Purpose: This assignment provides you the opportunity of reading a literary text and researching a particular theme found within the text. Assessment: You will be graded on how well you develop a literary argument and successfully support that argument. Your evidence should come primarily from passages found in the play. However, you are expected to research and use some secondary evidence as well. The English department’s General Evaluation Guidelines rubric will be used to assess the essay. Instructions: 1.Carefully and systematically read your chosen play by analyzing the language through the lens of three of the literary elements (setting, plot, character development, symbolism, etc.) as well as one or more critical theories discussed in this course (new criticism, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, Marxist theory). Use your analysis to determine a theme found within the play. 2.Research your chosen theme through one of the DBU library journal databases such as MLA, JSTOR, and Sage. Any journal accessed through the DBU library databases will suffice. 3. Write a thorough literary analysis based on your careful readings of the play and your research. Your final researched essay must be: • argumentative, • at least 2,000 words in length (not including Works Cited) • contain 4-6 sources in the Works Cited, • and follow current MLA guidelines.
