Modernism and
Postmodernism, Fall 2013, O'Donnell
Guidelines
for "Literary Analysis and Commentary" Assignment
last update: August 2013
Basic
guidelines:
The scope of this essay:
Approximately 1500 words.
Establishing
your topic and approach:
You will consult with me in choosing your topic and
establishing your approach for this essay.
A few things to keep in mind, in developing your project:
1. Your essay will take
a broader view than that typically taken by a review essay. You will consider broader contexts, more
thoroughly than you might in a review.
2. Your goal is to
write for an audience -- that is, strive to produce an interesting piece of
commentary that someone else besides your instructor would want to read, would
find interesting and engaging.
3. In developing your
topic and approach, consider the following forms, examples of which you
yourself may have read and enjoyed at some time or other:
a. A reader's introduction to a work, author, or
body of work.
b. A discussion of themes in a work.
c.
Narrative history or biography.
d. An essay, taking off on one of the
themes raised in course readings and discussions.