The purpose of this essay is to have students develop a thesis-driven literary analysis of a short story as a culmination of having read four short stories, written four journal responses, and discussed all four in a classroom setting.  Through writing, students will analyze carefully and completely, and come to a deeper understanding of the story.

Related Learning Outcome(s):
Demonstrate competence in reading comprehension.
Identify key formal elements/details of literature
Justify each response with interpretive explanations and direct quotes from the text 
Demonstrate analytical, critical thinking methods/skills through written expression.
Tasks

Black and Gold Division Line
Please write a 5 page (typed, double-spaced) analytical paper which identifies and explores the theme of one of the following short stories from Unit #1 (please note that RFE is not an option).

Boys and Girls
Sonny’s Blues
Tonto and Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven
You will have an opportunity to rewrite this first paper; therefore, please do not get help from a tutor or outside source for this.  I want to see an accurate picture of your writing skills so that our dialogue about writing can focus on your development.

Choose one of our stories to write about.
Develop a thesis centered on theme (In developing your thesis about theme, answer our class question: What does this story want us to understand about __________?)
Identify key elements of the story and use these to develop your thesis.
Textual support (direct quotes) is required. Thoughtfully selecting and integrating passages from the story are the only way to effectively develop your ideas. Consider our workshop with Rose for Emily when discussing and using quoted material.  Be specific.
Follow MLA guidelines for writing a college-level paper.
Due: Consult our Schedule of Assignments (Home page)

Thesis:

clear, specific, original, significant, insightful.

Organization:

logical, creative organization growing naturally from thesis and content; paragraphs linked to thesis and to each other using fluid transitions; strong introduction

Development:

paragraphs thoroughly developed and linked by unobtrusive, organic transitions; graceful use of varied rhetorical strategies as necessary (narration, cause & effect, process, etc.); rich variety of convincing reasons, explanations, examples, illustrations; concrete, powerful details.

Language:

race and economy of expression; conscious choice of language; vivid, precise, original word choice. TONE/VOICE: authoritative, genuine authorial voice; awareness of audience. SENTENCES: rich variety and complexity of sentence structure; free of basic errors such as fragments, run-ons, subject/verb agreement. MECHANICS: mastery of conventions of edited standard English.

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