Literature

For the term paper, students are asked to write a researched essay of at least 1,100 words analyzing one of the works in the textbook. Any single work from the textbook is acceptable; students are not limited to assigned readings. Students will utilize citations from a minimum of five academic secondary sources. Essays should focus on making a debatable claim and supporting that claim with reasons and evidence. In the case of a literary analysis the claim will concern the theme of the selection and the choices the author made in producing the work. Some possible questions students might ask in trying to find a thesis for their essays: • How did the author’s biography influence the text? • Does the text depart from the conventions of the period or movement with which it is associated in any remarkable way? • How does the text exemplify the values of the movement with which it is associated? • What literary predecessors influenced the text? • In what surprising or interesting ways did the author utilize literary devices? The Term Paper is longer than the midterm and is expected to go into greater depth in analyzing the text. The term paper may be an expansion of the midterm if that expansion produces a deeper insight about the text. Things to Remember: 1.Analysis utilizes argument and explanation. All true arguments have at least three ingredients: They make a claim, they provide reasons for the audience to accept the claim, and they provide evidence in support of the reasons. It is not sufficient for students to merely summarize the work. It is important for students to remember that the analysis is also an explanation of a work. An essay making the claim that abortion is wrong, for example, is not an analysis of Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl.” An essay that puts forward a claim explaining how the mother’s advice on abortion relates to the theme of “Girl” is a literary analysis. 2.Claims often come from questions. The thesis question is usually where students begin when writing an essay. If a choice an author makes in one of the readings—and every aspect of the readings is the result of a choice, consciously or unconsciously made—strikes a student as strange or interesting, he or she should make note of it, and ask what motivated that choice and how that choice ties in with the theme of the piece. The answer the student comes up with after adequate research and reflection is his or her claim. 3.Claims must be Debatable. The major claim made in the essay is called the thesis statement. The thesis statement must be debatable, meaning that it is possible for a “reasonable person” to agree or disagree with it. The claim can’t be an objective fact. The claim that Hamlet and Horatio attended the University of Wittenberg together is not debatable. The claim that Hamlet really loved Ophelia is debatable, and the position taken on such a claim can have a meaningful impact on the reader’s understanding of the work’s theme. 4.Reasons must be relevant to the claim. There should be a logical connection between the claim and the reason. This logical connection is sometimes called the warrant or bridge. Students are encouraged to examine the assumptions that underlie their arguments to make sure that they are sound. 5.Evidence can be textual or contextual. This is just a fancy way of saying that in supporting your argument, you can draw both directly on the work itself, or the text, and on information about factors surrounding the text, or the context. Biographical or historical information is contextual. For example, if a student were trying to understand the theme of a book titled The Big Stupid Badger who Couldn’t Do Anything Right, it might be useful to study the context the piece appeared in and discover that the local Mayor was nicknamed “The Badger.” 6. Primary and secondary sources are used as evidence. The primary source is the text itself, meaning the work of prose, poetry, or drama the student is examining. Secondary sources are written about the text or context, and include scholarly articles, biographies, and histories. Sources that focus on explication, such as shmoop and sparknotes, are not counted toward your source-count requirements. 7.All citations must be documented. Students in ENGL 1302 are required to use MLA documentation. This means using intext citation and quotation marks whenever a source’s words are used, or in-text citation whenever a source’s ideas are summarized or paraphrased. It also means including a works cited page with MLA entries for all cited sources. Academic honesty is extremely important and the consequences for plagiarism reflect that. The works cited page does not count toward the essay’s Kocurek 4 word-count requirement. Students are encouraged to email me any questions they may have and to utilize my office hours. Your questions will help you to do better work and me to give better guidelines in the future. For more information on writing about literature: • Review chapters 1-8 of Compact Literature. • See this guide: http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/elementslit.html Due: See our class calendar for assignment due date. Word Count: 1,100 Minimum Works Cited: 5 Minimum (2 Print)

Write a thoughtful, focused, and organized response. Your essay should focus on the novel as evidence—do not bring in your personal experiences or unrelated outside sources. Because this is literary analysis, you should not use the personal pronouns. 5 paragraphs

https://genius.com/16278912 (Link to poem) “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot. Then submit at least a two page, MLA formatted with Work Cited response explaining how this poem is reflective of modernist thinking.   Explain the attitude, thinking and concerns of the society during this period, and how those attitudes, thinking and concerns are reflected in this poem. Specific references to the history of the time, modernist technique, and the poem will help clarify your points. Utilized the poem itself to take references from and use them as example.

