MUST be cited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You may:
• Embed personal reflection (the Wallis model) into the poetical analysis.
CRITERIA for PLATH paper.
Did you…
______ Staple the corrected first draft to the back of the completed draft? (You will lose some points if you did not.)
______ Take into account my comments and corrections as you wrote your final draft? Good writing shows good evidence of editing and revision, both of form and content.
A good PLATH paper:
• Achieved a good, well-proportioned balance of Plath analysis and personal reflection.
• There was a seamless integration of the Plath and the personal, including smooth transitions.
• There was a strong, legitimate connection between your personal reflection section and the poetry you selected.
• Had a strong prose style (good writing)
• Had excellent control of mechanics: spelling, grammar, punctuation, quoting, citing
• Was at or near the four page length
