your essay should be exactly four paragraphs long.

The intro and conclusion should be six to ten sentences long;

The two body paragraphs should be eight to ten sentences long.

The paragraphs are ordered thus: intro, body paragraph about the lady, transition to body paragraph about the tiger, and conclusion stating your opinion about the fate of the lover.

1. Read the attached short story and watch the video. You will write a mini-essay evaluating the two possible outcomes of the short story, “The Lady or the Tiger?”

2. Your essay will be organized into the following sections:

a) ONE introductory paragraph (6-10 sentences total):
Open with a hook or lead sentence catching the reader’s attention; then in the next sentence give the title/author/genre of the story; then write 3-4 sentences giving a brief plot summary of the story; finally, conclude with your thesis sentence stating what your essay shows/proves/explores. Your thesis, which can be in two sentences, should be something like this: “This essay investigates whether the princess directs her young lover towards either the lady or the tiger. We conclude that when he opens the door, he’ll find _______________ .”

b) ONE body paragraph on the lady (8-10 sentences):
Your body paragraph here should argue that the princess guides him to the lady. Use major and minor supporting details and direct textual support—that is, quote from the short story.

c) ONE body paragraph on the tiger (8-10 sentences):
Transition to your next body paragraph, which should argue that the princess guides him to the tiger. Same directions as above—again, use major and minor supporting details to make a sound argument (both valid and true) for the tiger.

d) ONE conclusion paragraph (6-10 sentences):
Here summarize your earlier evidence. Close by saying which outcome (lady or tiger) you believe the young lover was led to and why.

3. The total length will be FOUR paragraphs, as listed in a, b, c, d above.

4. In MLA style, when there is one source and everyone is using it, you need only put the page number at the end of a citation, so the citation would look like this:

Stockton writes, “So I leave it with all of you” (4).