Inquiry Two Prompt/Instructions
Inquiry Two: Context/History/Research
Inquiry Two extends the close reading practices of Inquiry One through a look at the historical and cultural contexts shaping the production and the reception of texts. What is important for this Inquiry is that all texts are composed and experienced by people in particular historical and cultural contexts that change over time—and differences in those contexts change their meanings.
You may write your paper on “A Modest Proposal” or Absurdistan. Instead of trying to tackle the whole book or essay, try to focus in on one character, scene, theme, etc.—you’ll be doing specific analysis and you need to limit the scope of your paper so that you can be as thorough as possible.
Part A (50 Points) will consist of an extended review of 5-6 sources and will culminate in an annotated bibliography and a proposal for the paper you will write in Part B. You will compile cultural and historical sources that relate to your chosen text and line of inquiry. The sources for this annotated bibliography should not just be about your specific text; rather, they should be sources that explore the cultural and historical context of your text. What was going on around the time that this text was written? What political, psychological, social, religious, etc. debates were going on? In other words, find research that helps you understand the world in which the text was received. Your annotated bibliography should have a minimum of five fully analyzed sources. For each source, you will write an annotation of roughly 150 words, include full bibliographic information in MLA format, and consider questions such as: are the critics’ ethos or the sources’ accuracy valid and relevant to your inquiry question?
The sources should help you develop a line of inquiry about your text. You’ll then write a proposal (250-300 words)for the paper you will write for Part B. You are certainly not bound to your proposal, but I want to see that you are thinking critically and carefully about your paper, and that you have developed a plan to execute it successfully.
For Part B, you will write a 5-6 page paper (examining the same text you used in Part A) that analyzes the cultural/historical context for your selection. In your paper, you should make an argument as to how these contexts can better help the reader understand the text, how it changed over time/for different audiences, etc. Basically, you’ll take your interpretation, which is informed by your new understanding of the cultural and historical context of your text, and create a research paper that argues for your interpretation (note: this does not mean that you are saying your interpretation is the only interpretation; rather, you are proving the validity of your interpretation).
Some questions you might consider are: What element of the text do you find intriguing? How does the historical/cultural context of the story inform a reading of the text? Do certain events or ideologies contemporary to the text influence the writing/reading of it?
In this paper, you are making a claim about a text. Like all claims, you must support it with evidence that must be both textual and secondary. You must include at least 4 secondary sources from your annotated bibliography. Review that sources you compiled in Part A and think about how your claim about the text sits in relationship to others. You are entering a scholarly conversation, and it’s important to engage others’ ideas respectfully and thoughtfully. How does your paper/claim differ from what’s already been said? What does it add to the mix? Some things to think about!
The abbreviated version:
Part A involves the following (50 Points):
-Writing a brief 250-300 word proposal for the essay, describing the text you intend to analyze and what questions you intend to address within the paper, just like we did in Inquiry One.
-Compiling an annotated bibliography of 5-6 potential sources to be used within the paper; two of these sources must provide historical context (an understanding of the historical basis for the text), while the other two must provide a critical perspective within which to situate your analysis (an assessment of how others have interpreted the text or interpreted issues relevant to it).
DUE: Tuesday, February 26st
Part B (175 Points):
Involves the essay itself, into which you must incorporate (via in-text citations) at least 4 of your annotated bibliography sources. Your essay, citations, and overall formatting should correspond to current MLA guidelines. Part B should be a 5-6 page essay, not including your Writer’s Reflection or Works Cited list.
The Writer’s Reflection (25 Points):
A detailed reflection about a particular aspect of your process or rhetorical approach. We will talk more about it in class as we near the due date.
DUE: Tuesday, March 19th
