Great Gatsby Essay Guidelines

3/21/2016

I. Original Thesis Statement on Gatsby using a literary theory
-Your thesis should make a thematic point about The Great Gatsby using any of the following literary lenses:
(Freudian/Lacanian Psychoanalysis; Feminism/Queer Theory/Post-Colonialism; Structuralism/Archetypes)
-For now you are writing about Gatsby, and only Gatsby; focus your thesis on something key to the novel.

II. Outline:
-Introduction (Set up thesis)
-4 to 6 body paragraphs
-2 quotations per body paragraph
-At least 1 secondary source on Gatsby
-Conclusion (So what?)

III. Writing Process:
-After outlining, write a general draft of the essay, identifying areas where you might need more quotes.
-Put this on Google Docs and share it with me and three classmates.
-Have three classmates read it and make CONTENT suggestions (only correct obvious mistakes!)
-Write your full draft of the essay, revising it according to suggestions and research.
(-Lastly, get ready to expand the essay into a research paper during 4th marking period!)

IV. Tips
-CONTENT: Unpack your textual evidence closely and carefully.
-EXPRESSION: Make sure you structure your sentences around active verbs.
-OVERALL STRUCTURE: Make sure your body paragraphs are in some logical order.
-OVERALL PAPER: Aim to leave the reader with a clearly-formed interpretation of the work.

11 Comments

2A class

3/23/2016 06:09:38 am

CONGRATULATIONS MR.BIGGS WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR YOU AND CAN'T wait to see you again and hear all about and baby Lila Rae

Makenzie Lowrey

3/23/2016 06:10:16 am

WE JUST HEARD MR. BIGGS CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! MY MOM IS A MOM!!!!!

Suubi

3/23/2016 06:15:42 am

CONGRATS!! So excited for you!!

Brad Chavero

3/23/2016 06:39:48 am

Hi Mr. Biggs congratulations on being a dad!!!!!! (I had more exclamation points but the blog said it was too many and did not let me post) Just one question for the essay, what is the timing for when everything is due????

Biggs

4/3/2016 02:53:04 pm

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the well-wishing! Everything is great here, baby and Ms. J are both healthy and happy :) I'm going to post a general schedule of essay related-things here since Lila Rae decided to come a few days early and it threw off our original plans (a little rebel already!)

April 4/5: Mrs. Brennan will be taking you guys to the media center. Your goal is to have a rough draft fully outlined (including quotes) and hopefully started (2 paragraphs) by next class. Mrs. Brennan is a full-fledged English teacher, so don't be afraid to ask her questions if you need help getting started or phrasing/structuring your ideas.

April 6/7: I'll be coming in to teach these two days before taking a little bit more time off, so we'll go over essays in general as well as the word roots, and you'll have the option of going to the media center to work if you're already making strong progress. If not we'll figure out a game plan to get you on track.

April 8/PARCC Week

After the PARCC, there will be one more A/B day with Mrs. Brennan in the media center, and THEN your actual rough draft of your Gatsby essay is due the NEXT class, which is when I'll be back full-time.

Hope everyone had an awesome spring break!

Kay, Meghan, Mak, and Kathleen

4/4/2016 06:12:27 am

Happy Birthday Mr. Biggs!!! We hope all is well :)

Rachel Kline

4/4/2016 06:29:09 am

Hi Mr. Biggs, can our thesis be about symbols in the book or do the thesis have to directly relate to Gastby himself?

4/5/2016 10:06:39 am

No it doesn't have to tie into Gatsby himself, you can focus on the symbols as long as you tie them to something (the country, money, American dream, human desires, etc). I'll check your thesis next class :)

Olivia Jordan

4/5/2016 06:49:29 am

Heyyyyyyy Mr. Biggs! I hope you and your wife are having fun with your beautiful baby! Happy Belated Birthday btw! Can't wait until you come back!!!!!!

Meghan Pawlak

4/5/2016 06:06:29 pm

For the secondary source should it be an outside source such as like one of the philosophers we learned about and other pieces of writing or should it be like something involved with Great Gatsby such as a critique on the novel?

4/20/2016 07:17:53 am

Either, or both. The analysis of the novel on Novels for Students is great (RBRHS.org --> Student --> Media Center --> Databases --> Gale Virtual Reference Library ---> search Gatsby for Students).

English and Philosophy