english paper?

Question

my paper i have to write is 5 pages, first of all, thats the longest paper ive ever had to write so im feeling kind of uneasy about it, any suggestion?

and also this paper is about the book East of Eden by John Steinback and my thesis is: John Steinback helps his readers to see that jealousy is a root that leads to evil. My supporting characters are charles and cal. If anyone understands what im talking about and would like to help me out by giving maybe one more character or something, because i know that thats not going to last 5 pages. Thanks so much.

Answer 1

If you compose your paper with the 4-3-3-3 blanks for each margins and write in double spaces with 12 font in Word, your paper will seem long.

Also, after you presented the characters, you may add your own ideas about jealousy (e.g. seven sins maybe) and the famous quotes about jealousy at the end of your paper, this will show your work as original and authentic for your teacher.

You may also have citations from those web pages:

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/east.html
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/-/frameset.html
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/eastofeden/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Eden

Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

First of all, I haven't read the book, but that's ok.

Take a deep breath. Five pages isn't really a lot once you get going.
Your thesis is: "John Steinback helps his readers to see that jealousy is a root that leads to evil."

Look at your supporting characters. What do Charles and Cal do to prove your thesis? Are they jealous of anything? Of what? Why? Does this jealousy lead them to do things that would've been out of character? In other words, are they otherwise good characters before/besides the jealousy? What evilness does the jealousy cause?

If you need another character, make a list of all the characters in the book and ask yourself whether they are jealous of something or not. If one of them is, you can treat them like Charles and Cal. You could also look at the 'bad' things the characters do, and see if jealousy is a possible reason for it. This should give you enough characters to work with.

Okay. So how exactly will you write five pages? Start out by introducing your thesis and describe what you will be discussing in the rest of your paper. Then, go on by explaining the thesis topic as a theme in your book. Discuss each character, and be clear and precise. Remember that someone may not remember important details from the book you are analyzing, even though they may have read it before. Also, don't forget anything in the book that might goes against what you are trying to prove. Mention it, and then explain why your thesis is still right.

After discussing the characters, go ahead and summarize everything you've just said. After that, you can conclude whether or not your thesis is proven (which is what you want) or not (what you don't want).

Be structured and clear and it'll be just fine. :)

Answer 3

Here's what I would do:

Brainstorm. Write your thesis (which could use some improvement, btw, it seems too general) in the center of a circle, then write each of the characters connected to the thesis. For each of the characters, write the example of how jealousy cause them to act evilly, or how they were the victim of evil, caused by jealousy. As you get ideas for other topics, keep adding to your brainstorm.

So, now that you have your initial brainstorm, write your draft. You can make it very basic, such as:

Opening paragraph, I need 3 sentences here. Thesis statement goes here (actually write it in).

Second paragraph, discussing how thesis applies to Charles. Talking about Charles' characteristics, how he's introduced in the novel, why this is indicative of his behavior, any foreshadowing, etc.

Third, Fourth, Fifth paragraph will each deal with an example of evil perpetrated by Charles, and how jealousy was the root cause of each evil act.

So on and so forth for the rest of the paper.

This exercise will show you what you know, what you need to know, and how long/short the paper is so far.

Next, you should look into secondary sources that will support your thesis, or even some that will negate your thesis, but which you can argue against.

Like, for example (this is completely made up, by the way), In her paper titled 'The Myth of Jealousy,' Lyla Lions asserts that jealousy is simply anger turned inward, and that when someone is jealous, they are just depressed. When Charles blah, blah, blah (I haven't read this book), it is evident that he is not depressed. His actions lead the reader to conclude that his anger is directed at so-and-so because he is jealous of blah, blah blah.

So on and so on.

I would also suggest you take your first and second drafts to your teacher to ask for suggestions about your thesis, the direction you're heading, what's lacking in your paper, etc.

Happy writing!

Answer 4

Something to help you out would be find some outside resources that will help support your thesis. Usually you can find these in journal articles. You can incorporate your findings, which will take some space in your paper. Plus it really helps to support what you are trying to say, which if you cite it correctly will impress your teacher.