Friday, April 29, 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Friday, April 22, 2016

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Monday, February 29, 2016

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Huck Finn study list

Make sure you know who these characters are.

Huck Finn
Jim
Tom Sawyer
Sid Sawyer
Widow Douglas
Miss Watson
Pap
Judge Thatcher
Buck Grangerford
Boggs
Sherburn
Aunt Sally
The Duke
The King
Miss Sofia
Miss Charlotte
Peter Wilkes
The Doctor (x2)

Monday, February 08, 2016

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Monday, December 14, 2015

Block style quotations

This site has pretty good instruction on using block style quotations. Scroll to the bottom to see their example for plays.

Stylebook: Citing Literary Works in the Text

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Traditional academic essay in three parts

Click the link below for the basic three parts that your essay must have:

Traditional Academic Essay in Three Parts

Sample character analysis essay

Click the link below to view a sample character analysis essay:

Sample essay

Writing a good hook

Here's a good article on writing a hook for your essay.

How to Write a Good Hook for Your Essay

Inverted triangle introduction

See this:

Inverted Triangle Introduction

Integrating quotations

Here are some good guides for integrating quotations:

OWL: MLA formatting quotations

UNC writing center: quotations

I like these four rules from the UNC writing center:

1. Provide context for each quotation.
2. Attribute each quotation to its source.
3. Explain the significance of the quotation.
4. Provide a citation for the quotation.

Writing a conclusion

Here are some places to go for good advice on writing a conclusion:

OWL on conclusions
UNC writing center on conclusions

I think this one is my favorite:

Harvard writing center on conclusions

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Monday, November 23, 2015

No Fear Shakespeare: Othello

Click here to read the No Fear Shakespeare version of Othello.

Learn about the free Swipespeare app here

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Crucible characters (spoiler alert!)

If you are having trouble keeping up with all the characters, this might help:

1. John Proctor - A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin—his affair with Abigail Williams—that proves his downfall. When the hysteria begins, he hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined.
2. Abigail Williams - Reverend Parris’s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is smart, wily, a good liar, and vindictive when crossed. 
3. Reverend John Hale - A young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. He is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian and hater of witchcraft. His critical mind and intelligence save him from falling into blind fervor. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused. 
4. Elizabeth Proctor - John Proctor’s wife. Elizabeth fired Abigail when she discovered that her husband was having an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth is supremely virtuous, but often cold. 
5. Reverend Parris - The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community. 
6. Rebecca Nurse - Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to the hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess. 
7. Francis Nurse - A wealthy, influential man in Salem. Nurse is well respected by most people in Salem, but is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife. 
8. Judge Danforth - The deputy governor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the witch trials. Honest and scrupulous, at least in his own mind, Danforth is convinced that he is doing right in rooting out witchcraft. 
9. Giles Corey - An elderly but feisty farmer in Salem, famous for his tendency to file lawsuits. Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft, and he himself is eventually held in contempt of court and pressed to death with large stones. 
10. Thomas Putnam – Salem’s wealthy, influential citizen, he holds a grudge against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected to the office of minister. He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth, accusing people of witchcraft and then buying up their land. 
11. Ann Putnam - Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means. 
12. Ruth Putnam - The Putnams’ lone surviving child out of eight. Like Betty Parris, Ruth falls into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the woods.
13. Tituba - Reverend Parris’s black slave from Barbados. At the night of dancing in the woods,Tituba agrees to perform voodoo at Abigail’s request. 
14. Mary Warren - The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of girls. She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession. 
15. Betty Parris - Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty falls into a strange stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft. 
16. Martha Corey -Giles Corey’s third wife. Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and conviction for witchcraft. 
17. Ezekiel Cheever - A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials. He is upright and determined to do his duty for justice.