English 2230 - Fall 2003 Essay - Critical Chapter or Article

English 2230 / Fall 2003

Bibliographic Essay Assignment

Assignment: Find a critical article from a scholarly journal or a chapter from a scholarly book that provides commentary on one of the works of American literature that we are studying this semester (the article or chapter should be at least 10-15 pages long and should not be a biography of the writer), and then write a bibliographical essay of 3-5 pages. Your essay should contain the following sections:

A bibliographical citation in MLA form of the article or chapter
A summary of the article or chapter – i.e. your re-presentation of the main ideas/arguments and examples in the article or chapter (this section should be no longer than one-half your essay)
An analysis of the article or chapter – i.e. your evaluation of and/or your response to the article or chapter (this section should be approximately one-half your essay)

Objectives: Instead of assigning the traditional “term paper” (which sometimes becomes a “loose baggy monster”), I chose this assignment because it is more limited in scope and it retains the research and critical reading, thinking, and writing skills needed for introductory literary research and writing. It is my hope that you will be able to: (1) explore a literary text of interest to you, (2) learn basic literary research skills, (3) critically read and think about a critical article or chapter from a scholarly book, and (4) summarize and then evaluate and/or respond to the article or chapter in a meaningful way.

Samples: The first sample paper was written by a student in a British Literature I survey course. This student had studied Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales earlier in the term, had particularly enjoyed “The Miller’s Tale” – its story, its form, its humor – and wanted to explore the genre of the fabliau further. After doing a search for books and/or articles about fabliau in general and Chaucer’s fabliau in particular, the student found the article, “The English Fabliau Tradition and Chaucer’s ‘Miller’s Tale,’” in the scholarly journal, Modern Philology.

The second sample paper was written by a student in a World Literature I survey course. This student had just finished reading Virgil’s Aeneid, had particularly liked Book Five, and wanted to examine it in more depth; in addition, the student noticed similarities between this part of the Aeneid and similar sections in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. After doing a search for books and/or articles about the Aeneid in general and Book Five in particular, the student found the article, “Was Book Five Once in a Different Place in the Aeneid?” in the scholarly journal, American Journal of Philology.

After studying the two sample papers, you will notice that the summary section in the British Lit. paper is more thorough than the summary in the World Lit. paper, so follow the British Lit. example. As for the analysis sections, you will notice that each paper takes a different approach: the British Lit. paper takes a more “evaluation” approach while the World Lit. paper takes a more “response” approach. The approach you take in your own analysis section is up to you (and you might even combine both “evaluation” and “response” in your analysis), but be sure your analysis section contains your ideas about the article or chapter and does not simply re-summarize it. Finally, aim for an essay of at least 900 words long.

Evaluation: Your essay will be graded on (1) the MLA bibliographic citation, (2) the accuracy, brevity, and clarity of your summary, (3) the clarity and strength of your analysis – the “depth” of your critical thinking, (4) the clarity and logic of your structure, and (5) your use of language – reasonable “correctness” in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics. In other words, in addition to the summary, your ideas and how you present and explain them are most important; “grammar” is only taken into account to the degree that it detracts from your presentation. A final word of warning: you are able to use the article or chapter and your text and notes as you write your essay, so be careful that you are accurate with your use of authors’ names, quotations, and factual details from the texts.

Formatting Requirements: Your essay should be at least three (3) pages long but no longer than five (5) pages – double-spaced and word-processed – with 1.0” margins, and a 12-point “normal” font (e.g. Times New Roman or Arial). No title page is needed: simply put your name, the course, my name, and the date in the upper-left-hand corner of the first page.

Peer Review Draft Due Date: Monday, November 24, 2003 (four copies of a complete draft)

Final Draft Due Date: Monday, December 1, 2003

Note: You must submit a copy of the article or chapter you are summarizing and analyzing along with your final draft – perhaps use a two-pocket folder. Failure to submit a copy of the article or chapter along with your final draft will result in an “F” for the essay.