Analytical Essay
First Draft due Thursday, June 12
Final Draft due Monday, June 23
6-8 Pages, Typed, Double-Spaced, and Stapled.
In this essay you will tell the story of the disaster that was addressed in the poem
or poems that you wrote about for Short Assignment 3. In Short Assignment 3 you wrote
about disaster-related problems that a poem or a few poems identified. In this assignment
you will do additional research about the ways in which those problems have been addressed. Britain
group: See the bottom of this page.
Thesis
In your thesis you should mention both poetry and problems.
Poetry: You have the option of adding poems that are closely related to a poem that
you wrote about in Short Assignment 3. For example, if you wrote about Tanka in response
to the tsunami that struck Japan then you can write about additional Tanka that were
included in the exhibit at SFSU. Take this option if you are having trouble reaching
the required page length for your essay.
Problems: You need to do additional research on attempts to address the problems identified
in your Short Assignment 3 since the poem or poems were written.
Outline
The outline for your essay will probably take the following form. Note that this is
not a rigid form. You should make changes based on the story you are telling.
I. The disaster
II. Poetry as part of the response to a disaster or a serious problem
III. Circumstances around the problems addressed in the poetry
IV. Rebuilding and/or the current state of the problems addressed in the poetry. Has
the problem gotten worse? Has there been progress in solving the problem?
The second and fourth points should consist of several paragraphs. If you follow this
structure, you can almost think of Part II and Part IV as separate essays. For some
of you Part III will also consist of several paragraphs, while some of you might omit
Part III.
Points to keep in mind:
- A substantial part of your essay (two to three pages) should be focused on one or more poems. You should insert direct quotations of lines of poetry into your essay.
- Be aware of time and the sequence of events. How long after the disaster was the poem published? How long has it been since the poem was published?
- Always check to make sure that the parts of your essay are firmly tied to each other. For example, does your discussion in Part III and Part IV address the problems defined in the poem?
- Revise your thesis statement if it does not match the content of your essay or new information that you have found.
- Documentation is very important for this essay. Make sure that you use MLA format for your citations and your Works Cited page.
- Your essay will be graded according to criteria in the EWRT1A Essay Grading Rubric. Be especially careful about organizational issues. It is likely that you will need to make substantial revisions to your Short Assignment 3 so that your analytical essay flows between paragraphs and within each paragraph.
You will not receive credit if you do not include adequate documentation. Use MLA-format (search the Purdue Owl for "Sample MLA Works Cited Page" and "MLA In-text Citations").
Britain Group
In your essays you will not be writing about a particular disaster. Instead, you will be writing about refugees and asylum seekers in Britain, and in particular the refugees and asylum seekers who are members of Brighter Futures. Here is a basic outline for your essay:
I. Challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in Britain
II. The campaigns of Brighter Futures as ways to overcome the challenges. Include
the role of the poetry anthology in advancing the other campaigns.
III. The relationship between one or more poems from the Brighter Futures poetry anthology
and the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers
IV. Ways in which the situation has changed for refugees and asylum seekers since
the anthology was published in 2011. Has the situation improved or not for refugees
and asylum seekers in Britain?