ENG 3015 Essay 2
Length: 1750-2250 words (5-6 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins, standard font, with page numbers)
DEADLINES :
Tuesday, December 1 draft due via email
I’ll still happily answer questions after this date.)
Tuesday, December 8 essay due
(Optional.
You may bring me a printed copy in class or email a copy (stephanie.hershinow@baruch.cuny.edu) by the end of the day.
For this assignment, you’ll write a critical essay on a work of Modernist prose (either by Woolf or
Joyce) that attempts to make a case for why that text is modern. To be more precise, you’ll write an essay that considers a work of Modernist prose in the light of a contemporary historical event or condition in order to reveal something about the work that is not immediately obvious on a first reading . This means you’ll be doing a bit of independent research. (See the back of this page for tips.) Which Modernist text and which historical event you choose are up to you. I’d be happy to discuss ideas with you as they develop.
Your essay should offer a clear argument about the text that doesn’t simply state the obvious but that rather advances a claim that takes some proving, that might even be provocative or surprising to readers familiar with the text. That argument (though it needn’t be expressed in these terms
) should express something along these lines:
By looking at Joyce’s “The Dead” [or whichever text you choose] in the light of developments within the contemporary Irish nationalist movement [or whatever historical context you choose], it becomes apparent that [what you want to point out/emphasize], which isn’t immediately clear otherwise. This is important to notice because [why we should care about your argument, why it’s crucial that we read the novel this way].
Again, you do not need to use these words, but I hope this little formula helps you see what you’ll have to figure out as you make notes toward writing this essay. Apart from the argument (which should govern the entire essay), your paper should feature close analysis that supports that argument. Avoid plot summary, and consider details ( how something is said, not just what is said) whenever possible. Remember, this is a literature paper, not a history paper, so your interpretation of the text should be prominent, even when illuminated by the historical facts.
Some reminders:
 Make sure your title previews your argument (rather than repeating the assignment). While you’re at it, write a first sentence that grabs your reader! Write what you’d enjoy reading.
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Cite your sources. Include a works cited page that includes any source you use.
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There is, unfortunately, no telepathy in academic writing. Try to get your full line of thought on the page; don’t assume that your reader already understands what you want to say.
 If you’re interested in visiting the Writing Center, be sure to plan ahead. They get booked early.
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Ask me for help whenever you need it . Don’t suffer in silence!
Some Tips for Finding Useful Secondary Sources:

This essay will require you to do a bit of independent research to make a point about the historical conditions surrounding the writing and publication of the text that you choose to write on. The source or sources that you use will need to be credible, and you’ll need to be sure to cite those sources carefully, giving credit for any information you’re using (whether it is quoted directly or not!). It’s also very important to make your own argument clear. Don’t lean too heavily on the source or sources that you use; rather, make clear throughout how you are using and responding to those sources.
My main advice for this essay is not to let the historical information overwhelm your reading of the literature. The history, in this case, should be used to help us think about the literature with more depth, but this is not the time to produce a comprehensive report on a particular event. The historical event or condition that you choose can be as narrow or as broad as you like (say, “the onset of World War I” or “the exhibition of paintings by Paul Cézanne”), and it may be explicitly or only implicitly referred to in the text, as long as you find it useful for building an argument.
When looking for sources, you’ll want to aim for scholarly, peer-reviewed publications. Your best bet for finding these is using the resources available through the Baruch library. If you haven’t done this before and would like a quick tutorial, let me know. Otherwise, I will assume that you learned this in Writing class. I also highly recommend the services of the research librarians: they are located just as you enter the library to the right, and it’s their job (and pleasure!) to help you with papers like this one. Check them out.
While a source like Wikipedia (and other crowd-sourced reference works) isn’t appropriate for this assignment, I’d be a total hypocrite if I told you not to look at Wikipedia. It’s really useful! But think of it more as a gateway than as a source to cite. That is, you might want to start with
Wikipedia in order to find sources to cite (either by checking out the footnotes at the bottom of the entry or by using the entry to develop search terms to use in the library catalog). Another good gateway source is the Yale Modernism Lab site (http://modernism.research.yale.edu/index.php).
Here are some suggestions for sources that you might find useful. You are welcome to use other sources, though, and you should also feel free to run ideas by me if you’re unsure whether a source is appropriate.
Michael Levenson, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Modernism .
This is available in full text online through the Baruch library. The book contains chapters that are organized by topic, so you should be able to find what’s most interesting to you. In fact, all of the (very useful) Cambridge Companions are available in electronic versions through the library. I also recommend the companions to James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Irish
Modernism, the Bloomsbury Group (of which Woolf was a member), and Modernist
Culture, as well as the Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Literature .
Melba Cuddy-Keane, ed., Modernism: Keywords .
This is organized as a kind of lexicon of main terms (many of them historical) relevant to the period. Also available online through the Baruch library.