We had a lot of discussion in class about what the requirements for the "Critical Lens" essay on Hamlet should look like. The goal is a typical, college freshan-style essay (and genius):
3 page minimum
12 point font: TNR or default Apple font
1" margins
Textual evidence for every point you make--and LOTS of discussion about EXACTLY how this quotation/paraphrase means what you say it means.
Citations in this style: (2.4.122-24) (act.verse.line-s)
Academic tone: don't ask questions of your reader (Why does Hamlet delay?), just tell them, "Hamlet delays because he is a man of thought and debate, discussion and depression, and not the man of of action the ghost wants him to be." Don't talk to your reader (most people don't think this way, but I think") or refer to yourself with the personal pronoun "I", as a general rule. Be confident with your ideas and fluent in your use of words and sentence structures.
CONCLUSIONS: The hardest part of any essay-- they should explain why everything you just said is important-- they should wrap up your thoughts in such a way that your reader is still thinking about what you said for a while-- the amazing conclusion you write at the end of your first draft is sometimes a better thesis statement than the one you wrote in your first draft-- now that you REALLY understand what you mean-- because you just wrote out what you mean and proved it from the text--consider using your concluding idea AS your thesis as you revise before a second draft.
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