Formatting: Single-spaced, one-inch margins, Times New Roman, 12 pt. font in e-learning Dropbox (-5 points for incorrect formatting)
Length: 1) One 2 – 3 page analytical research essay AND 2) One short story 3000 or more words long OR four poems of substantial length
Bibliographic Documentation: Include a Works Cited page and in-text parenthetic end note citation for both paraphrased and directly quoted material. You will want to cite and do a close reading of specific lines or passages in the three poems or two short stories you’ve chosen to analyze.
Overview
In work and in life, we are often called upon to decipher and produce in unfamiliar genres. Have you ever had to learn the interface and lingo of a new social media site? Have you produced a report for an internship, job, or class unlike any report you’d written before? Have you expanded your usual music or movie tastes into alternative genres? In the fourth unit, we’ll explore the thought process you undergo whenever you’re called upon to learn and produce in an unfamiliar genre.
For this class, we will purposefully limit ourselves to poetry and short stories. You will choose a poet or short story writer from a provided list to research and critique, and you will create a portfolio of your own original poetry OR a short story that incorporates formal influences you’ve analyzed in your poet or short story writer’s work. As a class, we will read and discuss different writers’ work in both poetry and short stories, identifying the unities and differences within the work, and thus isolating and analyzing specific conventions of each genre so that you will have the tools to imitate those conventions in your own writing.We will also explore larger concepts surrounding “genre,” including the boundaries and blurring between genres, the evolution of genre in the digital age, and critical influence over genre.
The Task
This project will consist of two parts: 1) an evaluation of your writer’s work and style and a brief biography, and 2) an original short story or a packet of original poetry.
Analytical Research Essay: 50 Points
For this component of the project, you will draft a 2 – 3 page essay that presents the following:
- A brief, half-page biography of your writer
- An evaluation of fiction or poetic conventions and style by analyzing two short stories or three poems written by your chosen writer
This paper should not focus entirely on your writer’s biography. Instead, this paper should devote the majority of time to a critical analysis and discussion of two short stories or three poems written by the poet. I will be looking for how well you dissect each story or poem, identify conventions your writer uses, and compare and contrast the stories or poems you’ve chosen. Essentially, this essay should be a very detailed and critical reading response. What makes your writer unique? How would you define your writer’s style? What conventions do they use? Identify those conventions by quoting certain lines or sentences. What themes or messages does your writer often employ? For complete credit in this area, you will need to cite and quote certain lines, images, and passages from the poems or stories you’ve chosen to discuss. MLA formatting is required for this essay, including in-text parenthetic citation and a Works Cited page. I am more interested in hearing your personal analysis and interpretation of the primary texts than research on the texts.
You will find books by all of the assigned writers available in Course Reserves. If you’d like to write about a poet or short story writer who’s not on the list, I’m more than happy to work with you—just come to me with your suggestion as soon as possible.
Creative Portfolio: 50 Points
For this component, students will be responsible for writing and compiling ONE original short story that is at least 3000 words long or FOUR original poems. Your portfolio MUST display conventions that you have made explicit in your critical analysis. I highly recommend that you are versatile in your use of conventions, rather than employing the same conventions in a formulaic fashion. If you choose poetry, two of your four poems should be explicit pastiches of your chosen poet’s style. I will grade this component on obvious, considerable effort, and your successful identification and application of convention. Push yourselves! I want to see poems of thirty lines or longer. To receive full credit in this area, you must share a portion of your short story or a couple of your poems out loud.
Last but not least: you will be using the research that you have already compiled for your Research Essay to inspire your poetry or short story. If you are writing a short story, then you will write a story from the perspective of a minor character or bystander to your historical event. Therefore, you will be writing a story in the first-person perspective or the limited third-person perspective. If you are writing poetry, then you will write a series of persona poems or poems that somehow incorporate your research in at least two of the poems. I have purposefully chosen my list of poets and short story writers to feature writers who use research to inform historical characterization.
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