For your second essay, you are to write a dividing and classifying essay following the guidelines provided in MWL for writing an essay of this type. Thinking back on all our discussion and reading for the past two weeks about horror and madness and the macabre, please compose an essay by the end of the week to offer some insight to your readers into the different causes for the experience of horror. Let your readers know that there are two particularly effective and different categories of horror story based on the nature of the horror aroused by each category of story.

Label your categories on the basis of how all the stories in that category cause or create horror or fear. Consider if you can use any ideas from King’s essay to suggest one or both of your categories of horror.

For each category you identify, you must include at least two of the stories we’ve read during the past two weeks as belonging to the category. (Do not include King’s essay as an example in any category, but your categories themselves may be suggested by King’s essay.) Be sure that each category is distinct from the other and that no story you discuss is assigned to more than one category. Base your description of the characteristics of each type of horror story on the content of the short stories in that category. Obviously, stories assigned to the same category must share the features or criteria that you claim distinguish stories in that category. But there may be some subtle differences between the examples in the same category. You may supplement examples of stories in each of your categories by bringing in and discussing other horror stories that you are aware of and that fit. But your primary focus should be on the stories we’ve read and discussed in class.

Introduction and Thesis Statement. Be sure to gain your readers’ attention with the very first sentence of your introduction. Review what MWL has to say about crafting a successful introduction in the Drafting topic area of the Writing & the Writing Process module. The last sentence of your introduction should be your thesis statement. Follow the advice for constructing a successful thesis statement in MWL in the Developing Thesis Statements topic area of the Writing & the Writing Process module and especially in the Dividing and Classifying overview to be sure your thesis statement identifies the topic of your essay (horror stories), your purpose for writing (to enlighten/inform), and the categories of discussion (e.g., the “Punishment for Stupidity” type of horror story and the “Worst Fate Imaginable” type of horror story). The more unusual and original and yet accurate your types are, the better.

Body. Devote at least one paragraph to each of the categories you’ve identified in your thesis statement as a type of horror story. You’ll need first to briefly explain what the most salient and distinguishing features are of stories in each category. Then you should include “compelling, concrete examples” and “specific, vivid details,” as suggested in MWL, to show where and how these features can be found in each of the short stories you will discuss as examples of each category. If you’d like, you may bring in more examples for one or both categories from other imaginative works or movies or TV shows. Consider creating a new paragraph for each new example of a story in each category. Do not merely summarize the plots of these stories. Your goal is to show that the features you claim characterize each category are indeed present, explicitly or implicitly, in each example in each category. Be sure to review the suggestions for “developing paragraphs” in the Drafting topic area in the Writing & the Writing Process module in MWL.

Conclusion. Bring your dividing and classifying essay to a close using one of the strategies suggested in the Drafting topic area in the Writing & the Writing Process module in MWL. Be sure that you do not do anything so predictable as merely summarizing the main points of your essay.

Your Readers. Once again, whenever you write an essay in this class, do not assume the reader is only me or others in class. Instead, imagine your reader is someone just like you were before our class started. In other words, the reader has probably not read any of the works that you’ll be writing about and will not know what the assignment is that you’re completing or the reason you’re writing. You may have to summarize plots a bit for your readers, since you cannot assume they’ve read these stories. But save all the juicy details for your discussion of where the features of each type of story are embodied in each example.

You will be expected to demonstrate more and more control of punctuation, mechanics, spelling, and style as you work through more of the exercises in MWL. For this second essay, please write as correctly as you can, making sure you avoid errors with commas, apostrophes, diction, tone, spelling, subject-verb agreement, and/or complete sentence construction.

Length: 750-1000 words

Format Instructions for All Papers:

1. Write in 12 point size font using any style of font that is easy to read (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Verdana)
2. Place this information in the Upper Left Corner of p. 1.

Your Name

EN 101: Composition I

Date

3. Double space and center the title of your essay. A good rule of thumb is one to five words that indicate the topic of your essay; do not title your essay Week _ Writing Assignment. Double space your entire essay (do not add additional spaces between paragraphs).
4. Use 1 ¼-inch margins on the left and right and 1-inch margins at the top and bottom.

Practical Advice on All Writing Assignments:

1. Write offline, using your word processing program. This way you can spell- and grammar-check your work before posting it.
2. Save copies of all Writing assignments (including your responses to your classmates) to a file on your hard drive, in the event that data is lost on the class site (this is unlikely, but it has happened). Also back-up your work on a flash drive or disk.