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PAPERSWriting a literature paper is an art, one that requires each of you to set aside the role of student and step into the role of literary scholar. To write a literary analysis is to move beyond summary into the realm of literary criticism, offering your own unique interpretations of a text or texts to add to the overall body of knowledge about literature and the historical moments that produced them. Note that this task is very different from simply summarizing a text: you need to offer a specific argument about the meaning or significance of the text that a reasonable reader can follow. To do so, you need to accomplish the following tasks:
It's not enough to simply give a lot of information about the texts under discussion: you need to shape the presentation of that evidence into a claim about how the reader should interpret those texts. You don't have to actually convince the reader that you are right, but you have to give a plausible case based on strong evidence. There are two major papers required for this course. Each will require you to take at least one of the texts from the course and give a compelling argument that offers a specific interpretation about the texts in question. The specific focus of your interpretation can vary depending on what ideas or texts excited you from the course, but the following generalized issues might help focus your thinking on a potential topic:
Please note that you are not limited to the above options: as long as your topic deals with a text from class and offers a strong interpretation that is made through a well-supported argument using quoted material from your primary texts (which include the novels, short stories, and films on the syllabus), your topic will satisfy my minimum expectations. Each paper must do the following:
Special requirements for the First Paper
Special requirements for the Second Paper
Bear in mind that you can compare and contrast multiple works in relationship to a specific theme, or you can focus exclusively on one text. Each of you are encouraged to email potential topics to me for feedback before you start writing. In addition to the resources listed at the start of Marsi's anthology, I recommend the following sources available through our library (you should log into the Library page and click on Online Resource A-Z to access them):
Friendly Warnings:
Extra Credit Opportunity: As part of my full-time teaching load during the regular school year, I tutor 2 hours a week in the Writing Center, located in the Learning Assistance Laboratory on the second floor of the library in College Hall. If you have your paper draft reviewed by a writing tutor at least three days before the final draft is due, you will receive an additional 5 points on your final paper grade. You can be tutored in person or online (click here for online tutoring instructions; submit the paper to an English 102 tutor). To get the credit, have the tutor sign the draft and indicate the time and date of the conference. If the tutoring occurs online, simply print out the response. |
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Site URL: http://www.halhalbert.com/classes/spring2019/eng246 |