back to ENGL 602For your first short paper (3-4 typed pp.), examine a contradiction or disagreement. This could involve two critics, or it could involve only one. You might look for differing attitudes on the same subject, for example. Your paper should clearly present the competing ideas, then find some kind of resolution. This might involve choosing one idea over the other and explaining why, or explaining why these two would disagree, or some other evaluation on your part. You may use any of the critics we have studied in part one of Richter (through "modernists" on the syllabus). Due in class on Tuesday, February 9.
For your second short paper (3-5 pp.), your assignment is to trace a particular term or idea through several theorists. Using the index in Richter, choose a term and analyze the way several theorists use it, then reach an analytical, synthesizing conclusion. Some guidelines:
choose a term you can handle within the length requirement
choose a term that has been discussed by theorists we have read (no use having to do more reading than we already are!)
choose a term that has been discussed over time--not everything from the 20th century
cover at least three critics/theorists, but not more than four
as you discuss each, you should give brief coverage of their positions, but also an ongoing comparison of their positions in relation to each other
your paper should have some plan of organization; time is an obvious (and suitable) plan, but there could be others
your conclusion is your place to reach some kind of synthesis, to make judgments, and so on
the point of the assignment is to let you wrestle with a term that several theorists have also wrestled with, and thus to come to a better understanding of not only the term but also the theorists
Due in class on Tuesday, March 16. I'm not sure yet what we'll do with them in class.
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