Midterm Exam

Midterm Exam

Develop the following essay:

1. Choose an author whose work we have read, discussed and analyzed in class this semester.

2. Read about that author (biography) and explore his/her literary tendencies: feminism, existentialism, magical realism, post-modern, psychoanalytic, historical fiction, surrealism, etc.

3. Compose a research essay in which you elaborate on the author’s use of the theories listed above. (also see Discussion Boards)

4. Demonstrate how the movement manifests itself in the story by focusing on one of the following: themes, motifs, language style, tone, symbolic elements, cultural elements, literary devices, etc. (also see Wiki worksheets). 

Length:  Write at least six pages of text. (You can use excerpts from assignments 1, 2, 3 or 4.)

Sources:

•  Cite at least three secondary scholarly resource sources (in addition to your “primary” sources—the novels or stories about which you are writing). “Scholarly" means that the work is addressed by scholars in the field. An example is a book published by a university or an article published by a college or university.  You can access scholarly articles through the college’s library databases. The textbook itself does not count as a scholarly source, and neither does standard reference work (such as an encyclopedia).

•   Cite using the MLA documentation style. (There are handouts in the Learning Center.)

•   Use Proquest, Ebscohost, the Literature Resource Center and the library card catalogue to find research information.

•   Do not cite “free internet” sources. (They are not reliable.)

•   Do not cite Wikipedia because it does not meet standards of academic writing.

Materials:

•  Class notes                                                  Ÿ Primary Sources (classroom textbooks)

•  Blackboard Discussion Boards                  Ÿ Secondary Sources (library resources)

•  Blackboard Wikis                                       Ÿ Writing Assignments 1, 2, 3 and 4

•  Vocabulary Lists (blog)

Procedure:

•   Develop a new thesis or recycle a thesis that you employed in a previous writing assignment.

•   Support your thesis with a series of claims. (you can use claims from previous assignments)

•   Support your claims with:

o examples from the novels (you can use examples from previous assignments)

o opinions from scholarly references (you can use references from previous assignments)

o personal analysis of the novels based on Literary Criticism

Keep in mind: It is not necessary to re-tell the story.