Published Essay analysis and synopsis

Objectives:

• This assignment is designed to introduce students to the community of intellectuals (authors, academics, and community-based intellectuals) who think about and write Indigenous literatures and to facilitate understanding of some of the key conversations and debates in the field. Reading and analyzing this scholarship is a part of participating in the broader community of Indigenous literatures.
• The assignment also seeks to help students hone their critical thinking skills by reading, summarizing, and analyzing one published essay.
• Additionally, students will be asked to consider how the key points in the essay might inform their own engagements with Indigenous literatures. Reading and reflecting upon the work of other intellectuals and authors helps teach us about ethical and culturally-attuned ways of engaging with Indigenous stories.

Assignment Components:

• For this assignment, students can choose any one of the essays uploaded to the folder titled “Eligible Essays for Published Essay Synopsis and Analysis” in the “Resources” section of the course OWL site.
• I recommend that students read the essay carefully at least twice before commencing the process of writing their synopsis and analysis. It may be useful to go through the essay and highlight the thesis/argument and to summarize each paragraph with some key words that highlight what the paragraph is about.
• The essay synopsis and analysis should include the following components:

1.) An introductory paragraph that identifies the essay to be discussed, who wrote it, and when they wrote it (understanding the historical context / moment of writing is important). Please also situate yourself and explain why you chose this particular essay. The introduction should also identify the essay’s key topics and questions as well as its overarching argument(s).

2.) One or more pages that proceed to offer a more detailed synopsis of the essay’s key points and the way that the essay develops its argument(s). When writing this synopsis, students are welcome and encouraged to utilize brief quotations from the text from time to time to substantiate their discussion. However, long block quotations from the essay are not recommended because the goal is for students to explain the essay in their own words. To this end, please watch out for paraphrasing that is too similar to the original text. A sentence that is basically the same as the original but which substitutes out a few words here and there is not proper scholarly paraphrasing; rather, this borders on plagiarism. Be sure to use your own words and when in doubt about a paraphrase that is too close to the original, please use direct quotations instead.

3.) One or more pages that identify what you find compelling about the essay (writing style, examples, particular arguments and/or insights) and explain why you find those elements compelling. These paragraphs could also critique arguments or ideas you think are problematic (if so, please explain) or raise additional questions or matters for consideration.

4.) One or more pages that discuss how this essay has impacted how you think about Indigenous literatures and/or how you wish to engage with them, applying these thoughts to a particular literary example from our course. In making this connection between the essay and the literary text, please include specific examples or quotations from the literary text and develop your comparison in some detail. The depth of these details is crucial here.

5.) A brief conclusion.

6.) A Works Cited page that lists the sources cited in your paper according to an accepted scholarly format (i.e. MLA, CMOS, or APA).