Critical Essay

Reminder of the description in the syllabus: This writing assignment is an opportunity to expound on current topics either from class discussions or from national current events. You will write a critical argument paper addressing a topic you deem controversial in the material. Your critical argument paper should address how one of the authors we have read has addressed the topic and state your agreement or disagreement with the author’s premise and/or approach. The primary purpose of this paper is to engage in a close reading of the author you choose. Thus while you should have a thesis/argument, it should be narrow and focused, concentrating on explicating the text at hand.

Your assignment is to write a critical essay about one or more of the readings in the class thus far. A good essay will incorporate answers to questions like these:

• What sort of argument is the author making (explicitly or implicitly)?

• How do you find it valid and convincing or not?

• How does it contribute to our understanding of the social construction of sex and gender (or not)?

• What does this author miss in their argument?

• Where does their argument fall flat? Where is it successful?
Your role as a writing is to try to understand the social, political, cultural or literary meaning and contribution created and/or critiqued in the text.
This essay does not require outside research beyond the text itself although it is always helpful to do a bit of digging into other authors’ responses to the text (if there are any) or other material that may critique or support arguments made in the text you’ve chosen.

Some specifics:

• The paper should be 5 pages long (excluding footnotes or appendices)
• Double spaced
• 12 point typical font
• Appropriate citing format of your choosing