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English 2130-27H
American Literature (Survey)
Fall 06
Patrick Erben
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THE SHORT ANALYTICAL ESSAY
1) Goals of the Assignment
The goal of this essay is to demonstrate your critical engagement of one (or more) of the
reading assignments as well as our classroom discussion of these texts. This essay,
therefore, should not be a paper you create out of “thin air” but rather an intelligent
response to both the texts and our classroom conversation. Going beyond a basic
understanding of plot and characters, your essay should discuss a specific issue or
question, probing the connections between:
- literary form (how the text works through style, voice, figures of speech,
organization/structure, narration, inclusion/exclusion, etc),
- purpose (why a text/author works in a specific way),
- audience (who is addressed and why that matters,)
- context (what are the circumstances of a text’s production, dissemination, and
reception? What is its historical, biographical, cultural, political, artistic
background?).
Specific to this American Literature Survey, you should probe the intersections between
self, the environment, and the encounter with cultural/racial/religious difference. I would
like for you to show in your essay that you are attempting to understand two sides of the
coin:
1) How American literature has responded to these crucial questions of the
“American Experience.”
2) How the ideas, questions, experiences, and problems we often define as
uniquely “American” are themselves constructed through literary
representation.
I especially want to encourage you to go beyond reading the “non-fiction” prose texts we
have been discussing at the beginning of this course (Cabeza de Vaca’s Relacion,
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, William Apess’s Son of the Forest) as more than
mere recordings of supposedly external, historical events (“reality”) or factual accounts
of a person’s life. Consider how the claim “all reality is textual” applies to American
literature, life, and culture! For example: in what ways is Ben Franklin’s life
synonymous or interchangeable with the writing of his life in his Autobiography? How,
in other words, do writers and texts create and construct identities, experiences,
interpretations, and “realities”? How did Franklin, for instance, create an image of the
“industrious printer” as a young man, and, how does he re-create this image for his
readers later on? How many layers between PERSON and TEXT can you identify? Are
there any discrepancies between these layers? In turn, how do cultural ideas and
constructs determine the ways in which writes can imagine themselves and others (for, as
John Donne said, “no man is an island entirely unto himself”)? Concretely, how is
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William Apess’s representation of himself bound (literally and metaphorically) by the
ways in which American culture—long before him—has represented American Indians?
In thinking about the “non-fiction” pieces we read in the early parts of the semester,
therefore, you have an opportunity for considering something we usually take for granted
when reading a work of “fiction:” how writers filter and shape the world around them
through their imagination and how the world shapes them. What if we “read” or analyze
the “quintessential” American “Benjamin Franklin”—as well as “quintessentially”
American traits such as individualism, industriousness, inventiveness, independence (a
lot of I-words)—as literary or textual creations that depend on language, audience,
reception, and context?
2) Length and Format
Your essay should be at least 4 full pages long (typed, double-spaced, 12-point font, such
as Times New Roman) and not considerably more than 5 pages. A list of works cited
(including the primary and, if you wish, secondary sources) does not count as part of that
page requirement. Also, you should not include a separate title page; for page lay-out see
the MLA Handbook and below!). Your essay must begin with an original title that is
both descriptive and provocative!
Essentially, your essay should be a well-developed, coherent, unified, and original
analysis of a well-defined and focused (given the page limit) question/theme/issue
relating to one or more of the texts assigned in this course. You may use (refine, limit,
expand, deepen) any of the discussion questions I provided for you. Your focus should be
appropriate to the page limit, but I also encourage you to indicate the broader scope of an
issue beyond the confines of the essay (it is not the task of the essay to be entirely
conclusive but rather to provoke further thought while providing solid analysis and
evidence).
Without being rigid, your paper should follow the basic elements of a well-crafted,
analytical essay, including a provocative introduction leading to a concise
thesis/argument, tightly connected and well-developed paragraphs (including primary and
possibly secondary evidence), and a conclusion that does not merely restate the thesis but
reminds readers of the understanding that has been gained and the questions that remain.
Your paper should structurally be organized in the following fashion (MLA style, see
below!:
1) First page
- upper left-hand corner:
- name of student
- name of professor
- name and number of class (English 2130-27H)
- date
- Title (centered)
- page numbers: upper right-hand, including last name of student (e.g.
Erben 1)
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2) Body paragraphs
3) List of works cited (“Works Cited”)
3) Sources and Documentation
Literary criticism distinguishes between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources
include the text(s) under discussion as well as other literary texts. Secondary texts
include literary criticism, historiography, and any other scholarly works that help support
analysis of primary texts. For the purpose of this paper, you should concentrate on one
or maybe two primary texts (e.g. Franklin’s Autobiography and Apess’s Son of the
Forest) as evidence. You may, but do not have to, use secondary support for your
argument. You must document both primary and secondary sources properly in
your essay, using a combination of parenthetical, in-text citations and a final list of
“Works Cited” (see MLA style!). Please add a list of “Works Cited” even if you only
quote from primary texts! You must acknowledge secondary sources even if you do not
quote them directly. Any unacknowledged use of someone else’s thoughts and words
constitutes plagiarism, which is unacceptable! If your ideas simply match the arguments
found in a secondary source, it is always best to acknowledge such an agreement by
citing the source in support of your analysis (thereby lending authority to your own
view).
