The purpose of this outline is to give you an overview of how to write the college essay in MLA style. You can use it to write just about any evidence-based essay, especially within the humanities disciplines. I. Introduction a. Hook your reader: i. Question, quote, fact, anecdote, some historical background, or some other hint at the subject or theme b. Briefly summarize the primary source OR the overall issue c. Thesis: Clearly and concisely lay out what you plan to discuss in your essay as a whole (usually by answering the instructor’s prompt). II. Body paragraphs a. Topic sentence + transition (for each body paragraph after the first): i. Transition: Find a way to connect your previous body paragraph with the current one. ii. Expand a piece of the thesis and lay out what you plan to discuss in your body paragraph. b. Back up the topic sentence: i. Explain your point a little further. c. Set up the evidence: i. Use a signal/introductory phrase and context (giving your reader enough information to understand what’s happening in the part of the text from which you are quoting). 1. For non-fiction sources: According to [so and so] when he/she discusses [such and such] 2. For literary works: For example, when [the character] is speaking to [another character] about [such and such]… d. Give the quote or paraphrase: i. For novels or non-fiction works with page numbers: “quote” or paraphrase (161). ii. For web sources without page numbers: “quote” or paraphrase. iii. For plays, cite the act, scene, and line numbers: “quote” (IV.ii.30-4). iv. For poems, cite the line numbers: “quote” (9-12). v. Block quote any evidence 4 or more lines long. Do not use quotation marks with block quotes. vi. The first time you mention a source, use the author’s full name and the title of the source. e. Explicate the evidence: i. For any source: Without merely repeating the quote, explain anything that needs to be clarified to the reader. ii. For non-fiction sources: Explain why you agree or disagree with the source. iii. For literary works: Close read the quote by discussing literary elements like metaphor, irony, symbol, imagery, tone, etc. f. Analyze the evidence: i. Explain how this particular part of the text helps you prove your main point. g. (Optionally,) transition and repeat c – f. h. Bring together your pieces of evidence to further prove your point. III. Conclusion a. Reiterate your thesis by showing how your points connect to one another. b. Leave your reader interested, but don’t bring in new information from the primary text or other sources. Ways to do this include: i. Connecting back to the hook in your introduction. ii. Consider what your readers can learn from reading your paper and thinking about your topic. Student 1 Sample Student English 102 Kronbeck March 9, 2016 Mental Escape in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien Many soldiers carry roughly 100 pounds of mandatory gear while in war zone, but a day’s worth of physical and ment.

1. The purpose of this outline is to give you an overview of how to
write the college essay in MLA style. You can use it to write
just about any evidence-based essay, especially within the
humanities disciplines.
I. Introduction
a. Hook your reader:
i. Question, quote, fact, anecdote, some historical background,
or some other hint at the subject or theme
b. Briefly summarize the primary source OR the overall issue
c. Thesis: Clearly and concisely lay out what you plan to
discuss in your essay as a whole (usually by answering the
instructor’s prompt).
II. Body paragraphs
a. Topic sentence + transition (for each body paragraph after the
first):
i. Transition: Find a way to connect your previous body
paragraph with the current one.
ii. Expand a piece of the thesis and lay out what you plan to
discuss in your body paragraph.
b. Back up the topic sentence:
i. Explain your point a little further.
c. Set up the evidence:
i. Use a signal/introductory phrase and context (giving your
reader enough information to understand what’s happening in
the part of the text from which you are quoting).
1. For non-fiction sources: According to [so and so] when
he/she discusses [such and such]
2. For literary works: For example, when [the character] is
speaking to [another character] about [such and such]…
d. Give the quote or paraphrase:
i. For novels or non-fiction works with page numbers: “quote”
or paraphrase (161).
ii. For web sources without page numbers: “quote” or

2. paraphrase.
iii. For plays, cite the act, scene, and line numbers: “quote”
(IV.ii.30-4).
iv. For poems, cite the line numbers: “quote” (9-12).
v. Block quote any evidence 4 or more lines long. Do not use
quotation marks with block quotes.
vi. The first time you mention a source, use the author’s full
name and the title of the source.
e. Explicate the evidence:
i. For any source: Without merely repeating the quote, explain
anything that needs to be clarified to the reader.
ii. For non-fiction sources: Explain why you agree or disagree
with the source.
iii. For literary works: Close read the quote by discussing
literary elements like metaphor, irony, symbol, imagery, tone,
etc.
f. Analyze the evidence:
i. Explain how this particular part of the text helps you prove
your main point.
g. (Optionally,) transition and repeat c – f.
h. Bring together your pieces of evidence to further prove your
point.
III. Conclusion
a. Reiterate your thesis by showing how your points connect to
one another.
b. Leave your reader interested, but don’t bring in new
information from the primary text or other sources. Ways to do
this include:
i. Connecting back to the hook in your introduction.
ii. Consider what your readers can learn from reading your
paper and thinking about your topic.
Student 1
Sample Student

