cheryl pre writing

1

Miller

Essay #3: Literary Analysis (ENGL 103)

Assignment Deadlines

· Prewriting: Sunday, April 19th (11:59 p.m.)

· Rough Draft: Sunday, April 26th (11:59 p.m.)

· Final Draft: Sunday, May 3rd (11:59 p.m.)*

· Please Note: Thursday, April 30th is the last day of classes for the Spring semester.

Rubric : ENGL 103 Rubric (Canvas)

Objectives

Through this assignment students will learn to:

· Comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate short stories;

· Further develop and apply their understanding of critical thinking and analysis to literature;

· Understand and identify literary elements (plot, theme, mood, tone, symbolism, metaphor, motif, characterization, foreshadowing, narrator, personification, setting, imagery, irony);

· Practice close-reading strategies;

· Draw conclusions and support arguments regarding the literary elements of a specific text; and

· Engage in writing as a process (prewriting, drafting, revision, reflection, etc.) while interpreting literature.

Overview

For this assignment, students will study literature through the medium of the short story. Students will explore a selection of famous literary short stories through class discussions, various short writing assignments, and ultimately, an academic essay in which students analyze the literary elements utilized in the essay.

We will read the following short stories (All Linked Below):

· Venita Blackburn’s “Halloween”

· Randall Kenan’s “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”

· Lorrie Moore’s “Charades”

· Octavia E. Butler’s “The Book of Martha”

After reading these short stories, students will select one short story and analyze at least four of the literary elements that we have discussed in class (See the Literary Analysis PowerPoint for more information). Determine how successfully the author has utilized these elements. Examples of these literary elements are as follows: plot, theme, mood, tone, symbolism, metaphor, motif, characterization, foreshadowing, narrator, personification, setting, imagery, irony, etc. At least one of your subtopics must be a theme.

Please note: Students will provide only one paragraph of summary after the introduction paragraph. If you select plot as a literary element that you will analyze, choose specific moments from the story to illustrate the effectiveness of this element. Students should cite directly from the short stories they are analyzing to use as evidence for the conclusions they are drawing. Students may choose to consult scholarly articles to help further support their analysis.

Analysis involves examining the parts of something in order to determine how they function as a whole. We are writing a Literary Analysis, in which we are analyzing pieces of literature to ascertain how successfully they incorporate literary elements, such as characterization, plot, narration, mood, tone, setting, irony, various themes, etc. Analysis is not the same as summary. Summary refers to “what happened.” Analysis probes to determine what the events mean. Students should identify and explain multiple examples from the text (for each subtopic) as evidence.

Essay Requirements

· This essay should be a minimum of 1000 words.

· Use either MLA (Modern Language Association) format or APA (American Psychological Association) format.

· There is no set number of required sources for this essay.

· The majority of the content for this essay should come from your own analysis of the short story, and the Reading Comprehension assignments that we completed weekly.

· Please note: You must cite the short story you are analyzing on the Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page.

· Use third person (“he/she”), and avoid second person (“you”).

· Please note: Text summary sources that provide summaries or interpretations of the short stories such as Cliffs Notes or Spark Notes are not permitted. Students should write their own summaries of the short story.

· Only original work will be graded. Do not use Generative AI to create the essay. Multiple submissions or other instances of intentional plagiarism will receive a grade of zero.