Date introduced: 11/14
Paper Proposal: 11/26
Structural Outline: 12/3
Complete draft due: 12/13–14
Final draft due: 1/24–25
This essay will be a literary analysis on Song of Solomon, exploring a topic of your own choosing. There are only two parameters to your choice: it must be a topic that 1) you find interesting or compelling and 2) grapples with complexity.
We will move through this essay in steps:
Due Monday 11/26 for all blocks
Your first step is to propose a paper topic. Fortunately, through your thesis log, you have been contemplating possible paper topics throughout your reading of the novel. Review your thesis log and make a decision on what you will write about. (Of course, it is fine to choose a topic that you did not address directly in your thesis log.)
In at least two healthy paragraphs, write a proposal for your paper in which you
Here is an example of what such a proposal might look like:
Like most of us, I dream of flying, so I can’t help but view the flights of Solomon and Milkman as magical and heroic. But I also cannot stop thinking about Hagar’s death and the degree to which Milkman’s journey to freedom is responsible for that. I would like to write a paper on the way that Toni Morrison seems simultaneously to celebrate the freedom of flight and to warn against it.
I would spend some time in the paper comparing Hagar’s sadness (pages 306-319) to that of Solomon’s wife, Ryna (pg. 323). Both women lose their minds over their lost loves. Next I would take a closer look at the way Morrison characterizes Jake, or Macon Dead the First, who doesn’t fly away. Is he the hero of the novel, admired by all, rooted to the earth, true to his family? Or is he another victim, dying at the hands of white men, his children orphaned anyway? I am guessing that my paper won’t necessarily answer these questions but will show the ways that Morrison raises them.
The proposal must be typed or neatly handwritten. Be prepared to share this with the class in a read-around.
Due Monday 12/3 for all blocks
In whatever format is most comfortable to you, sketch out a structural outline of your paper. Think of what your reader needs to understand the logic of your thinking on this topic. You can use roman numerals, bullet points, a sequence of topic sentences, visual diagrams, concept maps, whatever works best for you. Your outline does not need to give sentence-level detail, but it should provide an estimate of the order and sequence of your paragraphs. Your overall thesis should be apparent by this outline.
Due Thursday 12/13 for Blocks A & B
Due Friday 12/14 for Blocks C, D, & E
You’ve pondered your topic; you’ve drafted your outline. Now it’s time to write a paper that communicates your thinking on Song of Solomon to another person—your reader.
Posted by Justin Wells : 11/14/2007