3. English 102
Kronbeck
March 9, 2016
Mental Escape in “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
Many soldiers carry roughly 100 pounds of mandatory gear
while in war zone, but a day’s worth of physical and mental
terror weighs more than the baggage on their shoulders. In “The
Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien, the author
vividly narrates the responsibilities of each young soldier in the
Vietnam War. The narrator begins the story by describing the
goods carried by the main character, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross.
The lieutenant holds onto several letters written by Martha, a
college girl whom he loves but knows will never love him back.
As a leader, Jimmy Cross is supposed to manage and care for
his soldiers; however, he is often distracted by fantasies of
Martha. As the story develops, all of the young soldiers make an
effort to hold onto their memories in order to get through the
day’s assignment. But the distraction of their dreams causes
more harm than good; it causes the death of one of their
comrades, Ted Lavender. O’Brien incorporates raw war
imagery, archetypal characters, and third person omniscient
point of view to emphasize that soldiers often attempt to ease
the weight of physical and emotional burdens of war by holding
onto memories of love and peace but that sometimes even that is
not enough.
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his comrades are physically
weakened by the war and imagery of Vietnam itself. Most
soldiers are deployed to undesired places during wartime
causing them to carry physical burdens. For Jimmy and his
platoons “they carried the land itself – Vietnam, the place, the
soil – a powdery orange-red dust that covered their boots and
fatigues and faces. They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere,
they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus
and decay, all of it, they carried gravity” (475). The imagery of
Vietnam illustrates an undesired setting, a place full of dirt and
humidity creates a displeasing atmosphere. Not only are the

4. soldiers full of dust, they are weak because they are carrying
the atmosphere, figuratively speaking, the burdens of war. The
gravity they carry can be interpreted as the world being a heavy
load on their shoulders. In addition to the dirt and weight, they
are hounded by the sticky weather and stench of fungus. The
narrator sets up a rough setting and illustrates that the Vietnam
War drastically affects these soldiers; they carry more than
physical hardships. When in an unknown setting, one cannot
help but feel scared, sad and confused. But in order to continue
through the discomforts, each character holds onto their
memories of hope and salvation.
The main character, Lt. Cross is a dynamic protagonist.
Aside from carrying his weapons, he carried fear and loneliness.
In the beginning of the story, he is portrayed as a young boy in
love. But by the end of the story he is described as a man, a
leader ready to fight in the war. The hope he held onto was
solely based on Martha’s gifts and her letters. O’Brien writes,
“In the first week of April, before Lavender died, Lieutenant
Jimmy Cross received a good-luck charm from Martha. It was a
simple pebble, an ounce at most. Smooth to the touch, it was
milky-white color with flecks of orange and violet, oval-shaped,
like a miniature egg” (471). Although the pebble was salty, he
carried it in his mouth on humid days. This good luck charm
symbolized a piece of Martha, it symbolized his love for her
and hope that war would be over soon and one day be alongside
her. The days were rough but day dreaming about her helped
him get through the terror of the missions in Vietnam. However,
after Lavender’s death, Lt. Cross “crouched at the bottom of his
foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two
photographs” (479). As a human being, one might justify their
burdens by crushing the memories. That is the case for Lt.
Cross. The burning of the letters symbolized that Cross was
ready to give up his memories and hope. He was to fulfill his
main purpose in the war, which was to lead. The burden of
Lavender’s death lingered on his shoulders, but to ease the
weight off he felt that he had to burn Martha’s gifts. Sadly, the

5. reader can also see the loving and peaceful side of Cross
burning with those letters. In order to fulfill his main purpose
in war, he had to give up these other very human qualities.
Several of the other soldiers are archetypal characters but the
items they carry also symbolize human longings. One of them
carried “his New Testament and a pair of moccasins for
silence,” representing the silent Indian type, and one of the
others “carried his girlfriend’s pantyhose wrapped around his
neck as a comforter,” representing the sexual needs of a soldier
(472). However, the bible and moccasins both also symbolize
hope. That soldier carried the burden of death and by doing so
attempts to avoid death by taking all precautions. Whether it is
praying to his God or trotting quietly, the soldier tries to ease
his burdens by holding onto hope. The symbolic pantyhose
around the soldier’s neck represents love and comfort. His
mental escape from the war is his girlfriend’s pantyhose. Tim
O’Brien creates symbolism through the characters to portray the
soldier’s individuality and show how they deal with the
emotional and physical burdens of the Vietnam War. In doing
so, O’Brien narrates more of the characters thoughts rather than
dialogue.
By narrating in third person point of view, O’Brien emphasizes
the need of soldiers to ease emotional pain by holding onto
memories. As an omniscient narrator, he is able to transpose the
soldiers’ feelings and thoughts especially during times of
discomfort. When caught in a distressing situation, Lt. Cross
immediately shuts off his commander post and runs into the
fantasies of Martha. When inspecting a tunnel, he “leaned down,
and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought – a cave-in
maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it, he was thinking
about Martha” (473). Lt. Cross is afraid that his fellow soldier
was trapped in a cave. But instead of planning a rescue for his
trooper, he began to plan and imagine his entrapment if he and
Martha were in the cave. Since there is no dialogue between the
characters, the audience heavily relies on the narrator’s
comments to reveal what is running in the character’s mind. Lt.

6. Cross carries fear and anxiety during troubled times. By using a
third person omniscient narrator, O’Brien is better able to show
that, soldiers often use the cherished memories of love and
comfort to cope with the fears and anxiety of war, for better or
for worse.
Whether or not one is a soldier, the weight of any burden
can be tiresome. One can be involuntarily placed in undesired
situations, such as many of the young men that were drafted
into the Vietnam War. When faced with emotional and physical
burdens, like Jimmy cross and his fellow soldiers, one can only
rely on memories of hope and love for escape. Though one
would like to believe that hope, love and comfort will always
help a person cope and ease the weight of burdens, O’Brien’s
story calls this into question by using Jimmy Cross’s experience
with Martha and his loss of some human qualities when he
burns her letters. It is through this that O’Brien shows the true
horrors of war.

7. Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.” Literature and its
Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Eds.
Ann and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013.
468-481. Print.
Kronbeck
Essay #1: Short Stories
Write an essay in which you choose at least two literary
elements, such as plot, characterization, symbol, point of view,
tone, or style, to connect these elements to a story’s overall
theme. How does the author use these elements to convey this
theme? You may write about any of the stories we’ve read so
far:
“How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie,” by
Junot Diaz
“The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien
“The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin
· For plot, think about how the sequence of events may or may
not be conventional. Does the author play with plot structure at
all?
· For character, think about how the characters are protagonistic
or antagonistic, archetypal, or anti-heroic. Also think about the
growth of the character within the story. How does he or she
change (or not)?
· For point of view, think about whether the story is written
from a certain character’s point of view (1st or 2nd person), or

8. from an omniscient (all-knowing) narrator’s point of view (3rd
person) and how this impacts the story. Do you trust the
narrator?
· For tone, think about how the author conveys attitude through
diction, syntax, and imagery. Especially if the story is written
in third person, is the tone of the narrator different from the
characters he or she writes about? If so, why?
· For style, think about how the author uses devices like
imagery, irony, diction, and symbol to add meaning to the story.
Here are some sample thesis statements:
O’Brien incorporates raw war imagery, archetypal characters,
and third person omniscient point of view to emphasize that
soldiers often attempt to ease the weight of physical and
emotional burdens of war by holding onto memories of love and
peace but that sometimes even that is not enough.
Chopin uses complex narration to present a character that
struggles internally, symbolism to represent the character’s
supposed new freedom, and irony in establishing her death, all
to critique the role of marriage in society.
Diaz uses colloquial tone, 2nd person limited-omniscient point
of view, and anti-heroic characterization to demonstrate the
uselessness of stereotypes because of their diminishment of
identity.
Criteria:
· Your introduction must hook the reader and briefly summarize
the story.
· Your thesis must be the last sentence of your introduction.
Your thesis must reveal your overall position.
· You must cite a portion of the story or stories in each
paragraph.
· Your essay must reach at least 4 pages.
· In your conclusion, don’t merely reiterate your points. Be

9. sure to also push forward your argument in some way.
· Your essay must follow MLA format in your in text citations
and works cited page.
· Your proof of writing center visit (for extra credit) will be due
via email on the same day the essay is due on Canvas.