Read Beowulf.
Compose a paper, 1 page in length, that addresses a single aspect of the epic. 

The primary purpose of the assignment is to encourage you to read the text closely and to engage the ideas contained in it. The secondary purpose is to help you practice your analytic and writing skills in a highly disciplined manner. Be concise. Organize your thoughts coherently.

1. Identifiable thesis sentence.
2. Topic sentences at beginning of each paragraph.
3. A title - something meaningful, not "Paper Two."

Papers that fail to conform to these and other standards of good expository English prose will receive a summary grade of F. Spelling, grammar, and everything else you learned in English 111 counts.

• Understand its contents.
• Outline the text.
• Discover the relationships between ideas in the text.

When writing select One Theme only.

• Lots of evidence from the text.
• Formulate an argument: "This book is about x , and here's why."
• Organization - so I can read your paper quickly and see where your argument is going.
• Clarity - be clear. (see evidence)
  

Papers will be evaluated on their

• reasoning
• clarity
• organization
• use of specific evidence from the text

Do NOT merely summarize the text.