African American Literature
Final Essay Topics and Directions
General Directions
Choose one topic from the list below as the basis for writing a literary analysis essay of
at least 800 words and at least four paragraphs.
Read the topic and associated questions
carefully and be sure to address the entire topic in your essay.
Specific Guidelines
1. Your
essay should demonstrate not only what you have learned in this course about
African American literature but also what you learned about writing college essays in
ENG101 and ENG102. I will expect a clear thesis statement, for example, and at least
four paragraphs: an introductory paragraph, two or preferably more body paragraphs,
and a concluding paragraph.
2. Draw
evidence
for your analysis
from both primary and secondary sources
.
Primary sources
are the actual literary texts that are your focus, for example
”
Secondary
sources
are academic journals, books, newspapers and magazines,
websites, and other sources that help you support and develop your analysis of
the primary sources (literary texts). If you chose Topic Five, for example, your
secondary sources might include a literary scholar’s essay about one or more of
3. Your essay should include material from
at least three different secondary sources
,
and you may use
The Muse in Bronzeville
and/or the introductions in
Black Voices
as
secondary sources.
4. Use lots of quoted and paraphrased evidence to support your analysis, but keep
quotes relatively brief. Most of the writing should be your own words. Always
distinguish between quoted and paraphrased passages.
5. Follow the MLA9 format by providing parenthetical page (or for poetry, line) number
references within the text of your paragraphs and a Works Cited list at the end. The
WCC library provides guidance on MLA format at
https://library.sunywcc.edu/citationhelp
and you may also find the website
https://www.easybib.com/
useful for generating citations. If you’re given a choice of
citation format, be sure that you have selected MLA9, not APA, Chicago, or other
formats.
6. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation count, so be sure to proofread and edit your
work carefully.
7. The minimum length requirement is 800 words (1100 for the A Train), and the
minimum number of paragraphs needed to indicate a clear introduction, body, and
conclusion is four
Topic 6
Analyze Mari Evans’
“Black Jam for Dr. Negro” and Amiri Baraka’s “Black Art” as
poems which embody the principles of the Black Arts Movement as described by
Clarence Major in his essay “Black Criterion.” You may refer to both the written version
of “Black Art” and the performed version on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh2P-
tlEH_w
Base your essay on the texts of the poems and essay, supplemented by
information you find in at least three secondary sources.
