I want you to write the actual essay. you may choose two or three sonnets to compare, contrast, and analyze. here are the given instructions. You are writing the essay, not the proposal.
I would like you to select your topic for Essay 2 and post a brief proposal about it.
For your proposal, you need to select a work by Shakespeare that you want to write about. It could be a play (he wrote more than three dozen of them), a sonnet (he wrote more than 150 of them), or one of his several longer poetic works. If you choose to write about his sonnets, you might want to group together two or three of them that you see share a common theme and then compare or contrast them.
somewhere I would like it to include the following sentence (with the blank filled in, of course):
In this essay I want to argue that _________________.
In case you are wondering, one of the reasons I want you to write about Shakespeare is because your essay will require quotes from several outside research sources. And there is a wealth of secondary source material available to scholars: about “the Bard” himself, criticism of his specific works, or the historical cultural context that can help us to understand the work.
part 2:
Here is what I will look for in the completed essay:
A clearly stated thesis that appears early in the essay – that is, a claim about the work that you will analyze. It should look something like this: In this essay I want to argue that _____. (You fill in the blank).
Many supporting quotations from your primary text (the story, poem, or play that you are writing about). Each time you make a claim about the work, you should back it up with evidence – that is, a quote that supports it. It is OK to occasionally paraphrase or summarize the story. But direct quotations are always more convincing. Here is a link on how to quote properly from a work of literature (i.e., your primary text):
https://www.sunywcc.edu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/mla_lit2.pdf
Quotations from an outside “research” source (your secondary text). These are quotes from critics about your primary text or author. These quotes should be incorporated seamlessly into your essay to support a claim you are making at that moment. The essay must include a minimum of three research quotations taken from the WCC library’s databases. (You are free to incorporate additional quotes from other sources if you wish.) See the section entitled “In-line citation” for help with how to incorporate a research quote seamlessly and smoothly into your essay:
https://www.sunywcc.edu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Parenthetical_Werner_1.17.pdf
At the end of each quote, you need to identify the source with a parenthetical note. Here is a link on how to do so the right way:
https://www.sunywcc.edu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Parenthetical-Notes_WT_LIB.pdf
The three most useful databases for literary research are: Literature Resource Center, JSTOR, and MLA International Bibliography. To find them simply go to our library home page. There you will find a link that allows you to “select a specific database.”
A Works Cited page at the end of the essay. This is a list of all your sources – both your primary text and your research sources – listed alphabetically by author’s last name. Note: The names on your list should correspond to the way the sources are identified within the body of your essay. (Many students fail to check and make sure of this important requirement.)
A Word Count typed-in at the end of the essay. Your essay must be at least 2,000 words in length, not counting the Works Cited page.