Formal Essay
20% of final grade
Requirements: 1500+ words (roughly 5 pages). MLA formatting.
At least one source beyond your primary texts (not necessarily peer-reviewed)
Introduction
This final writing project is the most heavily weighted of our essays, but also the most open-ended. The biggest goal of the response analyses and annotated bibliography was to get us thinking about the types of arguments and claims that might be made about a literary text, and to work toward a focused claim rather than the urge to try and talk about everything in the novel at once. For your final formal paper, the task is to take one such focused claim and build it into a fully developed essay. It doesn’t have to be based on any of your responses or bibliography, but it can be.
Your assignment is to select one of our texts (the short stories are fair game) and present an argument about that text in a formal, full-length essay, with attention given to your writing style and organization. The most likely general routes that your argument could take include:
—Formalist/theoretical: focusing on the aesthetic, narrative, technical, or artistic qualities of the text. Here you might show how the text conveys a particular message, the effects of a stylistic or technical element, or offer an interpretive reading. Easily the most flexible approach, and most of the responses have been along these lines. The biggest challenge is often establishing a compelling exigence for the argument (i.e., finding an argument that’s not just supported, but also is important/relevant enough that it requires your explication).
—Historicist: dealing with the text’s place within the scope of history. This might be something about the text’s creation, such as the author’s influences or biography, and how that biography influences the text. Or it might be something about the text’s reception or place within its historical context, such as its relation to a major historical event or social movement (this is a more challenging approach, but if you already have a historical influence or relation in mind, it is an option).
—Comparative: putting the text side-by-side with another artwork to provide some insight that we gain from seeing the works in conjunction with each other. You can compare your chosen text to a literary work we haven’t read, a film adaptation of the work, other works (creative or non-creative) by the same author, or anything that offers some insight. This is often the most tempting route for an essay like this, since it opens up the chance to bring in another novel or work that you like. However, that temptation has the side effect that comparative essays are the easiest to do poorly. You don’t want to write an essay that just shows similarities/differences between the book and a film adaptation, or one that just shows that two otherwise-completely-unrelated novels’ protagonists happen to be similar to each other. Make sure that there is something that the reader gets out of the comparison, ideally something that enriches both texts in the process.
Research
While your essay may be based on your annotated bibliography, it doesn’t have to be, and whatever your argument, the essay does not require that much research. Instead, your essay will need to include at least one additional source beyond your chosen text. This might be a peer-reviewed academic source, it might be another creative work for the comparative approach, it might be a primary source of some other non-creative sort (letters/journals of the author, historical laws or speeches the text might be responding to) for the historicist approach, or it might be non-peer-reviewed commentary of some sort (such as an early review of the text).
The important thing to keep in mind is that while peer-reviewed research isn’t “required,” the argument itself might be one that needs that research. If you write a historicist argument, there’s a good chance you’ll need reliable, peer-reviewed historical information. If you’re taking up a theoretical literary angle or technical concept (such as “interactive fiction” for What Remains of Edith Finch), you’ll likely need at least one peer-reviewed source giving you definitions and terminology. If you use an outside source as a “reliable” piece of information (for a definition, interpretation, background information, etc.), it should be peer-reviewed.
Rubric
Quality of Argument: clearly stated thesis, strong reasoning, exigence. Gives some type of insight into the chosen text. 20%
Research: whatever outside source(s) you use is/are appropriate to the argument, and implemented clearly, effectively, and sufficiently. 10%
Evidence: references to the text should be specific and concrete. Direct quotes are the most common option for this, but it can also include references to specific plot moments/details, or more summary-based commentary on narrative structure, character dynamics, or technical aspects. Whatever the case, make sure that you don’t quote just for the sake of quoting, though—evidence should always contribute to the overall thesis. 20%
Organization: the movement within the essay should be logical. The paper should include a small but selective amount of summary, either in the intro or the second paragraph, that helps to focus the reader in on the important area of discussion; there should be enough background (historical details, terminology, context) for the argument to make sense. But both summary and context should be purposeful—that is, not just fluff to pad the essay, but contributing toward the main argument, which ends up being the majority of the paper.
Make sure each paragraph has cohesion—it should have a focused idea, and each sentence should relate to that focus. Transitions in your topic sentences should help tie the individually-cohesive paragraphs into an organic whole. 20%
Style: work to condense language and combine thoughts into more efficient, but still clear, sentences. Avoid drop quotations with your evidence. Support evidence with explanation when necessary and by connecting the evidence back to your thesis or the paragraph. Language can be relaxed, but should still be formal overall. 20%
Mechanics: grammar, proofreading, citing, MLA formatting 10%
Note: the end-of-semester time crunch means that unless you turn this in by the soft due date, there won’t be time to give written feedback in addition to the grade before final grades are due. If you’d like comments on the paper, simply email me after submitting, and I will get formal comments to you after submitting final grades.
