Critical Essay Assignment
- Lo and behold, you have read two novels, researched a
research question at issue in each and arranged that work into annotated
bibliographies, discussed the novels, read about and been tested on literary
criticism approaches and terms, written brief essays on some shorter literary
forms, and now you are ready to compose a longer, critical essay that draws
upon your thinking and research on one of the two novels.
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- I emphasize the phrase, "thinking and research,"
because in research oriented composition there is always the risk of emphacizing
the latter to the detriment of the former. We have discussed the importance
of the reader in coming to understanding of the text and hopefully balance
that with the elements of the text, historical and critical reception contexts,
and the rhetorical intentions of the author. Still, I tend to agree with
the reader response critics that texts are rather impoverished without
active readers attending to what is happening in their responses, emotional
and intellectual. Of course, the ideal reader balances these elements,
keeping the various balls flying in a brilliant juggling act.
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- So,I (as part of your audience) want to see evidence
of your transaction with the texts, both primary--the novel--and secondary--critical
arguments, social and historical contexts, intellectual currents, and so
on. My advice is to avoid the extremes of either getting dominated by the
critical arguments or ignoring them. You can key off of, that is, use critical
arguments while still being true to yourself as a reader. Think of it as
a dialectical process: you bring certain ideas, habits, feelings, dispositions,
education, expectations and interests to the texts. These are somewhat
conditioned by the context of reading for a course (the rhetorical exigency,
that you must read these, research them, and write about them for a grade).
The process of using what you bring in transaction with the texts changes
you as a reader--it alters what you bring to the texts as you read. A good
critical essay takes this proicess far enough to arrive at an insight into
the text, an answer or better still, a set of possible answers to the writer's
question(s) of inquiry. That central insight then guides how you compose,
how you decide what to include, what sources really count, what passages
in the texts are key to your argument. You are making a claim that is at
issue, that could set off debate, that needs some explanation, that an
audience might need to be persuaded of. Arriving at that insight and articulating
it in precise and eloquent language can guide you in how to use the research
in exploring and supporting your questions and claims.
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- That all sounds very fine you are probably thinking,
but how do I do it? Partly, you have to work toward well-articulated questions
and possible claims, and you have to do lots of rereading, marking and
annotating the texts, scribbling out notes, lists, clusters of connected
ideas, composing thesis paragraphs, summarizing of source arguments. And
you have to work with others--your peers in helping them to better understand
how what they are trying to do affects another, similar reader and by receiving
and using the feedback you get from them and from your professor. This
process takes some committment and time. Don't wait until the end to draft
your essay. The process is crucial and allowing yourself the time for it
to unfold is essential for your success.
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- So, you will need to choose which novel to focus on and
what question to research. Then lay out a plan:
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- Do I need more research? (probably)
- Reread the researched sources and reread parts of the
novel to start gathering material related to your question.
- Annotate the novel with underlining, marking key passages,
placing labeled post-it notes at the crucial pages. Do the same with your
most important critical sources. Photocopy all your sources so you can
mark freely on them.
- Use some pre-writing exercises to generate your thinking:
freewriting (uninterrupted writing); lists; outlining; clustering; conceptual
mapping into tree-like branching structures.
- Revise your question and possible claims after you have
done the above. You may need to keep revising that as the process continues.
- After you have a rough draft, do a "descriptive
outline" of it: print it out and write out in very pithy phrases what
each paragraph says.
- Decide what needs further development, what holes need
plugging, what further research is needed. Keep rereading the texts as
you draft and revise toward a first 'real' draft, one you would want to
have another reader respond to.
- Carefully consider all responses to the draft from peers
and me.
- Do further research if necessary.
- Focus first on the global issues in revision--the thesis,
claims, supporting evidence, discussion, structure.
- Then focus on local issues--syntax, expression, MLA documentation,
spelling, grammar etc.
- READ YOUR WORK OUT LOUD as you revise.
For further hints on writing process, see my writing
process page.
- First real draft due: March 3rd at the beginning of class.
- Final Revision Due: March 18 by 5:00 pm in my office.
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