Character+Study+Essay

__Directions:__
Day One--Pre-Writing Writers often create fictional characters who, like real people, grow and change with each new experience. Charlotte is not an exception to this. During the course of the novel, we see Charlotte change in many ways--from her values and with whom she chooses to associate, to her newfound independence as a young woman, even to her outward appearance. As you go through the novel, look for specific passages that illustrate or describe these changes in Charlotte's character. Study her words, thoughts and actions. How do her ideas change? What happens that makes her reconsider what is important to her? Explain what people or incidents influence and change her views/values/ideas throughout the novel.**
 * What are her values at the beginning of the novel? What does she believe is important?

--Note these examples on a separate sheet of paper, which you will turn in to Ms. Bilbrey at the end of class. You will use this paper to then plan out a thesis statement and organize the rest of your essay and may start your rough draft before the end of class.

Day Two--Drafting; Compare & Contrast Using your pre-writing plan, draft your essay on the changes in Charlotte's beliefs and ideas over the course of the novel. Be sure to pay close attention to the questions in bold from the assignment directions above. Your essay must be concise and address all of these questions; as such, it should be as long as YOU need to fully explain yourself and to support your claims with concrete details from the novel. Avoid making unsubstantiated generalizations and/or inaccurate comments in your writing. --**You must use at least 15 of the 28 vocabulary words from the novel.** Underline each word in your essay in BOTH rough and final drafts. You may use an alternate form of the word provided it is done with sentence fluency and grammatical correctness. Click on the link below for a list of all words, their definitions, and parts of speech. Vocabulary Word List --Double space your essay; give it a creative title. --Finish your rough draft at home; print out a hard copy of the essay to bring to class for revising.
 * --DO NOT USE ANY FIRST OR SECOND PERSON PRONOUNS! These are: I/me/mine/we/us/our(s)/you/your(s)**

Day Three--Revising & Editing Complete your rough draft before doing peer-editing and revisions. Make sure you include **at least 15** of the 28 vocabulary words from your Study Guide into your rough draft. When peer editing: --read your partner's rough draft out loud to him/her --have your rough draft read back to you --during read aloud, listen for mistakes in sentence structure as you look with your eyes for conventional errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation --talk about how to improve the sentence fluency of your partner's essay; can sentences be re-worded, combined, or do parts need to be deleted altogether? --once you have discussed suggestions for revisions, use editing marks to fix conventions errors --finally, read your essay from the last sentence back to the first sentence; look at each sentence in isolation and continue to find and fix mistakes you have made --read over the revised rough draft before showing it in to Ms. B. by the end of class.

Day Four--Final Draft due Revise and edit your essay at home, make all necessary corrections and READ YOUR ESSAY OUT LOUD before printing it out. You MUST print your essay AT HOME and have it ready to turn in to Ms. B. by 8am on Friday, 12/12. Remember to include the following on your final draft: --Title Page: creative title 1/3 of the way down the page; capitalize all major title words --Full name, class, and date halfway down the page --Double spacing in the essay; only enter ONCE in between paragraphs --Cite any direct quotes used with quotation marks and the page # in parentheses after the quote. Dialogue should be quoted with a single set of quotation marks inside a double set, ex: "'Captain Jaggery!' exclaimed Charlotte."
 * The 6+1 Traits of Writing will be used to assess this essay.