Complete a researched critical essay of a minimum of 6 pages on Washington Irving p. 511-513 (biography) and p. 515-527 ("Rip Van Winkle") The critical essay must follow classic essay structure: the i

Complete a researched critical essay of a minimum of 6 pages on Washington Irving p. 511-513 (biography) and p. 515-527 ("Rip Van Winkle")

The critical essay must follow classic essay structure: the introduction with thesis, the body, and the conclusion. The thesis must make an arguable claim about the meaning of the text you've chosen to write about (or some major aspect of that text). The thesis may not be focused on the author or the author's life. You must analyze and interpret the text on the page. The body of the essay must support the thesis by using information and examples from the assigned readings and must include additional, documented information from at least three credible sources from the library databases. Your textbook may count as only one source, regardless of the number of literary works that you cite from it. You are required to obtain at least three sources from the library’s databases, such as the Literature Resource Center and the History Study Center. Wikipedia, Shmoop, eNotes, Spark Notes, and other such sites are not credible sources for academic writing, and if you use them, they will not count towards the requirements for this assignment.

All paraphrases, summaries, and quotations from your sources, including your textbook, must be documented in strict accordance with MLA eighth-edition standards.  The documentation must include attributive phrases and/or in-text citations and a works-cited page. You may refer to the "Resources" area of our blackboard page for guidance on citations and formatting.

To eliminate plagiarism, you are required to submit your essay to obtain the Safe Assign Originality Report. In the Originality Report, do not be concerned if sources are highlighted.  This highlighting merely indicates that other students have located the same credible sources as you have located. Also, do not be concerned if quoted material is highlighted. You must be certain, however, that you have enclosed quoted material in quotation marks and have provided corresponding attributive phrases and/or in-text citations. If paraphrases or other material that is not from a source and is not a quotation is highlighted, this highlighting indicates that the percentage of similarity is too high, and may be cause for concern. 

To be graded and to receive credit, your essay must be submitted as a PDF (.pdf) or Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) to the correct link. Email submissions will not be accepted.

Minimum Requirements:

• 6 full pages (not including work cited page)
• 3 library database sources
• Your textbook is one source (even if you use several sections of it), and it is not a library database source.
• No plagiarism or self-stealing
• No use of unreliable sources such as Wikipedia, Shmoop, SparkNotes, etc.
• Analysis and interpretation--not a report
• MLA formatting and citations
• Polished, grammatical writing
• Clear, organized essay structure
• Clearly stated thesis which is supported by evidence throughout the paper
• Interprets one of the pieces of short fiction in our textbook. Essays about other topics will not earn credit.