Satirical Essay Directions



Satirical Essay Directions

Satirical essay writing is a style of writing that uses satire to criticize or poke fun at a subject. A satirical writer often uses such devices as hyperbole and irony to get his point across. Satirical essays are often aimed at political candidates, celebrities or situations that are absurd. The satire writer often seeks to provide relevant, useful, eye-opening information within the scope of his essay. Learning to write satirically is easy once you understand the techniques used for the style and the purpose of your content.

Instructions

Step 1

Choose a topic. Look for subject matter that is already ironic or ridiculous. The goal of your essay is to use satire (much like a caricature artist uses caricature techniques) to bring out the absurdity in your subject. Satirical cartoons work on the same premise. You can usually read them in your Sunday paper. These are good examples of the style you will want to put into your satirical essay. Start with a goal, and use literary devices and factual information to reach the goal.

Step 2

Use hyperbole to make your point. Hyperbole is a literary device that exaggerates facts. Be careful of using this device. Hyperbole does not mean lying. You need to stick to the facts, but use hyperbole creatively to highlight the facts in such a way that the absurdity behind them is made clear. An example line might be something like, "Andy Garbo drinks tons of coffee a year to make sure he keeps his stock in Folgers profitable." This is obvious hyperbole, but it's used to make an exaggerated point about Andy.

Step 3

Use irony to help tell the story you want your essay to present. Irony is the use of words or phrases to express the opposite of what you truly mean, or to express an incongruity between what someone expects and what actually occurs. A simple example of irony would be, "He's kind enough to steal from the poor to feed his pockets." The use of "kind enough" turns this into an ironic statement. Irony is one of the best tools you can use in satirical essays. It is used to criticize with sarcasm.

Step 4

Aim for humor in your satirical essays. Not all satire is funny, but by pointing out the ridiculous elements of the situation or person you're writing about, you can often bring people over to your way of thinking or make the point you're trying to make quicker. A lot of readers respond faster to humor, especially when you can make them see the absurdity the way you see it.

Hose, Carl. “How to Write a Satire Essay.” . Web. 11 December 2009.

Satirical Essay Requirements

Assignment: Write a satirical essay following the format on the reverse side of this handout.

The writing process must be demonstrated:

o Draft/outline,

o Editing,

NO Contractions unless in a quotation

NO FIRST OR SECOND person unless in a quotation

Voice

Punctuation

Subject-verb agreement

Singular-plural nouns and their antecedents

Verb tense IN THE PRESENT

Dangling/misplaced modifiers

Parallelism in structure

Homonyms used correctly

o Revising,

Organization: does it all tie together?

Read aloud fluency

Sufficient support/analysis

Necessary/unnecessary words

Redundancy

COLLEGE READINESS PIECES REQUIRED:

o USE MLA format

o USE parenthetical citations when appropriate

o Works cited page for any information researched whether used in text or not

o 3-5 PAGES in length

Plagiarism/Cheating Notation:

The use of any text or ideas from a source must be quoted or cited; it is otherwise considered plagiarism. Copying another student’s writing is considered plagiarism. Submitting the same paper for more than one class without the permission of the instructor is cheating. Students are expelled from college for such infractions. Here you receive a zero grade and a one hour detention for the first infraction. Additionally, if you are an NHS member, you will be dismissed for any cheating or plagiarism infractions.

If you need assistance about citations, MLA format, punctuation or organizing the paper, you may seek help before/after school. I will not correct or write a paper for you, but I will assist with specific questions to help you become a better writer.

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