Essays (college papers)“a. A short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author. b.Something resembling such a composition: a photojournalistic essay.”

(from http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=essay )

Academic essays are usually structured around thesis (or hypothesis) statements, which provide the reader with an exact statement regarding what will specifically be covered in the essay and how (in what order) that will be covered.

Thesis

Every college essay ought to be guided by its thesis.

The main point you are trying to prove, explain, attack, or defend.

Provides a specific blueprint for what your paper will cover.

Addresses the assignment’s requirements.

Is contained in one sentence.

Your Assignment

Explain what (the theme, the message) is and how you know that theme (how the poem communicates its meaning). You should discuss how at least one of the elements the writer uses in the piece is essential to the communication of the poem’s theme

Thesis RequirementsPoem’s Identifying Information

“Title”

Poet’s full name

ThemeMoral or lesson that can be applied to reader’s own life

ElementsSpeaker and situation

Sound

Syntax

Style: Tone, Diction, Imagery, etc.

Structure

By Element Highly RecommendedIntroduction with thesisBody: Paragraph for each element, in order of their listing in the thesisConclusion

By StanzaIntroduction with thesisBody: Paragraph for each stanza, covering the elements listed in your thesis in the order Conclusion

Citing Poetry

Where to Include Citations

Generally, put a citation at the place where a pause would naturally occur, as near as possible to the cited material—usually at the end of a sentence, line, clause, or phrase before the final punctuation. If identifying the poet in the text, then give only line number(s) in the parentheses after the quotation marks.

Short Citations

Cite poetry by the line (and section) number. You can cite up to three lines this way, with quotation marks, as long as you separate the lines with a slash mark ( / ) with a space on each side.Shakespeare concludes with the line "I never writ, nor no man ever loved"(14).Emily Dickinson explains that "God made a little gentian; / It tried to be a rose / And failed, and all the summer laughed" ( "XLVIII" 1-3).

Long Citations

To cite a longer section of poetry, start your quotation on a new line, indenting each line two tab spaces, ten spaces, or an inch. As when quoting long sections of prose, you do not add quotation marks:

Emily Dickinson's poem, "XLVI," plays on

seasonal symbolism, as its speaker seeks

to determine the time of year:

It can't be summer,—that got through;

It's early yet for spring;

There's that long town of white to cross

Before the blackbirds sing.  It can't be dying,—it's too rouge,—

The dead shall go in white.

So sunset shuts my question down

With clasps of chrysolite. (1-8)

Work Cited

Don’t forget to cite your poem, per the Stylebook’s explanation

Other MLA Formatting Concerns

Use 1” margins

Header should be placed to print at ½”

Header contains your last name and page number at right margin

Left justified

12 point, Times New Roman font

Double-space throughout