You need to write about at least TWO works of literature (short stories and/or poems).  The exception is if you want to write about Trifles: since that is a play you can write about it alone.  This means your choices for what you will write about are:
Two short stories
Two poems
One short story and one poem
Trifles (and no other work of literature)
Look at our Blackboard website to see what we read this semester.

Why, You Reckon? and Harlem by Langston Hughes
discuss racism and injustice against Black people.
(This is what I want you to write the essay about )
This is a final paper so please write responsibly

what do the readings you chose say about race, racism, and culture?

YOU NEED AT LEAST TWO RELIABLE OUTSIDE RESEARCH SOURCES. 
YOU CANNOT USE WIKIPEDIA!!!  I AM NOT KIDDING!!!  IF YOU CITE WIKIPEDIA YOU WILL FAIL THIS PAPER!!!
You CAN use materials from our class website, like an article, essay, or website link I posted. 
I prefer books or the library online journal databases, but if you decide to do research on the internet, make sure you are using reputable websites.  This means: no blogs (except living authors blogs); personal webpages; message boards; study websites; no Sparknotes; no social media websites like Facebook, twitter, tumblr, tiktok, Instagram, reddit, etc.; no answer websites like Yahoo Answers, 123 Answers, answers.com; no student videos or projects on YouTube, etc.  Refer to in-class instructions or ask me if confused.
Your research sources will help you make your point about the reading(s) you picked.  You should try to find something that either discusses the reading(s) you picked or something that gives you important background/historical information.

10. You need to have a SEPARATE WORKS CITED PAGE at the end of your essay.
This is a separate page with the words Works Cited centered at the top in bold.
On this page you list the information for BOTH the works you are writing ABOUT (your stories, poems, or Trifles) and your outside research sources in MLA format.

AVOID PLAGIARISM!  You should say, in your own words, how the information you discovered helps you understand what you read.  DO NOT COPY FROM YOUR SOURCE.  THIS INCLUDES CUTTING AND PASTING FROM THE INTERNET.  IF YOU PLAGIARIZE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT, YOU WILL FAIL THE PAPER AND PERHAPS THE ENTIRE COURSE.

1.) ESSAYS MUST BE TYPED.  HAND-WRITTEN ESSAYS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
2.) ESSAYS MUST BE DOUBLE-SPACED.  PLEASE DO NOT SINGLE-SPACE: IT IS VERY HARD TO READ!
3.) Font should be Times New Roman, 12 point (or similar please make sure it is readable!)  Margins should be 1 inch on top, bottom, left, and right.
4.) Heading should be located at the top right corner of the page.  It should contain:
a.) Students name
b.) CUNY ID number
c.) Name of Class (ENG201-1503)
d.) Name of instructor (Professor Jaime Weida)
e.) Your email address
5.) When giving the title of an essay, story, or poem, capitalize every word in the title and put the title in quotation marks.  Generally, do not capitalize small words like a, an, the, or, etc. unless they are the first word in the title.
Example: The Lottery, Winter Dreams

6.) Use italics for websites or titles of books, novels, or plays and capitalize as above.
Example: The Emily Dickinson Museum Website, Othello

7.) Use an authors full name (first and last name) the first time you mention it.  From then on, use only the last name.  DO NOT use only the authors first name.  For example: Sylvia Plath and Plath, NOT Sylvia.

8.) If you are quoting from an outside source, you need to introduce the quote by giving the source, use quotation marks, and put the page on which the words appear in parentheses at the end of the quote (if applicable websites do not have page numbers). 
Example: According to The National Organization for Women website, The proposed Comcast-NBC merger and the new deal between Google and Verizon is a feminist issue.

In No Impact Man, Colin Beavan writes, I wanted to have no environmental impact (14).