Final Draft Due: Friday, Oct 15 midnight on CanvasTotal points available: 150 (If the rough draft is not submitted

Final Draft Due: Friday, Oct 15 midnight on Canvas

Total points available: 150 (If the rough draft is not submitted on time, a 10% penalty, or 15 points, will be deducted from the final grade)

Instructions: This first essay asks you to consider one of the three short stories below and produce a close reading. You will analyze a detail (a short passage or several related short passages) of the story and argue for how the detail develops the story’s meaning or significance. Close reading is a skill that “begins with a sensitivity to the words of the text and all their denotative and connotative values and implications” (Guerin A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature). Denotation refers to what something is (definition) and connotation refers to what something means beyond its strict definition. While symbolism is an easy way to think about denotation and connotation (Apple – fruit, sin), you are not required to write about a symbol from one of the stories, although you may. You could, however, think about the way a story is structured or patterns in a character’s behavior. Because this assignment is focused on your own skills of analysis, no secondary source should be used.

You can choose from:

• “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
• “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
• “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” by Karen Russell
• "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Bob Dylan (song lyrics)

Potential pitfalls to avoid:

• Mistaking summary for analysis
• Clichéd or obvious readings of details

While this is definitely not a five-paragraph formulaic essay, you may follow this general framework: The first paragraph introduces the text and your focus. This paragraph should conclude with a clear thesis that argues a point (example: In YYY, the character of ZZZ serves the important function of X). Body paragraphs should begin with topic sentences that argue a part of the thesis. These paragraphs should prove their claims by quoting the text and then analyzing the quotes to explain how they function as support. Each body paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that explains how it relates to the thesis. The essay should conclude with a final paragraph that explains: 1) how the body arguments come together to prove the thesis; and 2) the significance of the claims made in the essay.

Keep in mind you are writing an essay that is analytical and persuasive; you need to take a position and argue a point of view, not merely summarize the text without offering evidence to support your own argument (an original position/opinion) about its meaning or significance. Evidence comes from the text itself. Please remember that grammatical, coherent, logical writing is the minimum requirement for a passing grade; points will be deducted from essays that are incoherent and make significant numbers of grammatical errors.

Criteria:

• Accurately describe your argument in a clear thesis sentence.
• Signal each topic and give a clear indication of how the paper will proceed.
• Locate evidence (directly from the text) to smoothly integrate into each body paragraph.
• Analyze this evidence in order to show how it illustrates your arguments.
• Present a strong overall argument and conclusion using active verbs and avoiding vagueness.
• Use an effective structure that carefully guides the reader from one idea to the next and is thoroughly edited so that sentences are readable and appropriate for an academic paper.

• Use correct MLA format, including size 12 Times New Roman font, 1” margins, internal citations (Oates) and correct pagination/headers. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with MLA format.
• Length: 1,250 words (about 4 pages).
• Outside Research: None (no Works Cited page for this assignment.)

Assignment Checklist:

Part 1. Introduction (1 paragraph)

1. Introduce the topic/establish exigency, significance, or advance a “centrality claim.”
2. Introduce the context: author, text, purpose.
3. Thesis – explain your project (what your paper will argue). State the direction of your analysis and the steps you will take to get there; i.e., “This project argues [what claim?] through/by [what means/evidence?].” (This orients the reader but will also be where you reveal your own stance.)
4. The thesis MUST be the last sentence of the first paragraph. The first part will reveal your argument, while the second part will disclose two or three major claims (aka sub-claims/sub-topics/proofs) that support your argument.

Part 2. The Body, your central analysis

In this section, you will analyze each of your major claims laid out in your thesis.

For each claim, you will:

• State one of your claims and briefly describe how the text supports the claim.
• Give a salient example, and nail your example with a quote.
• Explain the quotation by telling what the text is doing (not saying) and delineating the ways it ties back to your argument.
• Explain and discuss the significance of the connection.
• Include a closing to each paragraph that ties together the topic and the overall point.

Part 3: Your conclusion, which tells us, “So what?”

In this section, discuss issues of significance / effectiveness.

• Consider as a whole what the text does to your argument.
• Consider the strengths/weaknesses and effectiveness of your argument.
• Discuss the social, cultural, biological, economic, etc. stakes of your argument and reasoning—why does it matter?

Part 4: All pages must be properly formatted using MLA Guidelines (See the Purdue Owl website.)

• Headers/pagination (except on page 1).
• 1” margins on all sides.
• Parenthetical quotations using correct punctuation placement; i.e., (Russell, 25).

Students should be able to:

• Construct an interesting and insightful thesis that reflects a sophisticated reading of the text
• Use specific textual evidence to support a claim (deductive analysis)
• Develop rigorous analysis of specific textual details (inductive analysis)
• Construct a clearly structured essay

Useful and Important Arguing about Literature Readings/Resources:

• “The Elements of Argument” – Evidence (p. 10)
• “Strategies for Arguing about Literature” (pp. 49-63)
• Chapter 4 – “The Reading Process” (pp. 82-103)

The examples in “applying the strategies” (pp. 87-91) are especially helpful as models for how to close read.

• “Strategies for Composing” (pp. 112-116)

The section titled “Limit Plot Summary” (pp. 114-115) is particularly important to keep in mind for this essay.

• Sample student essay (pp. 61-63). Use as a general guide.