Name: _____________________________________________
Ms. Hines and Miss Oliveira
English 10 ____
Date: ______________________________________________
Planning Sheet for Essay 3
“The Autobiography”
Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790
PROMPT: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an inventor and diplomat, explores the themes of generosity, practicality, and self-discipline in “The Autobiography.” Analyze the three themes in this work.
Title: Come up with a clever (but not silly) title for your essay. Remember: You need to include the author’s name and the literary work in your title, but that should not be all there is to your title. Write your title here:
Remember: No punctuation for your title except for the quotation marks around “The Autobiography.” No bold or large font either. Thanks!
Paragraph 1: Introduction: The introduction basically serves as a “table of contents” to your essay. It should be five sentences: the thesis statement, a sentence about the topic of your first body paragraph, a sentence about the topic of your second body paragraph, a sentence about the topic of your third body paragraph, and a concluding/transition sentence to the body of your essay.
THESIS STATEMENT: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an inventor and diplomat, explores the themes of generosity, practicality, and self-discipline in “The Autobiography.”
SENTENCE ABOUT THE TOPIC OF FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH: GENEROSITY: __________________
______________________________________________________________________________
SENTENCE ABOUT THE TOPIC OF THE SECOND BODY PARAGRAPH: PRACTICALITY: ___________
______________________________________________________________________________
SENTENCE ABOUT THE TOPIC OF THE THIRD BODY PARAGRAPH: SELF-DISCIPLINE: ___________
______________________________________________________________________________
CONCLUDING/TRANSITION SENTENCE:_______________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Body Paragraph 1: The pattern for each of the body paragraphs will be exactly the same. That keeps everything organized and consistent.
TOPIC SENTENCE: Benjamin Franklin explores the theme of generosity in “The Autobiography.”
SETUP FOR TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: According to the dictionary, generosity means “free in giving or
sharing,” and Franklin explores this through _________________________________________.
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: “____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________” (Franklin ).
ANALYSIS OF THE THEME:________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
TRANSITION SENTENCE TO NEXT PARAGRAPH:_______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 3: Body Paragraph 2
TOPIC SENTENCE: Benjamin Franklin explores the theme of practicality in “The Autobiography.”
SETUP FOR TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: According to the dictionary, practicality means , “level-
headedness, sensibleness, and having common sense,” and Franklin explores this through
_____________________________________________________________________________.
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: “____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________” (Franklin ).
ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF THE THEME:___________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
TRANSITION SENTENCE TO NEXT PARAGRAPH:_______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 4: Body Paragraph 3
TOPIC SENTENCE: Benjamin Franklin explores the theme of self-discipline in “The Auto-
biography.”
SETUP FOR TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: According to the dictionary, self-discipline means having “self-
control, discipline, and willpower,” and Franklin explores this through ____________________________________________________________________________.
TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: “____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________” (Franklin ).
ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF THE THEME:___________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 5: Conclusion: This paragraph needs to be a full paragraph—not just a sentence—and leave the reader with something to think about. Avoid starting your conclusion with the phrase “In conclusion.” Also, even though you are summarizing the essay and should not be presenting new information, your conclusion should seem fresh and use new phrasing and diction (word choice). Note: There is NO textual evidence in a conclusion.
OVERALL SUMMARY: ____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT ON THE FIRST THEME:__________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT ON THE SECOND THEME:________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
COMMENT ON THE THIRD THEME:__________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
POWERFUL ENDING:______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Work Cited
Franklin, Benjamin. “The Autobiography.” Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 2005. 68-71.
Things to Remember:
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Your MLA heading needs to appear in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of your essay. Like the rest of your essay, it is double-spaced. Be sure to use your full, formal name.
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There is no MLA page number on page 1.
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You need to give your essay a title. The title should include the name of the author and the literary work being analyzed. It should be centered with no extra spacing, no change in font or font size, no bold, italics, or quotation marks. The only exception is that when you include the title of a literary work in your title, you do need to punctuate that appropriately.
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MLA page numbers appear from page 2 on. They are simply in the upper right-hand corner and contain your last name and the page number. (Ex. Oliveira 2). Notice there is no punctuation between the last name and the page number.
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Font size should be 10-point or 12-point. Font style should be conservative: Arial or Times New Roman.
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The Work Cited page needs to be the last page of your essay. It is printed on a separate sheet of paper and uses reverse indentation. Simply copy the example we have provided to be sure you have it correct.
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This is a literary analysis essay, which means you do not use the first-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine) or second-person pronouns (you).
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Be sure your language is formal and that you are not using slang or symbols or abbreviations.
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Proofread your essay! The spell-check and grammar check are helpful tools, but they are no substitute for your eyes!
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