17 Oct The analytical papers that you write for the seminar should be focused, 3-4-page essays that make an argument or central c

The analytical papers that you write for the seminar should be focused, 3-4-page essays that make an argument or central claim about one of the texts we have read. While you may choose to write on any topic that interests you, keep in mind that you should choose a topic that is narrow enough to address in a short essay, but substantial enough so that you have something to say about it. For example, you might consider the significance of a minor character (Muley Graves in The Grapes of Wrath) or trace a recurrent theme, motif, or idea (the space of the porch in Their Eyes Were Watching God, or Steinbeck’s references to Native Americans in The Grapes of Wrath). I’m providing a list of suggested topics below, but you may also consider other topics. If you are considering a topic not listed here, I would encourage you to consult with me in advance so we can talk about your plan in advance. If you would like to meet with me to discuss potential paper topics or a draft of one of your papers, please let me know. 

I’m also including below a handout on “The Art of Close Reading” by Jeanne Follansbee Quinn. 

Your paper should be 3-4 pages in length, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on each side. Papers are due Friday, October 15 by midnight. Please submit through the Brightspace page in the assignments area. 

Possible paper topics: 

• How the space of the porch functions in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Janie’s grandmother and the legacy of slavery in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Trials and judgment in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• The inside/outside dynamic in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Janie’s hair, clothes and/or appearance in relation to her search for voice and agency in Their
  Eyes Were Watching God
• Trees and natural imagery in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Trace a specific connection between Sorin’s Driving While Black and Their Eyes Were Watching
  God (inequalities in medical care, for example)
• The relationship between the people and the land in The Grapes of Wrath
• TherepresentationoftechnologyinTheGrapesofWrath
• Steinbeck’s representation of business and capitalism in The Grapes of Wrath
• The relationship between people and cars in The Grapes of Wrath
• Steinbeck’s representation of collective consciousness (the movement “from ‘I’ to ‘we’”)
• Representations of motherhood in The Grapes of Wrath

1 

General tips: 

• Structure your paper around a thesis or central argument 

An interpretive paper on literature should be structured around developing and supporting a central claim or thesis. Your thesis should consist of one or two sentences that appear somewhere in your opening paragraph. A good thesis often contains an active statement about how the text is working, so you might think of your thesis as identifying the cause and effect of your argument. For example, ask yourself how the use of a particular narrative technique adds to an overall theme of a work, or what we can understand about the novel as a whole by tracing a particular idea or motif throughout the text. As you work toward developing your thesis, think about your paper in terms of the central question you are exploring. 

• Include close readings of passages from the text 

Your paper must include close readings and analysis of a text from the seminar. This analysis is the evidence you will use to support your thesis. For most analytical essays, you should imagine your audience to be someone who is familiar with the text on which you are writing, which means that there is no need to provide extensive summary of the entire plot in order to set up your paper. Additionally, you should not use quotations from the text simply to describe the plot. Instead, when you include a quotation from the text you should offer a reading of the passage, explaining how it contributes to a larger point you would like to make about the text. You might consider the author’s word choice, use of particular images or rhetoric, and how these relate to larger themes or issues in the work as a whole. 

• Integrate quotes from the text into sentences 

Because you will be including passages from the text in your paper, you need to integrate those passages into your essay.
One way to do this is to use a colon.
Example: Flannery O’Connor describes the Bible salesman as a shifty-looking character: “He had prominent face bones and a streak of sticky-looking brown hair falling across his forehead” (1053). 

Another way to integrate quotations is to work them into your sentences.
Example: The name Hulga reminded Mrs. Hopewell of “the broad blank hull of a battleship” (O’Connor 1050). 

• Punctuate and format according to MLA style 

Underline or italicize titles of books, magazines, plays and films, i.e. Their Eyes Were Watching God or The Grapes of Wrath. 

Use quotation marks around the titles of poems, short stories, essays, and songs, i.e. “Cathedral” or “Song of the Open Road.” 

In the first quotation you cite from an individual work, you should put the author’s name and page number in parentheses after the quotation. For all subsequent citations from the same work, you need only include the page number in parentheses. The period goes outside of the parentheses for MLA citations. 

2 

When citing dialogue that is already in quotations, substitute single quotation marks (‘ ’) for the double quotation marks (“ ”) in the dialogue.
Example: Mrs. Hopewell speaks in meaningless generalizations: “‘Everybody is different,’ Mrs. Hopewell said. ‘Yes, most people is,’ Mrs. Freeman said” (O’Connor 1050). 

When citing a long passage (4 or more lines of text), indent and single-space the text rather than using quotation marks.
Example: 

Hemingway’s description of the landscape in the opening paragraph of “Hills Like White Elephants” is important in setting the mood for the story: 

The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Close
against the side of the station there was the warm shadow of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies (615). 

Be attentive to correct formatting in all components of your paper, including the bibliography or works cited. MLA (Modern Language Association) is the standard format for literature papers. If you want to consult a reference work on this style, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Sixth Edition). Alternately, you may choose to use the Chicago style, which is covered in the Chicago Manual of Style (Fifteenth Edition). 

• Use original and specific language 

Avoid using clichés or broad generalizations in your writing. Do not open your paper with a statement like “Love is blind” or a dictionary definition of a term unless you have a really good reason for doing so. With short academic papers, it’s also not necessary to include an elaborate introduction. Sometimes it’s better to just dive right into your topic. 

• Be attentive to structure and organization 

Be conscious of the organization and structure of your paper on all levels. You should strive for carefully crafted sentences, focused paragraphs, and a logical rhetorical structure for the paper as a whole. Try to create a sense of flow by making transitions between paragraphs and connecting your ideas. While there are many different ways to write an effective paper, you should include an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion of some kind. 

• Format 

Papers should be double-spaced, 12-point font (something standard, such as Times New Roman), with 1-inch margins on each side. Please include your name and course information in the upper left-hand corner. 

• Give your paper a descriptive title (not “Paper #1” or “The Grapes of Wrath”) 

While your title might seem like a small part of your paper, in fact it is often a way to encapsulate your main argument so that your reader can see at a glance what your paper is about. 

---