Literary Analysis

Keeping in mind our guidelines on engaged reading, we will compose a sustained literary analysis featuring either (or both) Slay or In Real Life that advances a contestable thesis and supports it through textual evidence and research sources. The analysis should:

• be in MLA format
• contain at least 1,500 words (about five pages) plus a discrete Works Cited section
• provide a coherent contestable thesis supported by evidence
• incorporate at least three external scholarly sources
• follow the conventions of Edited American English (EAE)
• be submitted as a .pdf file

Tips:

• Familiarize yourself with our Engaged Reading notes. They provide information about the course's goals for reading and how to use source texts.
• Consider if it would be helpful to adopt a particular critical approach such as those identified by the Purdue OWL or Dr. Samantha Blackmon. The University of Vermont's Writing Center provides an associated list of common literary analysis paper types.
• Focus tightly on a manageable subject. The likely danger is to focus too generally, so try to find specific passages or ideas in our readings that you can connect into a controlled narrative. When it comes to developing your subject, it's usually more effective to start narrow and build outward than to start broad and focus inward.
• Don't write in sequential order from introduction to conclusion. Establish a working thesis and then address the middle of your work by providing support for your claim. Revise your working thesis as you go. Once you have a grasp of the middle, move on to the conclusion and then the introduction. If you try to write in sequential order your work likely will have an overly general introduction and a weak structure. This is because it is very difficult to set up what you are going to say before you know what that will be.
• Make use of UNCW's Writing Services. They can help you move from ideas to drafts and beyond.

Sequence and Deliverables:

1. Submit topic ideas and possible academic sources for Slay (Feb. 7)
2. Submit topic ideas and possible academic sources for In Real Life (Feb. 16)
3. Submit draft analysis (Feb. 21)
4. Submit final analysis (Feb. 23)