Autumn 2016 1500 Word Essay .
Due Tuesday, June 5 at 4pm
Submit a soft copy only to Turnitin (link provided from the Methods of Reading vUWS site). Assessment Checklist You should: 1) Engage with relevant themes and ideas from the lectures and tutorial discussions. 2) Cite your sources by employing either Harvard, MLA, Chicago, or APA documentation style. Additional research, beyond the relevant chapter from Bennett and Royle, is not required but recommended. Additional research could include further readings suggested at the end of the weekly lecture slides (you can obtain several of these through the “Readings and Resources” section of vUWS) or scholarly research of your own. If you quote from a lecture verbatim or paraphrase substantial passages from a lecture, then you must cite it. 3) Organize the analysis around a central argument or “thesis” and provide textual evidence to support its claims. 4) Employ an appropriate writing style with minimal spelling, grammatical, or other errors. Essay Topic Choose two poems by Bishop that we have studied this semester and discuss them using relevant ideas from one or two of the following chapters from Bennett and Royle: “Me,” “Eco,” “Desire.” The quotations below are only meant to guide you; you do not need to employ them if they are not relevant to your argument. You must use additional textual examples from the poems and Bennett and Royle to support your claims. “One seal particularly/I have seen here evening after evening./He was curious about me.” (“At the Fishhouses” 73) “The still explosions on the rocks,/the lichens, grow/by spreading, gray, concentric shocks.” (“The Shampoo” 97) “The art of losing’s not too hard to master / though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.” (“One Art” 178) “Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry! / O falling fire and piercing cry / and panic, and a weak mailed fist / clenched ignorant against the sky!” (“The Armadillo” 123). “Friday was nice, and we were friends./If only he had been a woman!” “Crusoe in England” (p. 72) “Taking her time,/she looks the bus over,/grand, otherworldly.” “The Moose” (p. 173) “Like medals with their ribbons/frayed and wavering,/a five-haired beard of wisdom/trailing from his aching jaw.” “The Fish” (p. 50) Further Instructions on Constructing a Thesis for your Essay: We have given you a topic. It is your responsibility to construct a thesis. You might want to consider writing yourself a question based on the topic provided in order to help you generate a thesis. Your Thesis/Argument should be a disputable claim. This means that other people can potentially disagree with it. If no one can disagree with your argument, then it is not a real argument. An academic thesis or argument is not quite the same as an “argument” that you might have with a friend. An academic argument does not need to involve an angry, heated exchange between two people. However, an argument in the everyday sense of the term shares with an academic argument the common characteristic of being disputable and debatable. Bad Thesis: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is phallocentric. This assertion is too general and does not supply any justification for the writer’s interpretation. Better Thesis: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is phallocentric because Portia must follow her father’s guidelines for choosing a suitor. This is better because you can imagine some readers disagreeing and it provides a clear justification (“because”) for the writer’s position. It is a bit simplistic, however, because it completely disregards how Portia guides Bassanio toward choosing her, the masculine role she assumes in the trial, etc.. Good Thesis: Portia may be constrained by the phallocentric rules of her father, but the play itself is not phallocentric because it allows Portia to employ some amount of female agency. This is much more specific than the previous example and more thoughtful. It makes a clear distinction between the phallocentrism of a character (Portia’s father) and that of a play. It implies that a text has agency, that it can reinforce or challenge existing norms. In order to prove this thesis, the writer would need to give specific examples that illustrate Portia’s female agency. Marking Criteria CRITERIA UNSATISFACTO RY (0-49) SATISFACTORY (50-64) GOOD (65-74) VERY GOOD (75-100) Quality of written expression Does not meet minimum literary standards. ALL ESSAYS IN THIS CATEGORY WILL FAIL Reasonably well written but some problems with grammar/structure/ clarity; and/or numerous spelling or typographical errors Well written and structured; few grammatica l, spelling or typographic al errors Very well written; logically structured; few or no grammatical, spelling or typographical errors Comprehensi on of, and response to, the set question and reading material Does not reflect a sufficiently strong grasp of the key concepts and/or their application to Bishop’s poetry; or the response is unclear/incoherent Reflects a reasonable understanding of the concepts and/or their application to Bishop’s poetry, but there may be some limitations in terms of coverage of the topic or clarity of approach Demonstrat es a good understandi ng of the concepts in relation to Bishop’s poetry and the response is clear and well organised Provides a sophisticated, detailed and informed reading of Bishop’s poetry in relation to the set concepts/chapt ers Quality of argument No clear or convincing argument presented A sound argument but may be lacking in clarity, consistency or textual support A good, consistent and wellsupported argument is presented Very clear, logical, and wellsupported; shows independent thought and insight Referencing and citation Failure to consistently acknowledge sources Some references or sources have not been properly cited; or inaccurate/inapprop riate referencing system applied All primary and secondary sources cited; some minor inaccuracies in referencing style All primary and secondary sources accurately acknowledged
