· Character: Does Troy Maxson deserve the bad things that happen to him? Does he bring on those negative consequences through his own actions, or is he a sympathetic victim of external forces? [It’

ENG 112 Essay #2 Write an analytical essay of at least 750 words in response to one of the following prompts.

Theme: If tragedy is meant to be morally instructive, as the ancient Greeks believed, what is the message the audience is supposed to take away from Fences? Why is this tale told, and why is it told the way it is? Be sure to demonstrate how Wilson uses specific literary techniques to convey this theme to the reader. Incorporate support from at least one weighty and credible academic secondary source to back up your argument.
Character: Does Troy Maxson deserve the bad things that happen to him? Does he bring on those negative consequences through his own actions, or is he a sympathetic victim of external forces? [It’s perfectly acceptable to argue something in between these extreme positions, but your overall argument should put forth a firm claim about how Wilson wants readers to view Troy.] Be sure to provide detailed textual support for your argument. Incorporate support from at least one weighty and credible academic secondary source to back up your argument.

Purpose and audience

Your purpose is to present an analytical argument about the selected topic that provides supporting textual evidence from both a primary and secondary text, and your audience is the academic community. Because academic writing should be as objective and impersonal as possible, avoid personal statements (“I,” “me,” “my,” etc.) and uses of the second person (“you”).

Format

The final essay must be at least 750 words in length (not counting headers, Works Cited pages, etc.) and must be submitted electronically (on the course website) as a Microsoft Word document. All essays must follow the conventions of formal academic writing: double spacing, a standard font, 12 pt font size, and standard margins. Students must include the following information in the upper left-hand corner of the first page: Name, Date, Course Number and Section, and Assignment Number. For example:
John Smith
February 15, 2019
ENG112-789
Essay #2
Document all source material according to MLA guidelines, providing both in-text citations and a Works Cited page. NOTE: Proper documentation is one of the main skills that will be evaluated in this essay.

Schedule

See the course calendar for specific due dates for the following steps:

Peer review: Submit a complete draft of the essay by the date specified in the course. When drafts are submitted, follow the course instructions for peer review, in which students will read each other’s drafts and make helpful suggestions for revision. Your performance in peer review is evaluated and is part of your participation grade.

Final submission: Submit your final essay in the appropriate place on the due date. Any papers received after midnight on that day will be penalized for lateness. Essays are docked seven points for each day they are late, and essays more than a week late will not be accepted.

Assessment

The essay is worth 100 points and will be graded according to the attached rubric.

Name:

