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LIT 2012
Critical Essay Assignment
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An 8-10 page (2000-2500 word)
critical essay on a topic approved by the instructor -- you may choose one
of the Suggested Essay Topics below or get my approval for another essay
topic. The essay must include analysis and/or comparison/contrast of
two of the assigned novels.
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The topic listed below are just
that -- topics. You need to create a controlling THESIS for your
essay.
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The essay must include citations from
at least four authoritative secondary sources published in literary
journals or books of critical analysis. If you do your research
online, use the databases in the Electronic Sources provided via
LINCC: JSTOR and Literature Resources
from Gale are probably your best bets.
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Sources may NOT include
encyclopedias including Wikipedia, study guides such as Masterplots or
Spark Notes, student essays found online, or information from book
publisher sites or book sales sites (such as Amazon).
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Use the secondary sources as
backup and illustration for your own ideas -- I am interested in YOUR
analysis of the works. Quote from the sources, but quote judiciously -- usually
a sentence or two is plenty to illustrate or back up your assertion.
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Don't hesitate to quote
judiciously from the primary sources -- the novels you are analyzing -- to
provide illustrations for your ideas.
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Review
Tips for Writing About Literature.
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Follow MLA formatting and
documentation guidelines scrupulously. MLA information is available
on
Tools for Writing and Research
and OWL's
MLA 2009
Formatting and Style Guide
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The essay must be submitted by
April 26 into
the designated Drop Box in ANGEL. Before you submit the essay, you
must run it through TURN-IT-IN to check for any documentation problems.
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If you want me to quickly review
the essay before it is due, you must submit it to me NO LATER than
April 15. This
review will include suggestions for revision and point out problem areas,
but I will NOT correct your grammar, spelling, documentation or other
technical issues. Get help in the ARC if you need it.
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If your essay
shows evidence of PLAGIARISM, you will fail the course.
Plagiarism includes (but is not necessarily
limited to):
* Copying an author's exact words or phrases without indicating that they
are
quotations.
* Borrowing an author's ideas without crediting the author (often as a
paraphrase)
* Citing facts or statistics without crediting the source
* Purchasing an essay and claiming it as your own
* Hiring or persuading someone else to write your essay for you
* Finding an essay online and using part or all of it in an essay you
claim as yours
* See:
Citing Sources MLA STYLE
Grading
50% (200 points):
Content:
Thoughtful analysis; proven and illustrated assertions; clear and logical
organization.
25% (100 points): Language:
Coherent, well constructed sentences; proper use of punctuation; correct
spelling and grammar.
25% (100 points):
Documentation:
Correct use of MLA formatting and
documentation, including internal citations and a Work Cited list.
Suggested Essay
Topics
1. The critique of the
English class system made by Henry Fielding in Joseph Andrews and
George Eliot in Silas Marner. Keep in mind the different time
frames. (Social criticism) 2.
The depictions of children in George Eliot's Silas Marner
and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. (Archetypal/Psychological
criticism)
3. Ghosts in Henry James'
The Turn of the Screw and Toni Morrison's Beloved.
(Archetypal/Psychological criticism)
4. Picaresque elements in Henry Fielding's
Joseph Andrews and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. (Formal/Genre
criticism)
5. Repressed sexuality in Henry James's The
Turn of the Screw and Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.
(Psychological criticism)
6. Benjamin Britten's operas of The
Turn of the Screw and Death in Venice.
(Adaptive criticism).
7. Contrast of the techniques used by filmmakers
to adapt two of the assigned novels for the screen. (Adaptive criticism)
8. The critique of the political regimes in Milan
Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Marjane Satrapi's
Persepolis. (Social Criticism)
9. Gender relationships in two of the following:
Toni Morrison's Beloved, Milan Kundera's The Unbearable
Lightness of Being and/or Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis.
(Feminist/Gender Criticism)
10. Disease as a metaphor in two of the
following: George Eliot's Silas Marner, Thomas Mann's Death in
Venice, and /orToni Morrison's Beloved. (Formal Criticism).
11. Mythic/archetypal structures in two of the
following: Thomas Mann's Death in
Venice, Toni Morrison's Beloved, and /or Milan Kundera's
The Unbearable Lightness of Being. (Archetypal criticism).
12. The intrusive, editorializing narrator of
Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews and Milan Kundera's
he Unbearable Lightness of Being. (Formal/Social criticism).
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