RequirementsandAssessmentGuidelinesWrite a minimum of 2 full pages. You may write more than 2 pages, but you must write at least 2full pages.While Formal Paper 3 should focus primarily on an analysis of Margaret Atwood’s TheHandmaid’s Tale, you may reference our other course readings if it helps you support orillustrate an argument about the Atwood’s novel.Choose one of the following questions:• Unlike the earlier texts in our course, The Handmaid’s Tale is by a female writer and features afemale protagonist. How does this contribute to our understanding and broaden our perspectiveof literary representations of dystopia?• How does the theocracy in Gilead explain and justify its patriarchal authoritarian control overpeople, and how does it put it into practice? How does it change the lives of women, such asOffred, who remember life before the theocracy?RequirementsandAssessmentGuidelinesYour Formal Paper will be assessed and graded according to the following requirements:Form• The Formal Paper must be at least 2 full typed pages. Long header margins do not count aspart of a full page! If you have 2 pages and the first page has a long header margin, the paperwill be penalized for not meeting the minimum length requirement. There is no maximum pagelimit.• Double-space the Formal Paper. Do not use font larger than 12 pt.• All sources must be cited correctly in either APA or MLA citation style; in-text citations areincluded and there is a separate References/Works Cited page. The References page does notcount toward the 2-page minimum length requirement.Content• The Formal Paper must be analytic and interpretive, and not associative, biased, opinion-and/or plot-based. Do not give opinion; instead, perform textual analysis.• The Formal Paper must deal directly with the text(s). Papers that are history overviews, rants,or tangentially related to the text(s) do not receive credit.Introduction:• Introduction clearly states the general topic of the Paper.• Introduction clearly states which text(s) and author(s) will be discussed in the Paper.• Introduction clearly explains the relationship between the topic and the text(s).• Introduction clearly states the argument or specific focus of the Paper.BodyParagraphs:• The Paper deals with specific passages from the text(s).• The passages chosen for discussion are relevant to the chosen topic of the Paper.• The Paper analyzes passages from the text(s). “Analyze” means that you do not simply quoteand/or paraphrase or give an opinion a passage. “Analyze” means that after you quote and/orparaphrase a passage you then spend a paragraph or more explaining how the quote or partsof the quote provides evidence for the particular claim you are making in that body paragraph.

One brief quote can turn into a two paragraph-long analysis of that quote. Think small: gooddiscussion and analysis happen when you spend time taking apart a short quote or passage.• Each paragraph is relevant to the topic of your Paper and to the points you want to make inyour Paper. Make sure that all your paragraphs are directly relevant to your overall topic andeach point you want to make. Avoid random paragraphs in the Paper that do not fit with youroverall topic and individual points.• Make sure each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence, provides evidence and criticallydiscusses (analyzes) that evidence.• Each paragraph develops and discusses one idea in depth instead of cramming in threeunrelated ideas.• Each paragraph (Introduction, Body Paragraphs and Conclusion) is organized, well developed,coherent and unified, and each paragraph follows basic paragraphing rules.• Paragraphs follow one another in a logical manner.Conclusion:• There is a paragraph that concludes the Paper. This means that your last paragraph shouldbriefly summarize (in different words – please do not repeat word for word what you alreadywrote in your Paper!) what you hope to have demonstrated to your reader with respect to youroverarching argument or topic.• The conclusion takes it a step further by asking the reader a provocative, open-ended,thought-provoking question. For example, if I am writing about the question of insane vs. sane ina system of justice with respect to Medea, I might ask my reader whether there need to bedifferent laws for men and women when it comes to the question of sanity/insanity in a systemof justice. This is provocative in that it goes against what many believe is part of Justice (Justiceapplies to all, regardless of sex!). But Medea’s situation begs this question because as awoman, a foreigner and an exile she has no recourse to a system of law! She has no rights andno representation of any kind. How can she appeal to a system of Justice when that systemexcludes her?Language• The Paper does not contain spelling and punctuation errors.• The Paper has been proofed for grammar.• The Paper is written in Standard English.• There are no colloquialisms (for example: “she’s way mad” instead of “she displays behaviorthat might be considered mad or insane”; “she’s just a racist” instead of “she is shielded fromand therefore unaware of the systemically racist and violent political and social system that is anoutgrowth of colonial history”).• The language is formal and academic. Do not use contractions. Do not use “I”.There is a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism. Papers with plagiarized content receive anautomatic F and a report will be submitted to the Academic Integrity Committee.