Don’t forget that by next Friday, May 7th you’re submitting to me an outline for your paper.

It should look like this:

I. Biography

A. Early Life
1. fact
2. fact
3. fact
(and so on)

B. Education
1. fact
2. fact
3. fact

C. Adult life
1. fact
2. fact
3. fact

II. Literary Career
A. Early career
1. works written
2. themes and concerns
3. response to work
a. successful or not
b. critics liked it or didn’t

B. Mid-Career (same as above)

C. Late Career (same as above).

III. A close look at his/her work

How you structure your outline will depend on whether you’re looking at ONE major work, or at a series of shorter works, like poems. You could divide this section thus:

A. Work
1. plotlines
2. themes
3. what critics have to say

As you start to put the outline together and have questions, ask them, we’ll work this section out together.

General Guidelines for Your Outline:

*Do not use source material in your outline. All parts of your outline should be in your own words

*Resist the temptation to write your whole paper in your outline. Each number or letter entry in the outline should be ONE BRIEF SENTENCE. You’re just building a skeleton for your paper, remember.

*Every 1 has to have a 2; every A has to have a B.

*give actual information in your outline. You should NOT write: “I am going to talk about Orville Pennypacker’s school days here.” You SHOULD write: “Orville Pennypacker was educated at Hunsford Grammer School from 1787-1923.” (poor Orville: third grade was hard for him . . . )

*If you have questions, ask them.

Again thank you Sally for allowing me to share your hard work and plans with my children.