You should think of this final paper as an extended version of the literary responses you have written throughout the semester, and you might choose to focus on a particular theme, literary context, or other close reading area—or selection of areas—as you analyze literary text (or texts) of your choice (from those we’ve read this semester).
What matters most is that you use this final paper to articulate a clear, thoughtful, and well-supported idea about literature—one that helps us better understand the text(s) concerning matters of context, form, important themes, language, or what it can tell us about issues such as gender, race, ethnicity, power, authorship, or any number of literary aspects that you find significant and appropriate for exploration.
Write a literary response to a text(s) in which you:
Articulate a clear thesis/main idea.
Demonstrate a focus on at least one close reading area you find important to understanding the text(s).
Organize your interpretation as you find and use at least FIVE key passages/quotes/pieces of textual evidence from your chosen text(s) that relate to the close reading component(s) you focus on for the paper and/or that support or can be applied to your main idea/thesis.
Incorporate and respond to/interpret at least TWO quotes/paraphrases/summaries from your scholarly sources (but no more than six).
You must use at least TWO scholarly sources but not more than FOUR outside sources overall (one source must be a piece of literary criticism (Links to an external site.)); and each source must be used at least once if you include it on a Works Cited page. These sources should simply add some value or an additional perspective or extra context to your discussion. To find scholarly sources, use the library databases (Links to an external site.) (either the general search/main page or one of the literature databases listed under the A-Z database page (Links to an external site.)).
Discuss, at least once, a matter of community, race, ethnicity, and/or identity as it relates to the text(s) you have selected to analyze.
Discuss at least one aspect of literary tradition as it relates to the text(s) at hand (themes, symbolism, authorial legacies, issues, matters of form).
Discuss at least one aspect of context: at some point in the response, use historical, cultural, and/or social context that deepens an understanding of the text(s).
Include at least ONE clear paragraph in which you discuss/explicate the literary text(s) according to an area of literary criticism (Links to an external site.) of your choice (you can also refer to the Topics of Literary Criticism and Examples PDF (Links to an external site.)).
Use (at least) two literary terms appropriate to your discussion.
What matters most is that you use this final paper to articulate a clear, thoughtful, and well-supported idea about literature—one that helps us better understand the text(s) concerning matters of context, form, important themes, language, or what it can tell us about issues such as gender, race, ethnicity, power, authorship, or any number of literary aspects that you find significant and appropriate for exploration.
Write a literary response to a text(s) in which you:
Articulate a clear thesis/main idea.
Demonstrate a focus on at least one close reading area you find important to understanding the text(s).
Organize your interpretation as you find and use at least FIVE key passages/quotes/pieces of textual evidence from your chosen text(s) that relate to the close reading component(s) you focus on for the paper and/or that support or can be applied to your main idea/thesis.
Incorporate and respond to/interpret at least TWO quotes/paraphrases/summaries from your scholarly sources (but no more than six).
You must use at least TWO scholarly sources but not more than FOUR outside sources overall (one source must be a piece of literary criticism (Links to an external site.)); and each source must be used at least once if you include it on a Works Cited page. These sources should simply add some value or an additional perspective or extra context to your discussion. To find scholarly sources, use the library databases (Links to an external site.) (either the general search/main page or one of the literature databases listed under the A-Z database page (Links to an external site.)).
Discuss, at least once, a matter of community, race, ethnicity, and/or identity as it relates to the text(s) you have selected to analyze.
Discuss at least one aspect of literary tradition as it relates to the text(s) at hand (themes, symbolism, authorial legacies, issues, matters of form).
Discuss at least one aspect of context: at some point in the response, use historical, cultural, and/or social context that deepens an understanding of the text(s).
Include at least ONE clear paragraph in which you discuss/explicate the literary text(s) according to an area of literary criticism (Links to an external site.) of your choice (you can also refer to the Topics of Literary Criticism and Examples PDF (Links to an external site.)).
Use (at least) two literary terms appropriate to your discussion.
I chose the Book There There by Tommy Orange