ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #1—SYNTHESIS: USING A SOURCE AS A LENS
Paper Proposal: Wednesday, January 21
Rough Draft: Monday, January 26
Final Draft: Friday, January 30
EXPECTATIONS:
The paper should be 4-5 pages, double-spaced, typed in 12 point Times New Roman font
with 1” margins. Please type and print both the rough draft and final copy and bring them
to class. Make sure to keep all homework assignments, drafts, and handouts related to the
assignment in one folder.
As a part of making your essay conform to MLA style, you are required to have a Works
Cited page at the end of your final draft that includes works cited entries for the texts that
you use.
ASSIGNMENT:
The goal of this essay is to read either “The Yellow Wallpaper” or The Metamorphosis
through the lens of either “The Cult of True Womanhood” by Barbara Welter or Marxist
Theory (as presented in class lectures).
Although the synthesis essay does contain summary and analysis of individual texts, the
goal is to compose an essay that is more than merely a sum of these parts. A synthesis is
not a compare/contrast essay; instead, it uses one text to shed light on another in order to
show readers something they would not have been able to see if they had examined the
texts in isolation. (To synthesize means to incorporate or bring together.)
PREWRITING: To write this essay effectively, you’ll need to review your class notes and
material on the theories and/or Welter’s article (if you’re using it). Review and track key
ingredients of the theory before you reread the literary text so that you are reading the
literature with the theory in mind—as a lens—and pulling out quotations from the literary
text that reflect that theory.
We also recommend reading over the “Guiding Questions” below and using them to help
you focus your ideas.
Prewriting Steps:
 Identify a significant concept or idea in the lens text or theory and then
identify how that idea is developed within the literary text that you have chosen.
 Gather information related to these ideas from each text.
o Quotations (approximately 4-5 references from each text)
 Compose a thesis that discusses how the lens text “colors” your reading of the
literary text. What details does it draw attention to? What kinds of patterns
emerge? The thesis should also answer the question, “So what?” or “Why is this
so important?”
ESSAY STRUCTURE:
 Introduction and Thesis: Your introduction should set up the theoretical concept
you are going to use as a lens (including the author’s name and title of the work) as
well as the literary text you have chosen (including author’s name and title of the
story or novella). This introduction should then lead into your thesis (the final
sentence of your introduction) which should make an arguable claim about what
is revealed about the literary text by reading it through the lens of a theoretical
and historical analysis.

Body Paragraphs: Your body paragraphs should then support your thesis by
providing a clear point (or topic) sentence and then supporting that topic sentence
with evidence from the text. Please use the PIE structure (below) for guidance.
o POINT: The point sentence should a) provide the mini-argument of the
paragraph and b) connect back to the thesis.
o ILLUSTRATIONS: In this case, you will use illustrations or evidence from the
social/historical theory and the literary text. You should consider referencing
both the theory and the literary text in each paragraph. For this essay,
most of your illustrations will be direct quotes from the text or ideas
introduced in our class lectures.
o EXPLANATION: In your explanation or analysis, explain how the illustrations
support the main point of your paragraph. What do we learn from these
illustrations or examples? Why are they so important?

Conclusion: Your conclusion should wrap up your points, paraphrase your thesis,
and draw a larger conclusion. This is the place where you can make real world
connections or personal connections or include a deeper discussion of the theme(s)
of the novel and theoretical concepts now that you have done the work of analyzing
the novel through the lens of theory.
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
One good way to approach this assignment is to ask a question about how a theory or an
aspect of a theory can be used as a lens to analyze a literary text. Here are some
possible questions to address as you think about this relationship:
Questions for Using “The Cult of True Womanhood” as a Lens:
1. How does the historical ideology that Welter describes in “The Cult of True
Womanhood” govern the experiences of the women in “The Yellow Wallpaper” or
The Metamorphosis? How might this ideology also govern men’s roles and
experiences in the literary text? In what ways is this ideology taught or enforced
within the text? And in what ways does this ideology contribute to the tension or
rising action in the text?
2. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” how do the narrator and the other characters in the
story internalize the ideals/ideology discussed in “The Cult of True Womanhood”?
How do these internalized expectations about gender shape their interactions?
What kinds of tensions are revealed within these gendered expectations (i.e. why
don’t they “work” very well in the narrative)? And, in the end, how do they implode
or fail?
Questions for Using Marxist Theory as a Lens:
1. Focus on Marx's theory of how the substructure/base (economy) determines the
superstructure (culture and social relationships). How do we see this idea played
out in “The Yellow Wallpaper” or The Metamorphosis? You might think about how
the economic structure and its effects shape social expectations, personal identity,
and the relationships between characters within families. For the effects of the
economic structure, you might consider focusing on the expectation of “separate
spheres” for men and women, gendered expectations of labor, or alienation from
one’s work and/or body.
2. "False Consciousness" refers to the idea that people accept a dominant ideology as
true or natural and, as a result, become complicit (or invested) in their own
oppression. What role does “false consciousness” play in one of the texts? What is
the form of "false consciousness" at work? Do any of the characters resist this form
of false consciousness? If so, what are the repercussions for that resistance?
Goals:
 to practice applying concepts to texts, in this case applying Welter’s or Marx’s
analysis and theory to either “The Yellow Wallpaper” or The Metamorphosis.
 to begin to uncover the ways literary texts reflect, convey, and possibly challenge
prevailing attitudes, customs, social structures, or ideology of the time.
 to work on developing thesis statements and supporting arguments/discussions.
 to practice selection and integration of quotations using MLA citation format.
 to practice clear use of two sources in an essay.
 to practice transitions and signposting skills—the signals that help readers follow
the argument and grasp the connections the essay makes
Evaluation Criteria
Thesis and Point Sentences: The thesis should make a clear, specific,
and arguable assertion about what is revealed about the literary text
when it is read through the lens of a theoretical concept. The point
sentences (first sentences of each paragraph) should be specific and
argumentative; they should provide a "mini-thesis" or argument and
connect back to the thesis.
Support and Development: The point sentences should be clearly
illustrated by examples from both texts. The essay shows the
significance of the quotations by "zooming in" on the language from the
text. The explanation (analysis) is specific and supported by the
illustrations. The writer explores the ideas presented in full.
Organization: The essay should be organized in a logical manner with
transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and ideas. The organization
should reflect the synthesis of the two texts. Particular attention should
be paid to how ideas from both texts are connected.
Integration of Sources: Quotations and paraphrased passages should be
smoothly integrated into the writing and should use proper MLA
documentation. Necessary context for quotations should be provided.
Style, Mechanics, and Formatting: The sentence-level writing should
be clear and without grammatical, mechanical, or spelling errors. The
ideas should be expressed in clear, engaging, and specific language. The
essay should follow the assigned format.
Proposal Assignment: The proposal assignment was completed by
Wednesday, January 21.
Rough Draft/Peer Review: The writer had a full rough draft (4-5 pages)
at the beginning of class on January 26th and was prepared to do peer
review. (NOTE: Your rough draft should be a hard copy or printed copy.)
_____/20
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_____/15
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_____/5
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Total = _____/100