Revision Guidelines English 2333 - Name: ______

ENGLISH 2332 - RESPONSE PAPER - WEEK 15: THE NATURE OF POWER - CHOOSE ONE:

1. Granted that Machiavelli's own historical context is remote, how far does his pattern of contrasts between political ideals and concrete realities apply to current politics (modern realpolitik)? Cite appropriate examples from the author's observations to support your argument. 2. With what types of historical or legendary examples does Machiavelli present and support his arguments? Are such ancient narratives relevant to the modern age, or are they too obscure to understand or stand the test of time?

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Works Cited Machiavelli, Niccolò. “From The Prince.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, et al., shorter 3rd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton, 2013, pp. 1629-37.

Refer to handouts simply by (handout). Do not summarize or cite introductory materials (period histories and/or author biographies) from The Norton Anthology of World Literature as part of your response paper or essay. Focus on the primary texts as sources for support examples and analyses throughout your response papers and essays.

All formatting and documentation guidelines follow the MLA documentation style; see Rules for Writers (8/e), Section [ 56 ]. Each response paper or essay must: 1) be consistently free of basic grammar and format errors. 2) have consistent internal parenthetical MLA documentation throughout the submission, based on the course ‘MLA Format Guide.’ Paraphrase (in your own words) all relevant examples from the textbook, and cite such references parenthetically at the end of all relevant sentences, followed by a period – no quotes. 3) follow MLA guidelines - font: Roman (Cambria or Times New Roman, no sans serif fonts such Arial or Calibri) and spacing formats (double-space only), as indicated in the MLA guideline sheet for essay and response paper submissions in the syllabus and the online course site. 4) place a word count at the end - 400 words minimum, for response papers, 600 words minimum for major essays, excluding the heading and title. 5) place a correct ‘Works Cited’ entry in MLA (8/e) format at the end of each submission with hanging indents, italics (textbook), and correct quotation marks and comma/period punctuation), based on the assigned work in The Norton Anthology of World Literature. For reference, see the correct Works Cited sample above for this week’s readings. ( over - revision guidelines) Revision checklist items below cross-reference to Rules for Writers (8/e) with marking abbreviations bracketed in [ bold italics ], followed by relevant chapter(s) and section(s) bracketed in [ bold ].

All formatting and documentation guidelines follow the MLA documentation style; see Rules for Writers (8/e), Section [ 56 ].

CLARITY & CONCISENESS: PASSIVE VOICE, AUXILIARY VERBS, USAGE (NON-SPECIFIC VERBS, NOUNS, PRONOUNS) _____ [ PV ] Revise passive voice for active voice. Identify the sentence subject and put it in front of the verb. [ 8a ]

Example (passive): The heroism of Odysseus is described by Homer as god-like (Od. V.197). Revision (active): Homer describes Odysseus’s heroism as god-like (Od. V.197). or Odysseus’s heroism is god-like (Homer, Od. V.197). _____ [ U-V ]: Revise nonspecific verbs: use / utilize / employ, seem, show, display, exhibit, portray [ 16 ] _____ [ U-N ]: Avoid oblique, vague, or redundant nouns as sentence subjects: thing(s), reader(s), audience, today Keep the focus on the author, argument, and/or thesis, unless a prompt asks a specific question about “audience.” _____ [ U-P ]: Avoid these pronouns and pronoun adjectives as subjects: I, me (my), you (one, your), we (us, our) Maintain a formal rather than personal voice with the focus on the author, argument, and/or thesis subject. [ 13 ] _____ [ aux ]: Omit auxiliary or helping verbs (unless an ongoing action); revise with the concise, active verb. [ 8b ] Example: “Dante is arguing that…” (wordy: “is arguing”) versus “Dante argues that…” (concise: argues). _____ [ phrasing / logic ]: informal or vague phrasing, example: “..author does a good job of…”; reasoning. [ 6a ]

ORGANIZATION & CONTENT _____ [ MLA ]: With The Norton Anthology of World Literature (Vol. 1) as your primary source for support examples, paraphrase and parenthetically document textbook references throughout the submission (in each paragraph) according to MLA documentation principles as noted in the course ‘MLA Format Guide.’. [ 56 ]. Avoid quotes (paraphrase and cite textbook references), and avoid plagiarism – write your own analyses. [ 60a ] _____ [ P / ¶ ]: Revise for appropriate paragraph lengths and transitions, especially introductory paragraphs and concluding paragraphs. Paragraphs of 2 to 3 sentences on average lack a specific focus or adequately support an idea. Remember to look for a thesis/topic sentence, a support example (paraphrased and cited – see [ MLA ]above), followed by some additional analysis as well as transitional sentences.; see also [ analysis / develop ] below. [ 3 ] _____ [ combine ]: Subordinate, coordinate, and combine simple and compound sentences into complex sentences that reveal your critical thinking and analysis. Do not begin sentences with conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs. [ 14 ] _____ [ analysis / develop ]: Follow examples with a well-developed discussion, analysis, point, or claim. [ 4b, 5d ]

_____ [ ex ]: Introduce, paraphrase, and parenthetically document relevant examples; see also [ MLA ], [ NS ]. [ 6h ] _____ [ NS ]: Do not write long narrative summaries. Precede your analyses with brief documented paraphrases. [ 5d ] _____ [ thesis ]: State the thesis clearly in the first paragraph, according to the calendar-designated prompts after each theme in The Norton Anthology of World Literature (Vol. 1) for both response papers and major essays. [ 6f ]

BASIC GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION _____ Punctuation: [ c or no c ]: comma , [ sc or no sc ]: semi-colon, [ a or no a ]: apostrophe, [ p ]: period, [ h ]: hyphen, [ qm ]: quotation marks, [ colon ]: colon, [cap or no cap] capitalize. [ 32-39 ]

_____ [ AGR ]: Agreement between subject-verb / pronoun-antecedent. [ 21 ] _____ [ FRAG ]: Fragment (incomplete sentence), [ CS ]: Comma splice (a comma joining sentences), [ RO ]: Run-on. [ 19, 20 ] _____ [ SENSE ]: Basic grammar and sentence structure – subject-predicate, etc. [ 46-49 ] _____ [ sp ]: Spelling [ 43 ]