You are writing a 3-5 page (double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman ONLY) essay exploring some of the issues raised in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Most of the questions do not have a “right” or “wrong” answer so this assignment will be assessing your critical thinking, analysis and writing skills. It is strongly advised that you have read the novel completely before you begin writing, as you will need to use specific quotes/references to the book in writing your essay. Make sure you know how to properly cite text using either endnotes (APA) or footnotes (Chicago Style Manual) as points will be deducted for improper citations as well as poor grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Essays will be graded for (1) organization – strong thesis, smooth transition from one topic to the next, solid conclusion (2) analysis – how well did you analyze and evaluate the novel in relation to the question posed, did you make connections between the novel and the present (3) citations and documentation – did you include direct quotes to analyze, citing them properly and if using outside sources, where the citations done correctly in the body of the paper and in the Bibliography (Chicago) or References (APA) section. Each category will be graded on a scale of 1-5 with the entire paper being worth 15 points total and 15% of your final grade.