– Describe how to narrow the focus of a topic in the humanities

Objectives
– Describe how to narrow the focus of a topic in the humanities
– Explain the type of documentation styles needed for the humanities

Assignment Overview
This article review examines the process of drafting, revising, and editing a literary analysis. This article review assignment focuses on literary analyses.

Deliverables
A paper (1000-2000 words).
– Follow MLA formatting to list your name, course name, and date on the top left of the first page and your last name and page number in the header on the top right of all pages
– Identifying information, page numbers, title, and ‘Works Cited’ page(s) are not included in the word count.

Step 1: Read the poem and its related content

Go to http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172264 (Links to an external site.) in order to read “Ex-Basketball Player” by John Updike. Note that the “About this Poem” section contains other information that may be helpful to you in this assignment.

Step 2: Select a question and identify words, images, or aspects of the poem that support your answers

Choose one of the questions below as a starting point for your literary analysis of this poem. List your answers and provide evidence from the poem to support your ideas. See this page (Link: http://www.wikihow.com/Quote-and-Cite-a-Poem-in-an-Essay-Using-MLA-Format) for information regarding how to format in-text citation of poetry; also explore Quoting Poetry (Link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/04/).

– Does the poem’s speaker pity or admire Flick? Are readers meant to pity or admire Flick?
– Does Flick belong in the scenes where the speaker describes him? If so, why? If not, what effect does that have on the poem’s meaning?
– Why does the speaker describe Flick’s hands so often, and what does this series of images mean?

Step 3: Write a literary response

Using the prewriting you completed in the previous step, write a paper that fully explores the question you selected above. Incorporate evidence from the poem in your analysis. If you consult any other sources or critical analyses for this paper, be sure to cite their words and ideas using MLA documentation style. For an example of a literary analysis, refer back to your course materials.

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