reading in global literature”
ENGL 157W Paper 2 Guidelines
• You are expected to write with a thesis and argument, providing support for your assertions by citing specific quotes or ideas from your reading material. However, quotations should be used discretely to illustrate your argument. Your thesis statement must be underlined or in bold text.
• Make sure to have an original title for the paper.
• Use parenthesis to make in-text citations. A Works Cited page needs to follow the essay. A failure to acknowledge sources through citations constitutes plagiarism.
• The paper is to be 3-4 pages in length (not including Works Cited), double-spaced using Times New Roman 12-point font, with one-inch margins. USE MLA METHOD OF CITATION. See examples of MLA citations in the Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.purdue.edu/
• Number your pages.
• Your name, the instructor’s name, class, section, option number, and date will appear on the top left corner of the first page. NO COVER PAGE.
• It is mandatory for you to submit your assignments both as electronic submissions through Brightspace (for the time stamp) as well as hard copies (for ease of commenting). I will provide students with their grades and comments on the hard copies of the paper you hand me. Papers are to be handed to me at the beginning of class on the due date of submission.
• Grades will be based on four equally important criteria:
1) formulation of intellectual problem/response to topic
2) knowledge of subject/content of the course
3) analysis and interpretation
4) clarity of purpose, organization, language, and mechanics.
REMEMBER: There is a difference between unjustified opinion and a persuasive argument. This assignment requires you to critically analyze and interpret the readings to persuasively argue your points. It is not looking for a mere summary of the material.
Assignment Pick one of these options and write a 3-4 page paper, exploring the topic deeply and thoroughly, grounding it closely in the text/texts that we have read for our class. Use textual examples (themes, quotes, etc.) to provide support for your argument or exploration of the topic. This is not a research paper. Do not use outside sources. You are being assessed on your familiarity and analysis of our course readings only.
Option 1
Technology is central to both Rugare Nyamhunga’s science fiction “Water Harvesters” and Tlotlo Tsamaase’s "Eclipse our Sins”. Examine the different ways in which the writers use technology to portray humans of the future in two different dystopic worlds. Do not describe the technology in the two short fiction. The emphasis on analysing how the writers put technology to use in their portrayal.
Option 2
At the heart of Rugare Nyamhunga’s short story “Water Harvesters” is conflict. Demonstrating clearly your familiarity with the text at the level of details as well as the larger storyline, analyze how the writer uses vivid imagery to bring out this conflict. Avoid broad, generalized answers and engage with specific images to argue how these images impact the telling of the conflict. It is not enough to point out the images. They need to be analyzed to show how they contribute to the narration.
Option 3
Rugare Nyamhunga’s “Water Harvesters” and Tlotlo Tsamaase’s “Eclipse our Sins” are both stories of climate change in Zimbabwe. Examine the relationship between climate change and violence on humans of the global south. Do not forget to address the possible racialized and gendered dimensions of the violence.
Option 4
The human body becomes an important site to examine environmental degradation in both “Water Harvesters” and "Eclipse our Sins”. Analyze the treatment of the human body in both the stories to examine how the writers explore the relationship between sentience in the human and non human world. Select meaningful passages from both as evidence that you can analyze to justify your stand clearly and coherently.
Option 5
Mothering and daughtering are important aspects of "Eclipse our Sins”. Examine the role of mothers and daughters in the story--whether human mothers or Mother Earth, whether daughters of human mothers or daughters of Mother Earth--as they stand face to face with the future of humanity and the planet. Select meaningful passages as evidence that you can analyze to justikovfy your stand clearly and coherently.