Description
In Unit 8, you will submit a 5-8 page literary analysis essay (230 points), similar in style to your short papers but longer. You are free to come up with your own topic for the paper, with the caveat that you must use at least two readings by different authors.
Your primary texts need to be ones that we’ve read for this class, and you should attempt to use some of the literary terms you have learned in this class. This essay is considered a Core Assessment because it addresses all of the Core Learning Outcomes we have been attempting to achieve this semester. These outcomes include:
Identifying features of fiction (CLO #1)
Discussing fictional texts (CLO #2)
Articulating a response to related texts (CLO #3)
This is your chance to show all you have learned!
You will need to have a clear argument/thesis with plenty of supporting examples from the text(s). Your thesis should be clear, specific, relevant, debatable, and original. Everything in your essay should relate back to this central argument or thesis. Remember that an argument refers to a writer’s attempt to establish the validity of a given position. Because you will be spending a significant amount of time writing this essay, you should choose something that interests you. You are welcome to use one of your short papers, discussion posts, or journal entries as a starting point for your essay.
You might consider:
What similarities do these two texts share? Do they have a similar narrative point of view? Do they fit within the same genre? Do they focus on similar themes?
Why put these two texts together? How does reading these two texts together provide a better understanding of both texts?
What might their similarities (or differences) say about the cultural contexts in which they were written? Or the different genre expectations assigned to them?
Besides analyzing your primary fictional texts (the readings from class), you should have at least 3 secondary sources to support your argument. Just remember to make sure they are credible, which you can guarantee by getting them through the library databases or asking me.
You can use scholarly articles that have a point you want to explore further (whether you agree or disagree with it), sources that provide historical or biographical context to the primary text or author, or sources that focus more on specific literary elements such as narrative point of view or genre.
Be sure to include in-text citations as well as a Works Cited page, listing the sources you use (whether it is specific quotes or even ideas). use MLA style.
