ENGL 3040 | INTRO TO LIT STUDIES DR. NICK STURM | SPRING 2024
Project Description
For this paper, you will select an idea or concept from the readings we’ve discussed from Week 8 through
Week 12, which includes Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Feminist and Queer theory, Postcolonial theory,
theories of Race and Blackness, and Ecocriticism. You will write a paper (6 pages) that serves as an
introduction to that idea, its source(s), its historical development over time across the texts you select, and its
importance in the history of literary studies as you understand it. Be specific in both your choice of an idea
and your investigation of its development across different texts. I’m including here a few examples that
relate to earlier readings this semester to give you a sense of what this paper might look like: For instance,
this paper could analyze the development of the concept of “order” and “unity” from Aristotle through
Horace to Arnold; or you might be interested in interrogating “distinterestedness” from Arnold to Eliot to the
New Critics; or you might want to look closely at the role of language as it’s discussed from Aristotle to
Emerson to Mallarmé to Saussure. You could also look at the emergence of class/economics, the role of
terms like “pleasure” or “imagination,” the focus on “form” or rejection of form as ideas fundamental to the
development of literary studies, or any number of other ideas. Please confirm your idea with Dr. Sturm.
The purpose of your paper is to engage deeply with one idea/concept of interest to you as it develops,
shifts, and transforms across the texts we’ve read so far. Ask yourself: What is this idea to the author(s)? How
does this idea fit into the larger argument being made by each author? What is the function of this idea?
What does this idea do for the author? What distinctions, contradictions, differences, and/or developments
can you draw out as you trace this idea across multiple texts? What you’re doing is historicizing this idea in
the context of the development of literary studies. In other words, you’re mapping one concept over time to
describe and analyze its role and importance to how we think about literature and/or the study of literature.
Title: Make sure to give your paper a specific, functional academic title, which is an important convention of
scholarly writing. In literary scholarship, titles often incorporate or adapt a quotation from a text, name
authors and/or book titles, and refer to “big ideas” that the essay will investigate. For example, a paper
about disinterestedness might be “‘A Great Movement of Mind’: The Role of ‘Disinterestedness’ from Arnold
to the New Critics.” Another title might be “‘Words Set in Motion’: From Aristotle’s ‘Non-Significant Sounds’
to Mallarmé’s Language Games.”
Formatting: double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, MLA in-text citation (see Purdue
Owl online for guidance on properly citing from text), MLA works cited page (on separate page
