Purpose

This essay assignment incorporates important research and writing skills that will allow you to practice your explication and critical analysis skills. An explication of a genre means to examine small elements within an artifact of that genre in order to gain a broader overall picture of the genre’s meaning through analysis. These elements are specific to the genre you choose. For a poem, short story, play, or comic, these elements would include images, metaphors, structure, tone, situational irony, point of view, and persona, etc.  In order to analyze any genre, you must adopt the stance of critical reader, identifying and contextualizing what these different elements mean.

Directions

You are free to select any reading, film, or podcast representing a genre you’d like to analyze from our Writ 102 textbook section Poetry, Short Stories, Essays, Podcasts, Videos, and Comics as a primary source for your analysis.

Message & Audience

You will be participating in an ongoing academic conversation. Consider your audience to be a group of academics who are eager to hear about your summary and analysis of this article. They are familiar with the text the article is about, but they have not read the article.

Format

1000 to 1200 words, typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-pt. font, one inch margins all around. Heading, title, and page numbers should all conform to MLA standards. You will need to cite page numbers for direct quotations in parenthesis; you will also need a Works Cited page, which is NOT included in the 1000 word minimum.

Assessment

The analysis assignment is worth 15% of your final grade. You will be assessed on your ability to analyze the text and participate in the writing process.

Due

See course Calendar