Title Review, mention book title author, and explain what the book was about and address the strengths and weaknesses of book.

This is a 500-word typed essay, which is to answer the following: What is your personal de nition of success? What accomplishments are you most proud of and why?  What does beauty mean to you? How do you hope to contribute to the industry when you are nished with your training? this is for beauty school. My biggest accoplishment is graduting for southern university in speech lanuage pathology and helping changing kids lives. I want to attend beauty school because I always love giving women self confidence.

Discussion over Moliere’s Tartuffe 1)  How does Tartuffe reflect the values and ideas from the Neoclassical period?  Give specific characteristics from the time period and specific examples from the play in your response.  2) What features in Tartuffe are characteristic of works of dramatic literature in the Comedy of Manners genre?  Give specific features of this style and show how the play reflects those features. 3) Tartuffe displays several central ideas and motifs.  Write about how one of the ideas listed below is displayed in Tartuffe.  Share specific characters and scenes in your response.  Pretense Fancy Footwork The Idea of Man and His Mask The Idea of “Seeing” Secrets and Secrecy Social Criticism Power Struggles

This assignment is a straight, 5 paragraph summary (WITHOUT YOUR OPINION) worth 20 points. Must be doubled spaced, 12 point font. You will go to the article “50 Lessons I Wish I Learned in School” by Sujan Patel. Paragraph 1-Introduction of entire article with a few sentences telling what is in the article along with credit to author and author’s opinion only. Paragraph 2- The number of the lesson, the name of the lesson in quotes, and a brief statement of the main idea of the lesson. Paragraph 3. The second lesson you chose to summarize as in paragraph 2 above WITHOUT YOUR OPINION. Paragraph 4-The third lesson you chose to summarize as in paragraph 2 above. Paragraph 5-The conclusion of your summary. Do not mention the 3 specific lessons you chose, just sum up your essay along with your opinion. (See Owl Purdue online writing lab if you have trouble writing concluding paragraphs.)

Write a poem that is inspired by William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds After writing the poem, write a 1-2 page letter (MLA format) to William Shakespeare and explain what ways did Sonnet 116 inspire your poem. Discuss the literary elements that were used in your poem and Sonnet 116.  Explain your poem through the lens of William Shakespeare. Use quotes from Sonnet 116 and your poem for your explanation.  Outside resources are not required but may be used. (Only utilize scholarly articles or literary criticism relating to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116)  Include a Works Cited page listing your sources.

Explain how and why Dante classifies sins into 3 major categories of incontinence, violence and fraud and explain how Dante uses the idea of contrapasso, literally counter-penalty, meaning “an act of divine justice that redirects the essence of a crime back against the perpetrator” to reveal the true nature of the sins. In other words, in Dante’s hell, sinners are not punished by having to witness or endure the effects of their sins on others but by having to symbolically commit their sins forever. Thus contrapasso punishments help

