Seminar Essay (20%): You will be working toward a thesis-driven 12-15-page seminar essay over the course of the term, due on May 12th (electronically, in Word format). In your essay, you'll be investigating a primary source—chosen in conference with me—from a specific theoretical perspective. Your primary source should either be poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, or a primary source you are working with in another class or context. You may not turn the same paper in to two classes.

Your goal is to analyze the primary source in support of your thesis, which should take an informed position on the meaning of your source, the work your text is doing, or its significance in the cultural field. Your analysis should draw on the perspective of one dominant theoretical framework (you may combine theoretical perspectives, but be sure the components are logically compatible with your purposes).Your work must be original, well-written, cogently argued, and stylistically polished; it should be in MLA form throughout.

This essay should have a substantial scholarly (not popular) framework associated with it, between 8 and 10 sources. To that end, you will also be responsible for a proposal, an annotated bibliography, and at least one draft. If these components are not completed satisfactorily, your essay will not be considered complete.