Short Stories

Starting Point

Read all of the short stories in the The List of Short Stories for the Activity section.

Write down the titles you enjoyed.
Place these titles in an order.

The List of Short Stories for the Activity

This list is comprised of CBC Short Story Prize finalists and winners. See our Google Classroom for more details.

Black Coffee by Menaka Raman-Wilms

For Pari by David Dupont

Green Velvet by Krzysztof Pelc

I Am Aani Littlecrab by Julia Jenkins

Everyone Has Come by Jasmina Odor

The Duolect by Krzysztof Pelc

Short Story Activity

The short story activity will allow you to review what you have learned in this course, and in previous years. It will also help you prepare for the Short Stories Assignment.
Form even groups so that we have 6 total.
Sit with your group members. Talk about which graphic organizer you want to use as you read. For short stories, I recommend the Reading and Viewing Guide in the Teacher Tools document as a start. I would probably move to a web or a concept map afterwards. Which graphic organizer did you use?
Your group will be assigned a story from the The List of Short Stories for the Activity. See our Google Classroom for more details.
Individually reread the story you have been assigned.
Individually look up all the words you cannot define as they present themselves. Write those words and definitions down. Use the word map graphic organizer for words you do not recognize or are unsure about.
As a group, share the words together. Note which words were new to all of you.
As a group, answer the questions provided in the Analysis Questions document.
If you need a refresher on Literary Terms, review the document.
Prepare to present your findings to the class. You need textual proof to support your ideas. Please provide the class the first three words of your quote, and the last three words. This will allow the students to find your quote quickly using CTRL-F (the find tool)
Review Dealing with Quotes.
Each section (plot, setting, character, POV, theme, symbolism, style and tone) should be under 5 minutes. 7 sections x 5 minutes = 35 minute max.

RL 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2

Short Story Assignment

Choose one of the short stories from the list. See our Google Classroom for more details.
DO NOT USE: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. It is done in some junior classes.
Read the story, look up the words you do not understand. Use a graphic organizer of your choice to take notes. Are you comfortable with all the literary terms?
Individually answer the Analysis Questions. FOCUS ON SYMBOLISM, THEME, STYLE AND TONE.
- Identify the theme of the short story, then state it.
- Write a formal paragraph that argues which literary element best supports the theme of the short story.
- Your formal paragraph should follow this structure:
  - Topic sentence
  - Point # 1
  - Proof (a quote from the text) # 1
  - Explain # 1
  - Point # 2
  - Proof (a quote from the text) # 2
  - Explain # 2
  - Concluding sentence
Layout your assignment in this format:
- MLA header (your name, my name, course code, date)
- MLA page number in the HEADER of your document
- An original title, don't underline it. Use the MLA Basic Format note. For example: How Setting Establishes the Theme of Jane Smith's The Good Dog OR How Setting Establishes the Theme of Jane Smith's "The Good Dog"
- indicate your theme statement with the heading,'Theme'.
- include your formal paragraph.
Please look at the sample layout for the Short Story Assignment.
Review MLA Basic Format and MLA Basic Work(s) Cited. Your short story comes from Imprints 11. Published by Nelson in 2001.
Read the rubric
Submit this assignment to Turnitin and Google Classroom

W 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Short Story Assignment List

See our Google Classroom for more details.

Mirror Image by Lena Coakley

The Prospector’s Trail by Cathy Jewison

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

Love Must Not Be Forgotten by Zhang Jie

Saturday Climbing by W.D. Valgardson

The Maiden Wiser Than the Tsar by Idries Shah

The Storyteller by Saki

Bluffing by Gail Helgason

The Labrador Fiasco by Margaret Atwood

Snow by Ann Beattie

A Secret Lost in the Water by Roch Carrier

The Pose by Anwer Khan

The Elephant by Slawomir Mrozek

DO NOT USE: The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

Brooms for Sale by Thomas Raddall

The Liberation of Rome by Robin Hemley

Test by Theodore Thomas

Soul-Catcher by Louis Owens

Wilhelm by Gabrielle Roy

He-y, Come on Ou-t! by Shinichi Hoshi

The Singing Silence by Eva-Lis Wuorio

Short Story Assignment - Layout

The layout of this assignment is a bit different than a standard paper written using MLA format. I've included a picture of what the first page will look like.

MLA Basic Format

Arial font, size 12 pt.
Double space your body.
Indent all paragraphs using the Tab key.
Formal English, no personal pronouns ("I") or contractions ("don't", "can't", etc.). Avoid artificial constructions such as, "One believes . . ." or "One could argue . . . "
Write in present tense.
No underlines.
Italicize the titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites
Quotation marks for the titles of a source if it is part of a larger work, articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, speeches and short stories
In-text citations are explained in Dealing with Quotes.
Original title on the first page. If your title includes the name of a work, use italics or quotations as explained above.
Your first sentence is directly underneath your title. Do not add extra lines.
Heading is double spaced, and includes:
- Your name
- My name
- Course code
- Date
- The heading only appears on page 1
Page numbering in the top right corner of the header on each page.
- Your last name followed by a page number, for example:
  - Jones 1
- I do not have a preference as to whether or not the first page has a number.

MLA Basic Work(s) Cited

This is the last page.
The title is Work Cited or Works Cited. CAN YOU SPOT THE ERROR IN MY EXAMPLE?
List texts in alphabetical order of author last name.
If the citation is longer than one line, indent every line after the first line. This is called a hanging indent. To make a hanging indent in Google Docs:

Highlight the citation(s) you want to indent.
Along the top menu, click on "Format," then go down to "Align & indent," then click on "Indentation options."
In the Indentation options menu, under "Special," select "Hanging."
Next to the word "Hanging", input 0.5 as the value. (Thanks Jennifer T.)
Click "Apply."

MLA Elements:

As you read this list, pay attention to the punctuation of each element. This comes from Purdue OWL.

Author.

Author's last name, followed by a comma, then the author's first name, then a period.

Title of Source.

Follow MLA rules regarding italics or quotation marks. See MLA basic format note.

Title of Container,

The large 'thing' that holds your source. Typically in listed italics. Examples: websites, databases, collections of stories or poems, magazines, television series.

Contributor,

Is there an editor or a translator? State the contributor's role (Edited by, Translated by)

Version,

If a version number is listed, include it.

Number,

If a source is part of a sequence?
Indicate journals:
- vol. #, no. #

Indicate episodes:
- season #, episode #

Publisher,

Publication Date,

Location.

The URL (9th edition change adds full URL)
After the period, you can add following OPTIONAL information:
- Accessed Day Month. Year.

Example of a Folger Digital edition of Shakespeare:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Folger Shakespeare, https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/macbeth/entire-play/. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.

Example of a novel citation:

Smith, Sam. Some Cool Novel. Coffee House Press, 1999.

Example of a short story citation:

Smith, Sam. "Some Cool Short Story." Coffee House Press, 1999.

Example of a short story from a collection citation:

Smith, Sam. "Some Cool Short Story." My Textbook, Coffee House Press, 1999.

When using a Database:

Use the built in citation / cite tool. In Britannica and InfoBase, it is located at the top of the article, in Gale it is located at the bottom of the article.

ENG3U Short Story Paragraph with Theme statment Rubric.pdf

Short Story Assignment Rubric

Short Story Paragraph with Theme statement Rubric.

If you can't see the document, please read: You Do Not Need Permission To View Any Documents.

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