The final project for this course is the creation of a literary analysis paper. You should base the paper on an argumentative thesis. The paper should use one to three texts from the course to build its analysis. You may use texts we have read or other texts by writers on the course reader. If you would like to use another text or writer, please talk to me about it beforehand. Your essay needs to use at least five sources in addition to the primary texts from the class reading. We will be going over research resources as we build up to the essay. After you write the thesis you should then go about proving the thesis with evidence from your research as well as evidence from the texts themselves. You may choose to compare a certain idea (keyword) we have discussed in multiple texts or trace that idea (keyword) through one text. You may choose to analyze how a certain concept changes over time in a writer’s work. Or you may want to look at a certain feature of a work like character, setting, plot, or narrative form in order to argue how a writer puts them to use.
Outcomes
1. Understand the meaning of a text and construct and argument about it
2. Contextualize a text historically and socially
3. Pick out an idea or feature in a text that is used to a certain effect.
4. Discuss the implications of your analysis for understanding a certain moment in history or the evolution of an idea better
Guidelines.
1. 2000-2500 words
2. At least 5 outside/secondary sources
3. A clear thesis with supporting detail
4. MLA in-text citations and works cited
