Concept+Essay+Guidelines

For this shorter essay (4-8 pp), write in expository fashion about a theoretical concept of interest to you and synthesize several sources. The essays in CTLS are great models for the general approach; you will have to be more modest, of course.

//Gender.// //What does it mean to hold that gender is constructed? Why is this significant? What are its consequences?// //Culture.// //How is it that a literary text can foster mobility? Is the idea that a book can give readers or citizens in a society avenues for action? Strategies for avoiding constraints? IS this actually a radical idea about art changing the world? Or is it more conservative than this? What does it mean for readers or characters in a text? Example -- Fifty Shades of Grey. (Reread Greenblatt's "Culture"; look up similar concepts in the Johns Hopkins Guide; and link with Fred Jameson's chapter in the Prison House of Language.)//
 * Sample Topics**

The concept may be one of those assigned or something we don't treat as a class; you may explore a contested concept in terms of multiple perspectives, engaging in an ongoing debate (eg. Marxist vs. Feminist perspectives on identity) or you may choose to delve more deeply into a single perspective on a topic. At least one of your sources (3 min.) should be a "serious theory" text (i.e. the author of a new theory rather than a commentator on theory). You do not need to break new theoretical ground. Your goal is to gain fluency, to practice thinking with and through the paradigms of theory.


 * Please DO NOT simply “apply” theory to a literary text for this assignment
 * If you want, you may analyze a literary excerpt in a manner informed by a theoretical concept as PART of your essay.
 * You SHOULD confine yourself to one concept; keep life simple! Even better -- try to frame your essay so that you can discuss just a small, modest part of that concept.
 * Imagine your audience is a graduate of this class, an experienced reader of theory if not a total expert. Explain but don't spend half your paper summarizing.
 * Ask some specific questions and try to answer them. Your conclusion CAN BE provisional.


 * Concept Essay Rubric**


 * Student Name ||  ||
 * **Content** || Choice / definition of appropriate “concept” ||
 * || Depth of presentation/ analysis ||
 * || Theory accuracy ||
 * || Integrates and sythesizes theory sources ||
 * **Organization** || Intro: clear thesis, arguable, fulfilled ||
 * || Conclusion: clear, encompassing ||
 * || Development: logical, progression, integration. ||
 * **Mechanics** || Quotation framing and incorporation ||
 * || MLA Citations, Bibliography ||
 * || Error-free usage ||
 * || Comments ||
 * || Comments ||