The Bluest Eye—Toni Morrison-The Concept of Home: Outline   Question: At the beginning of the “The Bluest Eye,” how does Morrison depict the concept of home?   Construct your Thesis: Create a thesis that makes the statement about how Morrison presents the idea of home at the beginning of  her Novel, “The Bluest Eye”? A)     You can attach your reasons to the statement, which would make a list that you can develop one point at a time in its own body paragraph. For example, Morrison presents/displays the concept of home at the beginning of novel “The Bluest Eye” by 1. …  , 2.  … and 3. …   Introduction: I       What is meant by home? ·         Remember home means different things to different people, so write down what is your notion (s) of home.  ·         What were your notions of home in the past, and what is your notion of home now? ·         How do you think your notion of home compare to  other people’s notion of home? ·         Bring up the idea that the concept of home is being addressed by Toni Morrison at the beginning of her novel, “The Bluest Eye.” ·         Talk about the concept of home as being presented by Toni Morrison, and how exactly is she doing so in “The Bluest Eye”? [Make this idea your thesis]. (You can make a statement or make a list of specific reasons.) ·         [Note: You would have to present a set of body paragraphs to convince your reader.]   Body paragraphs: II     Topic Sentence: What is one-way Morrison presents the concept of home at the beginning of “The bluest Eye”? (State it and discuss it). What evidence from the text supports the Quote or paraphrase (give page #)? (This would be where the first reason for you to develop would go) Remember you must introduce the quotation. For example:  1. According to Morrison,/  2. Morrison states, says, argues, tells us, emphasizes, “……” (Morrison, p. 35). ·         Explain the quotation ·         What might the quotation mean or what is the context of the quotation as it relates to point you want to make. ·         Why did Morrison say this and what is her message (In your own words please)? METAMESSAGE—the message behind the message….what are the implications is what is said. ·         What is your opinion about the quotation? (Analyze and evaluate) ·         Make text to text, text to self, or text to world connections. ·         Give an example/personal experience (remember this is to help support your point, but it is not the point) ·         Link back to your topic sentence ·         You MUST support YOUR argument with evidence   III     Topic sentence: What is another way Morrison presents the concept of home at the beginning of “The bluest Eye”? (State it and discuss it). What evidence from the text supports the Quote or paraphrase (give page #)? (This would be where the second reason for you to develop would go) Remember you must introduce the quotation. For example:  1. According to Morrison,/  2. Morrison states, says, argues, tells us, emphasizes, “……” (Morrison, p. 3). ·         Explain the quotation ·         What might the quotation mean or what is the context of the quotation as it relates to point you want to make. ·         Why did Morrison say this and what is her message (In your own words please)? METAMESSAGE—the message behind the message….what are the implications is what is said. ·         What is your opinion about the quotation? (Analyze and evaluate) ·         Make text to text, text to self, or text to world connections. ·         Give an example/personal experience (remember this is to help support your point, but it is not the point) ·         Link back to your topic sentence ·         You MUST support YOUR argument with evidence   IV    Topic Sentence: What Is an additional way Morrison presents the concept of home at the beginning of “The bluest Eye”? (State it and discuss it). What evidence from the text supports the Quote or paraphrase (give page #)? (This would be where the third reason for you to develop would go) Remember you must introduce the quotation. For example:  1. According to Morrison,/  2. Morrison states, says, argues, tells us, emphasizes, “……” (Morrison, p. 78). ·         Explain the quotation ·         What might the quotation mean or what is the context of the quotation as it relates to point you want to make. ·         Why did Morrison say this and what is her message (In your own words please)? METAMESSAGE—the message behind the message….what are the implications is what is said. ·         What is your opinion about the quotation? (Analyze and evaluate) ·         Make text to text, text to self, or text to world connections. ·         Give an example/personal experience (remember this is to help support your point, but it is not the point) ·         Link back to your topic sentence ·         You MUST support YOUR argument with evidence   V     If you have an additional point to develop, it should go here. Then follow the steps of development as you did in your previous body paragraphs. If any other points to follow, then you would continue developing in the same method. [PLEASE NOTE THE NUMBER OF BODY PARAGRAPHS YOU INCLUDE IS DEPENDENT ON YOU]   Conclusion: VII   Briefly recap your arguments. 5-10 sentences a)      Briefly recap the point you discussed or make useful suggestions                                     OR b)      Give a list of solutions or possible ways the survival instinct might be possible? c)      What can an individual do to promote this, or should we even bother to do so?   NB* ü  TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IS KEY. ü  LESS SUMMARY AND MUCH MORE ANALYSIS. ü  REDUCE OR ELIMINATE GENERALIZATIONS ALL TOGETHER. ü  FULLY ENGAGE THE TEXT IN YOUR COMMENTARY, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE GIVING EXAMPLES OR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.