Tue. 10/31 In-class Peer-Review Workshop

Draft 1: 4-5 multimodal pages (plus Annotated Bibliography)

This brief exploratory research and literary analysis assignment should be based on your own close reading of assigned course texts, including both postcolonial theory and the Star Wars films; your argument should be couched in a careful theoretical context and substantiated with examples from the films. You should also begin to look for additional scholarly sources appropriate to your specific argument.

The draft that you submit should be carefully proofread and formatted according to correct MLA style. The “Works Cited” page will not be counted as part of the required page length. Although this draft is much shorter than the final term paper for the course, I will evaluate these papers as though they are final drafts, and will expect academic language, a clear thesis, incorporation of criticism, support in the form of quotation and analysis, logical organization, and professional presentation.

Below I’ve provided a sample outline for organizing your essays. You may modify this structure as it suits your needs; the number of paragraphs in each section may vary, for example. Nonetheless, every successful paper will include an argumentative thesis, effective use of relevant academic sources, and supporting textual analysis.

I. Introduction

Paragraphs 1-2: Briefly introduce the issue that your paper addresses and provide a specific and original thesis that maps out the structure of your subsequent argument.

Paragraphs 2-4: Give a short overview of relevant current critical arguments about the texts and issue you are considering, and explain how your argument responds to other critical positions (do you agree, disagree, or go in an entirely new direction?). This section should incorporate a number of sources from your own independent research.

Paragraph 4 or 5: Restate your thesis in more detail, and briefly map out the textual support that you will examine.

II. Body: The number of body paragraphs will vary, but your evidence should incorporate specific analysis of short passages from the text as support. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence explaining how the example to follow will support, complicate, and/or refine your overall thesis. Topic sentences should be followed by close readings of key passages. You may briefly refer to outside sources, where necessary, in the body paragraphs, but the main focus of this section of the paper should be on developing your own specific argument through careful textual analysis.

III. Conclusion: Your conclusion should not only restate your thesis and sum up your larger support; it should also gesture beyond the narrow scope of your paper toward the larger implications of your argument (ask yourself, “so what, who cares?”). You may also choose to revisit key secondary sources from a new perspective at the close of your argument.

Thurs. 11/2 Star Wars: Episode V––The Empire Strikes Back (1980)