Naturalism Essay Issues

  • Avoid I, you, we, etc. in a formal essay
  • Avoid contractions – do not instead of don’t, etc.
  • Keep verb tense consistent (VT)

Incorrect: A group of men have to fight to survive. All they had was a boat.

Correct: A group of men have to fight to survive. All they have is a boat.

  • Include author and title of works used as examples
  • In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane…
  • Poems, articles, short stories in quotation marks – book titles, magazine titles, newspaper titles in italics
  • Commas and periods go inside quotation marks. “And so it goes,” he said. He said, “And so it goes.”
  • Include transitions between paragraphs and ideas – look for commonalities between the two topics. End one paragraph with the common idea and begin the next paragraph with that idea.
  • Do not just list examples – explain/analyze them. Write as if you are writing for someone who has never read the stories.
  • Instead of just listing: Another example of fate being determined by chance, environment and heredity was…
  • Try instead tying the ideas together: The idea that fate is determined by environment is evident in London’s story “Law of Life.” Old Koskoosh is too old to travel with the rest of his tribe, so he is left to die. His environment, being a member of a tribe whose survival is absolutely dependent upon being able to travel quickly and his age are key factors in his fate. However, Koskoosh also understands this idea; he knows it is his time. This idea, the focus on death and the idea that it is determined by one’s environment, is a key component of naturalism. It is also an important concept in the poems of Stephen Crane…
  • Quotes should not be floating – need introduction and/or explanation
  • “This is the law of life.” --- floating quote
  • London wrote, “This is the law of life.”
  • “This is the law of life,” explained the narrator at the end of the story.
  • Use quotes – but do not overuse them
  • Read aloud for fluency and convention errors – you will hear them or stumble over them and will know you need to make changes
  • Use strong word choice (WC) – instead of an awkward phrase: “She would not be a slave anymore…” you might try: “Mrs. Mallard’s self determination had become very important to her…”
  • Also avoid vague words and phrases like: really, alot, good, great, etc.
  • Donot split infinitive verbs

Incorrect: He vowed to not only go but to succeed.

Correct: He vowed not only to go but to succeed.

  • Pronouns must have antecedents and they must agree with the antecedent (female antecedent = female pronoun; singular antecedent = singular pronoun, etc.)

Incorrect: They had to leave their respected elder behind.

Correct: The tribe had to leave its respected elder behind.