Troy University Literature Essay Sequence

ESSAY SEQUENCE

A major part of your evaluation this semester involves the completion of what I call an “essay sequence,” which will consist of a bibliography, an annotated bibliography, a proposal, and an essay (as well as two portions thereof). You’ll turn in all these assignments through Canvas.

Topic

Your job will be to write a paper about the material assigned for the course. Interpret the meaning of the material, and examine how it either does or does not fit with the prevailing notions of the time. You might consider comparing that material with other items we read for class and/or with current events. Avoid writing a great deal about the author’s life. Also, you might find the writing easier if you consider some of the questions mentioned in the presentation assignment above. The specific topic you write about will depend on which class you’re attending. For survey courses, (ENG 2205, ENG 2206, ENG 2244, ENG 2245), the main focus of your paper needs to be the text you presented in class. For upper-level English courses, check with me and/or on Canvas for the specifics.

Bibliography

Complete a bibliography of some of the secondary sources you think you might use in your essay (for our purposes the literature itself, such as in the course textbooks, counts as primary source material).

EBSCO Databases Combined

Gale Literature

Humanities International Complete

JSTOR – Arts and Sciences Collections Assignment Packet for Literature (Robertson, English Department), p. 4 of 7

MLA International Bibliography

ProQuest Central

Never done this before? Check the final section in this assignment packet to see what your bibliography might look like if it included only two sources.

Annotated Bibliography

Your next task is to annotate the bibliography of sources that you’re thinking about using. If necessary, add or delete sources as needed, but keep a minimum of five. How do you do this? First,

read the source or at least its introduction. Then write a summary and evaluation of it as an abstract.

Final Essay

For your final paper, write and turn in a polished essay based on what you’ve learned from the presentation, proposal, and bibliographies. Here are the important guidelines: