Assignment:
General Info about the paper
SPs should in some way engage at least one of the required readings, and attending themes, that we have addressed during the given timeframe. You also may want to [hint, hint] draw upon other relevant research and scholarship in these papers, which will entail a certain "added" initiative (a trip to the actual or virtual library, perhaps?) on your part.
The ideal SP (short paper) will:
• Isolate a specific concept/theme/topic in the text(s) that you wish to pursue further.
How is this concept/theme/topic analyzed by the author?
How is this concept/theme/topic relevant to the author's overall argument or claim?
• Include a statement of intent.
What questions or concerns do you have about this concept/theme/topic? (Your questions or concerns constitute the beginning of your own argument and analysis.)
What are you going to do about those questions/concerns? How are you going to address them? What, generally speaking, will your argument and analysis entail?
• Offer a focused argument and analysis concerning the specific concept/theme/topic you have isolated. (This is the "meat" of the paper, as it were.)
What is your "take"?
Have you engaged particular examples in support of your argument?
Have you considered contemporary applications of the specific concept/theme/topic under discussion?
What's at stake? And who cares? (Ask yourself: Would anyone disagree with what I'm arguing? If not, then your topic will probably not lend itself well to critical analysis. In some sense, this should constitute part of your concluding remarks.)
• Be focused, focused, focused throughout.
The ideal SP will NOT be:
• A summary
• An overview
• A biography
• A history
• Mere opinion
Technical requirements for SPs:
1. Use footnotes or endnotes.
2. 4pp of content minimum (excluding any bibliography, title page, etc.)
3. "Common" font (e.g. Times New Roman, Garamond)
4. 12" font size
5. Double-spaced
6. Left-justified
7. 1" margins
8. Paginated