Interpretive/Analytical Essays English 372 • Spring 2012 Dr. Terry Lee Paper is due two weeks after the work that you are writing about comes up on the assignment list... or earlier. Paper Basics. Follow these directions: Paper basics: • Stay within the 6 pp. (1,500-word) limit. • Use 12 point Courier (or New Courier) type size and font • Double-space all work • Head the initial page with the following aligned flush left (normal alignment): your name e-mail address class name date typed copy of the paper topic that you are using • Title your paper. Center the title of the paper near the top of the page. Be sure that it is a descriptive title. Simply assert your title. Do not use quotation marks, italics, bold face, large type font or a different type font. • Begin your paper on that same initial page. • Include a properly formatted M.L.A.-style Works Cited page and properly cited M.L.A.-style parenthetical in-text citation of sources. This means that everyone will be citing the Norton anthology. • Sloppy, poorly proofread and/or incomplete work is returned to you for revision and graded down when you resubmit it. You may, and you should, make corrections by hand if you are unable to reprint a corrected copy. Hand-written corrections should be kept to a minimum and should be made clearly & legibly, not so small, cramped and gnarled that they are indecipherable! • Be sure that you've read and followed these directions. Writing & Literary Analysis Guidelines • Follow the writing topic and prompt. If the topic asks you to write about metaphor in a poem, write about metaphor in the poem, not something else. If the paper doesn't respond directly to the topic, it will fail the assignment. • Write about only works on the class assignment list. • Be sure that you leave time to revise your rough draft. You will have two weeks after we've discussed the literary work to finish your paper. I'll be glad to discuss the rough draft with you in an office conference. It's best if you get a hard-copy rough draft to me in advance of a conference. • Be sure to show cognizance of the discussion of the works that we've had in class. Extend and/or complicate our treatment of the works. In other words, make clear and meaningful connections to other works that we've discussed. Interpret, analyze and make connections. • In all cases, do a responsive close reading of the work as you respond to the topic. Notice in your essay what kind of poem you are examining, how it uses metaphor, how it introduces and resolves tension (if it does, and so forth). Use what you have learned from the text, lecture, and research about literary, social, religious and historical contexts in your discussion. • Plagiarism & shoddy, illegitimate research resources: Any plagiarism results in failure of the course. If you have any doubts about MLA documentation, check with me. In brief, use MLA-style documentation to document any and all direct quotations, indirect quotations (paraphrases) and/or ideas. Do not use Spark Notes, Cliff Notes, eNotes or any other such so-called research. • Legitimate research resources: The CNU library has a wealth of legitimate scholarly resources that you are welcome to consult. Just keep track of what you read and give full credit for theories and ideas that you find there. For instance, if a journal on seventeenth-century poetry gives you an interesting idea for a paper on George Herbert's use of metaphor in "The Pulley," cite the source. Then, be sure to make some original use of that idea in your own intepretation and analysis. I have structured the paper topics so that you will have ample opportunities to make interesting connections and analyses. An "A" essay: 1. Asserts a focused, nuanced statement of thesis which the essay develops in a logically organized, coherently developed body of analysis and interpretation. 2. Uses literary terms and uses them appropriately to help articulate a close reading of the work. (If you are uncertain as to what a "close reading" is, drop by for an office conference for a chat!) 3. It may use a recognizable literary approach to the primary text being analyzed and interpreted (biographical, historical, New Historical, feminist, psychoanalytical, and so on). 4. Locates the work(s) in some meaningful way, i.e., within the history of ideas, history of marriage, history of lyrical poetry, history of misogyny: within the history of literary style and genre (e.g., a comparative analysis of the sonnet form), and so on. It makes important connections. 5. Research. Research is not required. However, if you have difficulty locating the work in a complex and meaningful way (see #4, above), research using legitimate scholarly resources will be required. 6. Meticulously credits all sources following the M.L.A. parenthetical citation and bibliographic style. (Failure to document all sources—from direct quotes to ideas—constitutes plagiarism and results in failure of the course. ) 7. Meticulously edited for writing (clarity, coherence, conciseness, etc.) and proofread for grammatical errors, spelling and typos. A "B" essay: Meets all of the requirements of the "A" essay, but may have a diffuse thesis, uneven development, and so on. A "C" essay: Clearly meets the requirements for success, but struggles and is not always wholly successful in key areas such as thesis focus, essay organization and prose clarity. For instance, the essay's thesis may appear finally at the end of a loosely organized analysis and interpretation that needs to be edited, cut, and revised to support the thesis. May need help in areas such as wordiness or awkwardness in sentences, in M.L.A. citation or clarity in analysis. A "D" essay: Shows effort, but doesn't meet minimum standards for success, and fails in at least one key area (e.g., fails to assert a thesis; poor grammatical control and writing, and so on.) An "F" essay: The essay suffers from a major breakdown in its conception and/or execution or is plagiarized. (Plagiarized work also results in failure of the course.) Essays that are turned in too late or that are half the required length, but otherwise successful, also may receive a grade of "F."