essay prompt

Humanities 251, Essay One, 2011

• Due Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 
• 5-7 pages, double-spaced, 12-pt font (of your choice [unless you're in Denham's section, then it must be Times New Roman or Garamond or Palatino; not Calista])

Raise a narrow, debatable question about one or more of the texts we have studied so far, keeping in mind the broad definition of “text” that we have been using since last semester (that is, a text could be not only something verbal, but also a painting or a symphony or a map, etc.). Respond to your question with a thesis that you will explain and support using evidence from the text or texts under investigation. 

Here are some of the kinds of issues you might wish to consider when writing your essay:

• what kind of story or argument gets presented in your text?
• how does form relate to content?
• how well does your text represent a particular movement or set of ideas?

Further tips

1. If you have not yet consulted the writing tips in the syllabus (the blue pages, 17-26), please do as they answer many questions.

2.  We will look for a clear, arguable thesis and for crisp, persuasive, and perspicacious prose. Test the clarity of your thesis by reading your title and your thesis statement in isolation—how much information would you know about your argument from just seeing one of those things? How tightly does each paragraph cohere (you can test that by comparing first and last sentences of each paragraph).


PS. Nice essay on style and how to write a good sentence, by Adam Haslett, here. (–SD)