	An A paper	A B paper	A C paper		A D paper	An F paper
Content
assignment requirements	fulfills the requirements laid out in the prompt (topic, length, format, etc.)			does not fulfill the requirements laid out in the prompt (topic, length, format, etc.)
thesis statement	puts forth a clear thesis statement that is specific, manageable, and arguable	puts forth a mostly clear thesis statement that is specific, manageable, and arguable	puts forth a fairly clear thesis statement that has some problems with being specific, manageable, and arguable		puts forth a thesis statement that is not clear and/or is not specific manageable, and arguable	fails to put forth an identifiable thesis statement
argument	lays out a logical argument that thoroughly develops the thesis statement	lays out a logical argument that adequately develops the thesis statement	lays out an argument with some issues with logical development of the thesis statement		lays out an argument that barely develops the thesis statement	fails to lay out an argument that develops the thesis statement
support	backs up all claims with sufficient and appropriate evidence from the primary source and at least one weighty and credible academic secondary source	backs up most claims with sufficient and appropriate evidence from the primary source and at least one weighty and credible academic secondary source	backs up some claims with sufficient and appropriate evidence from the primary source, but there are issues with the use of the secondary source		backs up only a few claims with sufficient and appropriate evidence, and does not use a weighty and credible secondary source	fails to back up claims with sufficient and appropriate evidence from the primary source and at least one weighty and credible secondary source
audience	shows a strong sense of the expectations and standards of the audience	shows a solid sense of the expectations and standards of the audience	shows an adequate sense of the expectations and standards of the audience		shows a faulty sense of the expectations and standards of the audience	fails to show any sense of the expectations and standards of the audience
Organization
structure	is logically structured, with supporting points tied to the main idea clearly	is logically structured, with supporting points tied to the main idea mostly clearly	is logically structured, with supporting points tied to the main idea fairly clearly		has significant issues with logical structure	fails to convey a sense of logical structure
unity	strongly displays unity by maintaining focus on a single argument	solidly displays unity by maintaining focus on a single argument	displays unity by maintaining focus on a single idea or argument		has significant issues with maintaining focus on a single idea or argument	fails to maintain focus on a single argument
coherence	provides a strong sense of logical flow, using transitions to connect ideas	provides a solid sense of logical flow, using transitions to connect ideas	provides an adequate sense of logical flow, using transitions to connect most ideas		provides an often unclear sense of logical flow	fails to provide a sense of logical connection from idea to idea
introduction	presents a very clear introduction that strongly engages the reader and offers a blueprint	presents a clear introduction that solidly engages the reader and offers a blueprint	presents a clear introduction that adequately engages the reader and offers a blueprint		presents a somewhat unclear introduction that hardly engages the reader and does not offer a blueprint	presents an unclear introduction that fails to engage the reader or offer a blueprint
conclusion	presents a conclusion that indicates what has been gained and provides a strong sense of closure	presents a conclusion that neatly ties up the argument and provides a solid sense of closure	presents a conclusion that recaps the argument and provides an adequate sense of closure		presents a conclusion that provides a minimal sense of closure	fails to present a clear conclusion
Style/Expression
tone	always uses a tone and diction level appropriate for academic writing	usually uses a tone and diction level appropriate for academic writing	adequately uses a tone and diction level appropriate for academic writing		often does not use a tone and diction level appropriate for academic writing	fails to use a tone and diction level appropriate for academic writing
clarity	expresses ideas extremely clearly and concisely	expresses ideas mostly clearly and concisely	expresses ideas fairly clearly and concisely		displays a lack of clarity and conciseness that hurts the argument	fails to convey ideas effectively
variety	varies sentence structure very effectively, helping readers move through the argument smoothly	varies sentence structure solidly, avoiding repetition and choppiness	varies sentence structure adequately, mostly avoiding repetition and choppiness		uses repetitive sentence structure that hurts the flow of the argument somewhat	fails to vary sentence structure, significantly interfering with the flow of the argument
Grammar/Mechanics
spelling	contains no errors in terms of spelling, capitalization, italics, etc.	contains an error that does not interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains a few errors that hardly interfere with the presentation of ideas		contains several errors that somewhat interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains frequent errors that significantly interfere with the presentation of ideas
punctuation	contains minimal punctuation errors	contains punctuation errors that do not interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains punctuation errors that hardly interfere with the presentation of ideas		contains punctuation errors that somewhat interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains punctuation errors that significantly interfere with the presentation of ideas
sentence construction	contains no fragments, fused sentences, or comma splices	contains a sentence error that does not interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains sentence errors that hardly interfere with the presentation of ideas		contains several sentence errors that somewhat interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains sentence errors that significantly interfere with the presentation of ideas
tense	contains no errors in terms of verb tense	contains a verb tense error that does not interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains verb tense errors that hardly interfere with the presentation of ideas		contains several verb tense errors that somewhat interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains verb tense errors that significantly interfere with the presentation of ideas
agreement	contains no agreement or parallelism errors	contains an agreement or parallelism error that does not interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains agreement and parallelism errors that hardly interfere with the presentation of ideas		contains several agreement or parallelism errors that somewhat interfere with the presentation of ideas	contains agreement or parallelism errors that significantly interfere with the presentation of ideas
quotation	presents and incorporates all source material properly and smoothly	displays a minor issue with the presentation and incorporation of source material	displays a few minor issues with the presentation and incorporation of source material		displays several issues with the presentation and incorporation of source material	entirely fails to present and incorporate source material properly
documentation	follows MLA documentation guidelines perfectly	displays a minor issue with MLA documentation	displays a few minor issues with MLA documentation		displays several issues with MLA documentation	entirely fails to follow MLA documentation guidelines

Draftwork/Review: