Grace Beaulieu

Expository Writing
Ms. Johnson
May 5, 3017

The Great Gatsby Essay Self-Assessment

Literary Analysis Research Paper

1. Write a brief summary describing the main point of your essay.

The main point of my essay is to show that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as
a satire commenting on the ideals and actions of Americans during the 1920s.

2. Is your thesis strong? Why or why not?

I feel like my thesis is strong. I think it clearly states my point, and also highlights the
additional points I made throughout my essay.

3. What is the most well-developed part of your essay? Explain why its so fantastic.
I think that the most well-developed part of my essay is the first body paragraph. It
contains what I think is an example from the book that supports my point well, and also a
somewhat good deal of research that also supports my point. I feel like I explained my point very
well in this paragraph compared to the other two body paragraphs.

4. How do you transition and tie your ideas together?

I don't actually think that I transitioned between my ideas very well. I feel like the transitions
were a little rough. However, to tie my ideas together I tried to include points from the previous
body paragraph in each of those after it. This way there was somewhat of a relationship shown
between each idea and the information presented to support each.

5. Why should the reader believe what you have to say? What makes you reliable?
I think the reader should believe what I have to say because my point is strong and important.
What I have to say in this essay is reliable because it is supported by additional research and
examples from the book. What makes me (as the person who wrote the essay) reliable is that I
am not biased about the point in any way. There isn't a single side that I am necessarily a part of,
so none of the information makes the other side of the point seem completely false.

6. How does your conclusion tie up your main ideas? How does it leave the reader thinking?
My conclusion ties up my main ideas my restating my thesis and each of the specific points I
made. The conclusion leaves the reader thinking by introducing some new information, along
with some of my own thoughts about what Fitzgerald's purpose of writing a satire was.