Length: 3-5 pages
Purpose:
To practice close reading and critical reading. To further develop argumentation skills. To practice integration of texts.
Assignment:
Select one of the fairy tale adaptations from the Literary Analysis folder on Blackboard. Read it thoroughly. Highlight, annotate, and take notes on what you find interesting, compelling, and/or important. Develop an argument about your chosen text. You can make any argument you want as long as you can prove it with evidence from the text. You may not use any other sources for this assignment.
As we discussed, the essay must take a stand about the piece of literature you have chosen. You can discuss content, plot, characters, form, style, etc.—or several things. This requires close reading. Close reading is the careful and sustained interpretation of a passage of text. Our texts are short so you may use the whole thing, but you may also choose to focus only on one section of the story. Whatever you choose to discuss must be connected to an argument you wish to make. Try listing the details of a scene or image that you find significant and answer the following questions: How are these details significant? What emotion or point is being conveyed? How does this scene relate to others or to the overall story?
This is not a recitation of what happened in the story. Do not simply recount the plot. If you are discussing the plot you must be discussing certain aspects of the plot, not retelling it. This is also not about whether you like it or not. You may judge something to be well done or poorly done, but you must explain (and demonstrate with the text) why you believe it to be so.
Integration of the text is key. You should quote directly from the text to provide evidence for your argument. Avoid long quotations. I want to hear your words, not the text’s. When quoting, put the page number on which the quote appears in parentheses at the end of the sentence so I know where to look for it. Quotations should look like this: “Sally stands at the kitchen window, waiting for the sauce she’s reducing to come to a simmer, looking out” (205). Note that there is no period inside the quotation marks! The period goes after the page citation. If you are quoting poetry, you must note the line breaks with a slash: “Sojourning through a southern realm in youth, / I came upon a house by happy chance” (138).
Your essay should conform to MLA formatting—appropriate heading, double spacing, indented paragraphs, no extra spaces between paragraphs, and one inch margins. Compose your essay in Times New Roman 12pt font.
Grading:
The essay will be graded according to the standards set forth in the syllabus. The strength and coherency of your argument is key. Effective integration of the text is highly important and proper page citations will be considered. Proofread carefully—spelling and grammar are a factor.
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