4) MLA Style
All writing in English and the Foreign Languages follow the style guidelines developed
by the Modern Language Association (MLA). MLA style governs the lay-out of texts,
citation and documentation style, etc. You may consult any recent edition of the MLA
Handbook for the Writers of Research Papers or most standard writing handbooks (such
as A Writer’s Resource, which has been adopted by the English Department for all firstyear writing classes). Please familiarize yourself with the basic principles governing intext, parenthetical documentation, list of “Works Cited,” and basic page layout. If
desired, I can provide a basic introduction to MLA style in class.
5) Revision and proof-reading
Organize your time to plan for distinct stages in the writing process, including
- reading and note-taking (preparing for the paper may require that you revisit the
text(s) you’ve already read for class!)
- pre-writing (brainstorming, free-writing, outlining)
- drafting
- revising
- proof-reading
In particular, you should distinguish between revising and proof-reading. In the revision
stage, you refine the structure, argumentation, development, evidence, and tone of your
essay. In the proof-reading stage, you focus exclusively on the mechanics of language
(grammar, spelling, punctuation) and formatting (margins, documentation, etc.).
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6) Help and Assistance
I will gladly work with you personally in developing appropriate writing questions,
shaping your argument and analysis, considering effective evidence, and anything that
relates to writing a successful essay. I will NOT, however, proof-read and edit drafts. I
can best help you if we meet in person during office hours or appointments. If you would
like to talk about your writing, send me a draft or sections of a draft through email and
then set up an appointment or come to my office hours to discuss your work. Email
responses to writing related questions are too cumbersome. The Writing Center also
provides expert advice that is not restricted to people with remedial language problems.
7) Submitting your paper
Please submit your paper ONLY as MS Word attachments to an email, sent to my
perben@westga.edu address.
8) Due date
Please refer to the course schedule for all due dates!
9) Grading standards
All standards provided in the English Department document “GRADING CRITERIA
FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS 2000-LEVEL AND ABOVE” apply to this assignment.
Please review this document carefully (http://www.westga.edu/~engdept/fr/Ruby.doc)!
Beyond these grading criteria, I will reward/expect the following qualities in your essays:
- sophistication and originality in responding to both the text and our class
discussion of the text (here you may shine even if you haven’t said much in
class!); in other words, the degree in which you move beyond summarizing and
stating obvious facts about the text (tell me something I don’t know…!)
- a clear and forceful discussion of the significance of your argument and analysis
(how you answer the famous “so what?” question; why/how does it matter?)
- relating your analysis to the larger critical questions guiding our discussion of
the texts
- detail and depth in which you probe the text: especially, connections within the
text and between texts—e.g.: consider similarities in the ways in which Cabeza de
Vaca’s Relacion deploys language of “value” at the beginning and toward the
latter stages of the text; or: consider examples that contribute to Franklin’s central
trope of “life as text”—e.g. his epitaph (“The Body of . . .”) and the fact that he
printed the eulogy for Aquila Rose, thereby replacing him both physically and
textually.
- effectiveness of incorporating textual quotations into your argument and prose
10) Further Reading
For further information on writing an essay about literature, I recommend:
Sylvan Barnet and William E. Cain, A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. 9th
edition. New York: Longman, 2003.
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11) A Brief Checklist (to ask yourself about your essay)
Adapted from Barnet and Cain, A Short Guide to Writing about Literature
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Is the title of my essay informative and interesting?
Do I identify the subject of my essay (author and title) early?
What is my thesis? Do I state it soon enough and keep it in view?
Is the organization reasonable? Does each point lead into the next without
irrelevancies and without anticlimaxes?
Is each paragraph unified by a topic sentence or topic idea? Are there
adequate transitions from one paragraph to the next?
Are generalizations supported by appropriate concrete details, especially by
brief quotations from the text?
Is the opening paragraph interesting and, by its end, focused on the topic? Is
the final paragraph conclusive without being repetitive?
Is the tone appropriate? No sarcasm, no apologies, no condescension, no
colloquialism?
If there is a summary, is it as brief as possible, given its purpose?
Are the quotations adequately introduced, and are they accurate? Do they
provide evidence and let the reader hear the author’s voice, or do they merely
add words to the essay?
Is the present tense used to describe the author’s work and the action of the
work (“Cabeza de Vaca describes . . .,” “Benjamin Franklin lands in
Philadelphia . . .”)?
Have I kept in mind the needs of the audience, for instance, by defining
unfamiliar terms, or by briefly summarizing works or opinions that the reader
may be unfamiliar with? (Important: While I encourage you to engage the
discussion in our class, your paper should not “speak” as if it were a mere
continuation of that conversation! In other words, you should write your
essay in a way that would make sense to a peer audience of fellow
undergraduate students who are not in our course.)
Is documentation provided where necessary?
Are the spelling and punctuation correct? Are other mechanical matters (such
as margins, spacing, and citations) in correct form? Have I proofread
carefully?
Is the paper properly identified—author’s name, instructor’s name, course
number, and date?