Instructor: Dana Penney ENGL 150 Penney 1

Essay 2 Assignment Outline:

Exploring Literature with Essay Writing
• 750 Words
• Worth 15%
• Due Sunday, November 10th, 11:59 PM
Instructions
You will write an argumentative essay analyzing the representation of mountains in the novella:

The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd

Your essay will focus on the primary ways that the novella describes mountains. Moreover, it will
discuss whether they are character or setting. Your essay will also consider the plot and genre of
Shepherd’s text. Does her novel have a plot? What shape does it take? What about genre? Is it fiction or
non-fiction? Is it an autobiography or a biography? Who or what does it focus on? Last, but not least,
why do the answers to these questions matter? Why does The Living Mountain matter?

Shepherd’s The Living Mountain is a multivalent text. Due to the limited word count, your essay will not
be able to analyze every aspect of this complicated novella, so you will need to choose specific parts of
the text to discuss. You will need to choose a focus. The collection of questions preceding this paragraph
will help you focus your search. Use them as research questions. Your thesis statement will be your
answer to these questions. To both narrow your focus and ensure that your thesis is original, make your
thesis statement specific. In other words, decide what you think; draft your provisional thesis statement;
consider the specific details of the text that contribute to your understanding; explain how these parts
give you this impression. For guidance on the writing process, turn to The Imaginative Argument and my
PowerPoint slides that cover essay writing and thesis development.

To analyze parts of the novella, you will use direct quotes. Your essay will introduce, quote, explain,
and analyze at least one direct quote in each of your body paragraphs. As a result, you will provide at
least two direct quotes. As some students only have two body paragraphs, two direct quotes will be the
minimum. On average, I expect most essays to have three direct quotes. Given the word count, I cannot
recommend that you quote more than four or five pieces of the text, as this amount will dominate your
word count. With direct quotes, quantity does matter. However, it is the quality of the quote and the
presentation of the quote that matters most. While polishing your essay, remember to ask the following
questions: Did you introduce the quote? Did you explain the importance of the quote? Did you explain
how it connects to your argument? Do you analyze its words closely? In other words, did you build a
quality quotation sandwich? Following the “quotation sandwich” guidelines (Graff and Birkenstein 49)
will ensure that your voice and analysis remains the primary contributor to the paper’s composition. I
provide these sandwich-making guidelines in my “Argumentative Essay” PowerPoint slides posted on
Canvas under Module “Week 4.”
Instructor: Dana Penney ENGL 150 Penney 2

Although you are quoting the novella, your voice will still need to dominate the essay. With that said,
your essay will not summarize or explain the novella either. Remember, I have read this book also. Your
original thoughts and ideas, therefore, will use most of the word count. You may briefly summarize
important points that directly connect to your argument or analysis, but summary is not analysis! While
you edit, be wary of this all-too-common mistake. Check that your explanations and analyses are not
summaries. Check that they are your ideas about the text.

To quote a part of a text, you will use double quotation marks, brackets, and the author’s name. For
example, when you quote a line of the novella, you introduce the quote, quote, then cite. See below for
two examples of how you can incorporate your direct quotes:

1. When Shepherd writes, “I have been scolded at by a pair of them with such vehemence that in
pure shame for them I have left their tree” (56), I imagine …
 Note that I did not include Shepherd’s name in the bracketing. As I introduce the
sentence with her name, I only need to add the page number to the enclosed brackets.
2. In contrast, consider when she writes, “I have been scolded at by a pair of them with such
vehemence that in pure shame for them I have left their tree” (Shepherd 56). The idea of
“scolding” and “shame” suggest…
 Alternatively, if I do not introduce the sentence with her name, then I need to add it to
the bracketing with the page number.

The above requirements are called in-text citations. For this assignment, you are also required to provide
a listed citation in the form of a Works Cited list. See the following example:

On the last page of your assignment, you will add the words Work Cited, centered. You will follow this
centered text with the listed reference for the one source that you cite for this paper, Shepherd’s novella:

Work Cited

Shepherd, Nan. The Living Mountain. Canongate, 2014.

