Lets practice developing a plot summary. Developing a plot summary of a story after you read it will help you remember the story. This short essay is an exercise to help you start writing about literature.

The dictionary defines summary as a short version containing the gist of something: a shortened version of something that has been said or written, containing only the main points. I want you to be aware that a summary does not contain your opinions or critique.

Length: Minimum 500 words, excluding the text on the works cited. The summary should be only one paragraph in length.These are lengthy stories, so you can easily reach 500 words in the summary you develop.

MLA Format: add a heading, header, title, and works cited page. See the document titled MLA Format for an Essay, listed first in the Essay Folder, and posted in the Week 1 folder. Points will be deducted if your paper is not in correct MLA format.

Prompt: Choose one of the following stories to summarize: “The Jewelry,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” or “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” You can see an example of a plot summary for “Cathedral” on page 88 in Norton. Remember to write in present tense as you summarize the story. Make sure to provide a complete summary of the story and record the events in the order they happen in the story.

Add a works cited page. This page must be the final page of the essay. If the summary you develop is only one page in length, the works cited page will be the second page of the essay. Follow the source citation examples under the “Essay, poem, or any other work in an edited collection or anthology” heading on page 2320 in Norton or the example under the “7. Work(s) in an Anthology” heading on page 123 in The Little Seagull Handbook with Exercises . These examples are for the same type of source. I just pointed out where an example can be found in both the course textbook and handbook. Your source citation must be correct.

For this essay, I am checking to make sure that you do the following:

1) use present tense as you write the entire plot summary

2) put the title of the story story in quotation marks

3) write the essay in correct MLA format

4) fully summarize the story–meaning, does it seem that you actually read the story?

5) avoid adding your critique or opinion in the plot summary

6) develop a correct source citation on the works cited page

7) do not plagiarize. In Week 2, you learned that there is information (and probably a summary) of most works of literature somewhere online, BUT you cannot use such information as your own. YOU, and only you, must develop the summary you submit for Essay 1.

Points will be deducted if any of the above errors are made.