Tools

Literary Theory at the Purdue Writing Lab

This website gives an introduction to literary theory. It then has several sub pages which explain and give examples of many of most prominent critical theories.

Introduction to Literary Theory // Purdue Writing LabThe Purdue University Online Writing Lab serves writers from around the world and the Purdue University Writing Lab helps writers on Purdue's campus.

Rhetorical Devices

This is a review sheet of 25 common rhetorical devices. It includes a definition as well as an example. Feel free to use this as a reference when you are tasked with identifying rhetorical devices.

Rhetorical Devices Review Sheet.pdf

MLA Format Template

This is a template for MLA format. Here is a link for the Word 2016 version. I keep it updated to match the current rules for MLA formatting. You can easily open this document, make a copy of it for yourself, and then replace the text with your own essay. This way, you start off every essay with a correctly formatted MLA paper, and you just have to make sure that you get the in-text citations and Works Cited page down perfectly.

This is the tool that my students always come back and tell me they found the most useful. I'll keep it up here as long as I'm teaching, and you can use it as a template for your MLA papers throughout high school and even into college.

Lit Genius

Lit Genius is a website of scholars and students who have crowd-sourced the work of annotating a variety of texts. Smart people help explain all kinds of writing, from Shakespeare to Harry Potter to Beyoncé. If you're having trouble figuring out what a text means, this should be one of your first stops for figuring it out.

Additionally, you can make a Lit Genius account and leave annotations for other people. One of my own favorite pieces is their analysis of the script of the Video Album LEMONADE. Or check out their breakdown of Atticus Finch's closing remarks in To Kill a Mockingbird. Or you could look at their very extensive breakdown of The Great Gatsby including explanations of the meaning of The Green Light or The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg.

Link to sign up instructions

Turn It In

Turnitin.com is a website built to help students turn in their essay electronically. This will be one of our most important tools during the year. Of note, when you turn in an assignment through turnitin.com, it will automatically be compared with thousands of essays and websites to compare the similarities in order to curb plagiarism. While this is a useful tool for teachers, turnitin.com is also powerful for students because you can get your assignment into your teacher's possession immediately, and there are lots of tools to help you quickly get feedback on your work.

Google Sites

Google Sites Presentation

This is a presentation for Coronado High School staff development that discusses how to create a Google Site. You can use it to learn how to make your own site in the New Google Sites Beta.

Play Review.pdf

Play Review

This is an assignment available for all classes. It is an optional assignment for additional credit by attending a play and writing a review.

Follow this link and complete the survey: https://ccsdapps.net/v/dws

When you finish, take a screenshot of the confirmation page and either email it to me or print it off and return it to class.

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