Literary Critical Theories

Essay Assignment

In this course you’ve studied various literary critical theories, and you’ve read a fiction novel or nonfiction book. It’s time to combine these, and write your course essay.

Assignment

For this essay, you will:
● Apply one of the literary critical theory lenses we studied (other than Reader Response) to the book you read — analyze the book you read using the lens
● Write a formal, structured, expository essay in response to the application of the chosen literary critical theory lens to your novel, in support of a thesis

Your essay will:
● Be 1000 – 1250 words
● Rely on evidence from the text to support an arguable thesis
● Be submitted following MLA Citation & Style guidelines
● Be marked using this rubric

Process

In alignment with the course essay writing lessons, do the following:

  1. Close Reading & Pre-Writing
    ● Revisit your book; be sure that you understand the elements, themes, content, and structure; use your active reading & annotation notes
    ● Think about your book in terms of the literary critical theory lenses we’ve covered; which theories seem to lend themselves best to application to your text?
    ● Try a theory’s analysis questions (for several theories) on your book; take further notes
    ● Choose one literary critical theory lens to apply in analysis of your book; it is recommended that you select the one with the most textual evidence for support of an argument
  2. Focus Questions — Creating a Thesis
    ● Review your notes, and the answers to your theory-specific questions, and brainstorm a thesis: what argument can be made in the context of the application of the critical theory to the text? It’s advisable to use the vocabulary of the theory in your thesis — use this Thesis for a Theory guide to help
    ● Remember: a thesis must be an arguable statement — simply saying that you’re analyzing a text with a theory is not a thesis
    ● Remember: critical literary theory itself is an analysis tool, and doesn’t “cause” anything in the text

Bad Thesis Examples Good Thesis Examples
This essay is an analysis of the text using Feminist Theory. The actions of the female characters in this text demonstrate that the patriarchy can be subverted through women’s agency outside of the hegemony.
There are lots of Marxist Theory elements in the text. This text promotes the idea that art and media are the most accessible ways for the proletariat to disrupt the control of the bourgeoisie.
Psychoanalytic Theory makes the protagonist kill his female boss. It is the Oedipus Complex of the protagonist that drives his actions, leading up to the murder of his female boss.

  1. Brainstorm & Organize Evidence
    ● Review your notes: brainstorm evidence to support your thesis, and organize support into categories that will form body paragraphs, thus creating your outline
  2. Write, Revise, Edit, & Proofread
    ● Write your essay, and revise ongoingly; edit accordingly when done
    ● Pause before proofreading — put some time between the final edit and your personal proofread
    ● Proofread, seek peer feedback if desired, then submit

Submission Instructions

  1. When complete, print/export your Google Doc as a PDF file; save the file.
  2. Title your PDF file “Essay Assignment [your last name]”.
  3. Upload your PDF file to the “Essay Assignment” folder in the course Dropbox by the due date. Do not upload a Google Doc directly.
    Level 4 Exemplars

Before viewing exemplars, be sure to review this Assignment Exemplars document.

Self-Assessment Checklist
Verify for yourself before submitting…
❏ My essay is structured in appropriate paragraphs
❏ My essay includes a thesis
❏ My essay includes thesis support using a literary theory
❏ My essay is edited effectively (no spelling errors, run-on sentences, comma splices, punctuation issues, etc.)
❏ My essay follows MLA Citation & Style guidelines
❏ I have double-checked the rubric and know how I will be assessed

If you have any problems or questions at any time, contact your teacher immediately.

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