Submit your literary analysis thesis statement. Remember the requirements!
- It must be a Word document in MLA format.
- It must be saved to your computer and then uploaded through the assignment link.
- No papers can be accepted unless they're submitted through the assignment link.
- Do not submit your paper directly from the Word online app used in MyHinds or from any other online app such as Google docs. Instead, save a copy of your paper to your computer and submit that copy through the assignment link.
- Be sure that you've obeyed the rules of academic integrity. Any plagiarism, accidental or intentional, will result in a grade of zero and possible further action.
- Review the document you intend to submit carefully to make sure it's the right one; you'll be graded on what you submit.
As you plan, it's important to be aware that you will be writing a scholarly literary analysis about the reading. Here are a few requirements to bear in mind:
1. The paper will require you to use material from the reading(s) to back up your thesis and main points, so it's good that you listened in class and remembered to make notes as you read. You'll need 2-3 citations directly from the story to back up each main point.
2. You will be required to use 1-2 scholarly sources about your context in the paper.
3. While there's no required word count or page count, be aware that if you don't have two full pages, you're probably not going to get a very good grade as your paper will be poorly developed. (That's a minimum; an A paper will be longer.)
4. You should use the proper professional language for a literary analysis, i.e. use some terms from the list of literary terminology. Several of these should make an appearance in your paper, likely in the main points.
You should do Google searches on key terms and people associated with or mentioned in your chosen reading/argument, and on the author of the work. Once you get that general background, do scholarly research on things that you know are likely to be included in your paper. Remember, of course, that you must cite all information that you use in your paper and that you must use scholarly sources.
As always, contact me if you have any questions/concerns. Hang in there!
NOTES
The Lit Analysis Thesis Statement
It's half formula, half your own cleverness.
Both halves are necessary in order to do well on this assignment. You want to make sure you're checking all the boxes and meeting all the requirements that are handed to you, but you also want to make sure you make the argument your own by applying your own individual, thoughtful analysis of the text.
Keep in mind that your thesis must do these things:
It must state the basis/conclusion of your analysis of Peter Pan and must be debatable.
It should also indicate the lens through which you’re viewing the text and mention the title.
EX: A careful study of racial themes in “Desiree’s Baby” reveals that Armand’s prejudices corrupt his character to the point of making him an inhuman and abusive creature.
EX: A gender criticism approach to "Cinderella" reveals that the text attempts to bolster the social concept that women must use subterfuge and aggression against one another in order to successfully attain a desirable husband.
–Notice how the literary approach can be stated outright (as in the second example) or only made clear by content (as in the first example). Regardless, your chosen literary lens must be apparent to the reader.
There are several other examples of lit analysis thesis statements in our material covering the literary theories/critical lenses.
The assignment
Compose a literary analysis thesis draft that meets the guidelines for an academic thesis statement and for this particular assignment. Format your thesis statement as an MLA Word document and submit it using the assignment link. An example assignment has been posted in this week's module. (Yes, the assignment is one sentence in MLA format.)
Hello Comp peeps, we've looked at a few different things as we explore lit analysis: the story of Cinderella, the poem "Goblin Market," the animated short "World of Tomorrow," and a short story called "Desiree's Baby." It's important to keep in mind that those are just examples, ways for me to show you how lit analysis works, and that our actual lit analysis project, including our lit analysis thesis statement, are focused on our primary assigned reading, Peter Pan.
It's important to remember to incorporate what you've learned so far as you build papers for this class. Don't start cold. Remember the academic writing process:
1. Topic = What am I going to write about?
2. Ideas = What do I know about my topic?
3. Angle = What specifically do I want to say about it?
4. Audience = Who will be reading it, and what do I need to do to make sure they understand?
5. Purpose = What effect do I want to have on the reader?
6. Thesis = What exactly am I trying to prove?
7. Develop = How can I back up my main points?
8. Organize = What should I talk about first? Second? Last?
9. First draft = How will this basically look as an essay?
10. Revise = Does it make sense? Is it convincing?
11. Proofread = Are my grammar and format correct?
12. Final draft = Is everything as it should be?
13. Submit = It's over!
The topic for your lit analysis is Peter Pan. To produce a thesis statement about it, you should move through steps 2-5 (which usually simply involve some brainstorming to jot down ideas and then focus on one in particular) and then put it all together in a lit analysis thesis statement that meets the assignment requirements (review the page titled "The Lit Analysis Thesis Statement" for details). Your lit analysis thesis statement is a statement of your argument about Peter Pan. Having you submit it before you start writing the draft gives me the opportunity to give you some feedback and advice (and to let you know if you're entirely off track before it's too late).
An example thesis statement for Peter Pan: A psychoanalytic approach to Barrie's Peter Pan reveals that Peter displays many of the characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder.
BTW, your argument can't be the one above because it's the example.
So there you have it! The lit analysis thesis is very much a part of your lit analysis paper on Peter Pan. You're giving it to me now as a sort of practice so I can help and encourage as needed. Once you have my feedback, you'll make any needed changes to your argument and then begin writing the literary analysis paper draft.
Let's review how a literary lens can affect an analysis.
Remember, before selecting a critical theory you should ask yourself what important question or larger issue you want to investigate about the work.
So let's say you noticed that there seem to be a lot of sexual undercurrents in the Rossetti's "Goblin Market." Going back and looking at the list of literary theories, you'd see that queer theory is probably the lens you'd use. (Remember that queer theory examines all elements related to sex, including both hetero- and homosexual.) If your lit analysis was going to be about the poem through this lens, you'd go back and re-read the poem looking specifically for elements/details/ideas related to sex and sexuality.
Let's say you notice that the poem sounds like it might have a lot in common with drugs and drug addiction. You might do a study of Christina Rossetti's life and find that she struggled with opium addition, in which case you'd take the biographical approach and re-read the poem looking for elements related to that. Or you might discover that at the time the poem was written cocaine had just been introduced into London society, in which case your approach would be historicist criticism. You might notice that the fruit is used as a symbol for drugs and decide to focus only on that, in which case your approach would be formalist criticism and you'd go back to find another theory to use because you're not allowed to use the simplistic formalist approach for this project; however, the fact that fruit is a symbol for drugs might be used as a literary terminology detail in the main point paragraphs of the biographical approach or historicist approach discussed above.
You might discover that Rossetti's favorite fairy tale as a child was one about two sisters who fought off the temptations of a group of monsters, in which case your approach would be source studies.
You might notice how the goblins seem to be a metaphor for wicked men and the danger they present to women, in which case your approach would be gender criticism (if you focus on the nature of the destructive relationship between the goblin men and the sister) or masculinity studies (if you focus on the unfair/sexist stereotype of men as evil goblins) or feminist criticism (if you focus on the dangers of the time for women being tempted to have sex outside of wedlock and becoming "fallen women").
Which of these interpretations is correct? ALL OF THEM as long as they all provide good evidence for their argument. Which of these is the best? Whichever is researched, written, and argued the most strongly!
Now go back and read the poem in its original form and see how each one of these approaches can end up making perfect sense. You can still find the poem in Week/Module 3 on the "Goblin Market Assignment" page.
I hope this is starting to make some kind of sense to you. Lit theory is hard, and it takes a while to get the hang of using it. Just remember that you're always free to shoot me a message with your ideas; in fact, I very much encourage you to do so, especially with difficult concepts like these. Just wait until you've completed all of the assigned readings before you send me an idea, even if you feel you already know what you're wanting to argue about.