As your Works Cited only lists one reference, then your centered text will read, Work Cited. It will be
singular. Notice that the author’s name is first. This organization allows your reader to quickly find the
authors name as it appears in your in-text citations. A Works Cited list with more than one source listed
will be arranged in alphabetical order, as this arrangement further assists your reader in finding the
sources to which your in-text citations reference.

The novella’s name, being the title of a longer work, is italicized. If this reference was an article, a
shorter work, then it would be enclosed in double quotes. I will cover this distinction in class. Lastly,
your listed reference provides the publisher and publishing date. With a text like this one, I insist that
Instructor: Dana Penney ENGL 150 Penney 3

you give your readers adequate context and note the approximate date on which Shepherd had
completed her manuscript. As you know, Robert Macfarlane discusses this date in the “Introduction.” I
imagine that you would agree that it is important for your reader to understand that the novella was not
originally published in 2014.

For an example Works Cited list, see the end of this assignment outline document.
Essay Structure
Your essay will have the following:
 A thesis statement at the end of your introductory paragraph
 An introduction
 Body paragraphs
 Each body paragraph will have a topic sentence (think mini-thesis statements).
 At least one direct quote in each body paragraph
 Each quote will be cited using double quotation marks, brackets, and the author’s name as
demonstrated above.
 An analysis focusing on the representation of mountains as either setting, character, or both.
 A conclusion
 An organized presentation of your own unique thoughts and ideas about the novella and how it
represents mountains.
 Limited to no grammatical or spelling errors
 A formal and academic tone
 An accurate use of the MLA formatting guidelines, as demonstrated by Owl Purdue here.

Additionally
• You may build your ideas from what we discuss in class. I want to see you expand on the
ideas discussed in class and not simply repeat them, however.
• Your essay will not tell me about what you like or dislike. It will tell me what you think
about the novella and how it represents mountains as either character, setting, or both. It
will tell me what you think of the genre and its conventions. Finally, your essay will tell
me why these literary devices and generic conventions are important.
• Your essay will argue a position and support it with examples (quotes) from the text and
your analysis of each quote.

Format
• Use double-space, Times New Roman, and 12 point font.
• Your paper will have 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides. This is the “Normal” layout
setting for margins in Microsoft Word.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph. Use the Tab key to achieve this effect.
Instructor: Dana Penney ENGL 150 Penney 4

• Include page numbers and your last name at the upper-right corner. Use the “Page
Number” feature in “Headings” on Word, Pages, or Google Docs.
• Include your name and a title for the paper on the first page. Follow the MLA Formatting
Guidelines.
• Add the date of submission under your name.
• For the rest, follow the MLA Formatting Guidelines outlined by Owl Purdue. The link is
provided here and under Modules on your Canvas site for this course.
Assessment
Your argumentative essay will be graded according to the following criteria:
Content Does the essay consist of roughly 750 words? Does it show a strong effort
to engage with the material in a meaningful way? Does it meet the criteria __
outlined in the Essay 2 Assignment Outline? 5

Organization Does the essay as a whole follow a logical structure? Are the ideas focused __
and easy to follow? 5
Mechanics Does the student use formal academic language (i.e. avoid slang,
and Format contractions, imprecise/vague phrasing)? Are the sentences easy to
follow/understand? Is there a comfortable variation in the length and
structure of the sentences? Does the essay maintain present tense in its __
discussion of the novella? Are grammatical errors (e.g. comma splices, 5
sentence fragments, fused sentences, subject/verb disagreement, etc.)
minimal or non-existent? Does it follow the formatting requirements stated
under the “Format” section of the Essay 2 Assignment Outline?

Works Cited

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.

W.W. Norton & Company, 2024.

Shepherd, Nan. The Living Mountain. Canongate, 2014.