Prompt:
Your essay should be approximately four to five pages in length (Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced). It should have a coherent structure and an overarching argument, and be inspired by at least two of these readings. We won’t be providing you with a prompt, because we want you to have greater freedom than you did when writing the previous essay.
I’ve mixed canonical texts from 20th-century writers with a handful of contributions by more recent authors. As you’ll see, they touch on a number of themes (class and race relations, sexuality and gender expectations, political and not-so-political violence, nationhood and exile, etc.) and deal with different countries, although there is an emphasis on Mexico, Cuba, and, to a lesser extent, Argentina, countries which we’ve been and will be analyzing in greater depth throughout the course.
Using the following texts as sources:
1. “The Festival of the Bullets” by Martín Luis Guzmán
* Please include in text citations as well only from the given sources.
Please follow the rubric below:
Topic and Argument (30%)
– Essay has a clearly demarcated topic or
subject matter, from which it does not
deviate significantly.
– Essay proposes and advances an
argument in the form of a thesis
statement.
– Argument has some degree of originality.
– Thesis statement is formulated clearly,
diminishing ambiguity and potential
misinterpretations.
– Essay discusses two or more of the texts,
and it engages productively with them.
– Essay quotes or paraphrases the texts
when necessary, but not excessively.
When quoting, author clarifies the
relevance (and, if necessary, the
meaning) of the excerpt quoted.
– Essay uses secondary sources to better
contextualize the issue at hand, but it
does not over-rely on them.
– Ideas are analyzed, rather than simply
stated. When necessary, author presents
appropriate evidence in support of a
claim.
– Essay includes an easily discernible
introduction, body, and conclusion, and
each of these sections fulfills its purpose.
– Every paragraph is organized around a
claim that advances the argument.
– Each body paragraph contains a topic
sentence at the beginning and a smooth
transition to the next paragraph.
– Good writing enhances the quality of
argument by being clear, polished,
concise, and free of errors.