Helpful Resources

Literary Criticism Assignment (100 points possible)

Due: The beginning of class, Monday, June 7, 2010

üYour essay must be word-processed, double-spaced, 500-700 words (2 ½ to 4 pages) and conform to the following guidelines:

_____1. The purpose of your essay is to give your readers a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the work(s) you have chosen to study.

_____2. Assume your essay’s readers will be very familiar with the literary work(s) you have chosen. This means your readers will not need a summary or description of the work(s).

_____3. Start immediately—work on this little by little. If you wait until the last minute you will very likely hate this assignment and do a poor job of it.

_____4. Select an important work, poem, or group of poems from any major author in our text.

_____5. Please let me know which major work, poem, or group of poems you plan to study. Be sure to get my approval before starting any serious research.

_____6. Using any of the databases and/or books available, locate and read at least two helpful literary criticism essays concerning your selection.

_____7. Give what you’ve read some time and thought. Think in terms of how what you’ve read applies to and broadens the understanding and appreciation of your literary work(s).

_____8. Write an essay that integrates what you’ve learned from these critical essays with the work(s) you have chosen. Your essay’s goal is to give your readers important insights (aha’s) into the literary work(s).

_____9. Your essay should contain, where appropriate, accurate quotations from the literary criticism sources you studied as well as relevant quotations (lines, paragraphs, dialog) from the literary work(s).

_____10. Your essay must properly handle the sources you use.

_____11. Provide a correctly-built Works Cited page at the end of your essay.

_____12. Be ready and willing to share your discoveries with the class.