Learning Outcomes
This assignment prompts you to go beyond our weekly reading and lecture regime to develop a deeper understanding of the discourse surrounding one of our major topics. You will learn how to prepare an essay outline and annotated bibliography and respond to feedback to hone your essay-in-progress during the final third of the course—improving research, writing, and
argument construction skills in the process.
Evaluation
Essay Outline (Due Mar 5) – 15% of final mark
20%—Proposed thesis: is the thesis a thesis? Is it appropriate and/or doable?
30%—Outline Clarity: does the outline support the thesis or is it unrelated or vague?
30%—Annotated Bibliography: do the per-text write-ups indicate thoughtful engagement of the selected sources?
20%—Style: quality of writing; lack of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary mistakes.
Research Essay (Due Apr 12) – 35% of final mark
50%—Quality of argument: does the central argument and trajectory of the essay
support its thesis, or is the thesis vague and the argument meandering?
30%—Use of primary and secondary sources: does the essay productively engage the
selected sources or is their use cursory or superficial?
20%—Style: quality of writing; lack of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary mistakes.
Instructions
Develop a thesis (note the reference below), conduct related research, and write a 2,000 word essay on one of the major course topics. Each student is responsible for picking a topic and developing a thesis Below are some ‘paper templates,’ picking one of these might help you develop a starting point for a paper.
Deep Dive: Take one of the assigned readings for a weekly topic, study it closely and
discern its thesis, find related scholarship to compare and contrast to its position.
Artist Case Study: Find an artist whose body of work relates to one of the major course themes, use course readings and secondary sources to analyze selected artworks relative to the topic.
Close Reading of Artwork/Fiction: Use assigned readings and selected secondary sources to conduct a close reading of an artwork, film, TV show, videogame, etc., relative to one of the major course themes.
Outline Format
One sentence thesis
Essay structure outline (bullet point; min half-page, max full-page)
Annotated bibliography (4 x 100-250 word short texts describing how you will engage four sources within your argument; only two of these texts can be course readings).
Additional Information/Requirements
All essays must draw on at least four sources—and engage at least two readings that
are not assigned as part of the course; consulting journalism (from credible outlets) is
fine, but it should augment rather than replace scholarly references.
Failure to format your essay and citations using MLA, APA, or Chicago style will result in penalties applied to the ‘style’ portion of the evaluation
Late submissions will be penalized as per the terms outlined on the syllabus.
