Each week select one [1] literary text and explain its extrinsic significance (themes, meanings, social relevance, etc.) integrating ideas and/or quotations from the E-Readings or lecture notes to guide or support your interpretation. If you can't create your own response use the topics provided in the weekly modules or Unit Anthology (you may choose literary texts and topics from any weekly section of the unit). You are required to write 250-300 words for each week, then in Week 5, collate your five (5) pieces (1250-1500 words) into a Word doc. and upload through the Moodle Assessment system. You may post your pieces on the General Discussion Forum if you want to share, generate discussion and/or receive feedback.

This assessment fosters skills in what's known as the extrinsic approach to literature. As summarized by Eaglestone (2017, p. 52), the extrinsic attitude 'moves out from the text to the context.' Consider your chosen texts in relation to:

• Your own subjectivity and ideological disposition;
• Contemporary social reality and political issues;
• The text's historical context of production and consumption;
• Other literary and popular texts and culture more broadly;
• Relevant literary theories.

For more information on the intrinsic and extrinsic approaches read Doing English, Chapter 5 'Critical Attitudes' by Eaglestone (2017, pp. 47-53). The Week 2 lecture notes also provide guidance.

NOTE: No commentary on the author's life or supposed intention is required and plot description (retelling the story) should be kept a bare minimum. Literary analysis is concerned with a text's meanings and broader significance as interpreted by the reader. The same text means different things to different readers. What does it mean to you?  

Word Count: 1500 words

Important information about Word Count:

The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

This assignment will be marked using the following evaluation criteria:

• Ability to explain the text's extrinsic meanings and meanings
• Ability to relate the text to other literary and popular texts and social contexts
• Ability to incorporate ideas and critical concepts from a secondary source.
• Ability to write clearly and reference properly (in Harvard style)

Choose five [5] of the Intrinsic Reading Journal Topics from the weekly Assessment Activities, and write 400 words in response to each (approximately 200 words of annotation & 200 words of thesis statement). You can choose from any weekly module. Alternatively, you may develop your own topic and interpretive argument. The pieces should demonstrate detailed intrinsic analysis (close reading) of a small excerpt of a literary text 'calling attention to formal structures, figurative language, word choices, and implied meanings' (Kusch 2016, p. 134). Kusch (2016, pp. 32-35) also suggests we ask: 

• What is the general topic of the passage?
• What are the major images, metaphors, or literary figures in the passage?
• How do the characteristics, tone, and social position of the speaker or narrator affect the meaning of the passage?
• How does the form of the passage affect its meaning?
• How does the passage fit in with the rest of the text?

"Show your workings" by annotating the literary text, (highlighting key phrases, identifying devices and techniques, commenting in the margins, etc.). Then summarize your findings in a brief thesis statement. 'To craft a thesis statement, we link the patterns found in the details to a significant concern or debate within the critical conversation.' (Kusch 2016, p. 135). Your thesis statement should focus on how the meaning is constructed and conveyed in writing. Analytical techniques and skills are modelled in exemplars and explained in various unit resources.

NOTE: As with Assessment 1, no commentary on the author's life or supposed intention is required and plot description (retelling the story) should be kept to a bare minimum. For more information on the intrinsic and extrinsic approaches read Chapter 5 'Critical Attitudes' by Eaglestone (2017, pp. 47-53).

Word Count: 2000 words (max.)

Important information about Word Count:

The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

1. Evidence of intrinsic analysis close reading) of the literary text;
2. Effective use of analytical techniques as modeled in unit resources;
3. Development of a clear and coherent thesis statement;
4. Clear and effective writing, with correct grammar, spelling and punctuation;
5. Appropriate acknowledgement of all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.

Write an essay of no less than 1500 words. Choose one of the topics listed below, or if you have the confidence you may create your own topic in consultation with the unit coordinator. Compare and contrast at least five (5) set literary texts (from the Unit Anthology) and refer to at least five (5) secondary sources to support your argument. As the final piece of the unit's scaffolded learning and assessment scheme you should aim to synthesize your awareness of extrinsic significance (Ass. 1) with the skills of intrinsic analysis developed in Assessment 2. However, it's important to remember not just look at each text in isolation, sequentially but to treat them as examples supporting a wider argument linking them together.

• For Kusch (2016, p. 3): ‘Literature is a set of texts ... whose purpose includes, but extends beyond, communication, in which the language itself is as much a part of the end product as is the content'. Discuss how this view is exemplified in your selection of five literary texts, while interpreting their various themes and meanings.
• Although a literary text is limited by genre conventions, it is by no means limited in the scope of its perception. With reference to your five chosen literary texts discuss this idea, examining the formal devices (e.g. verse structure, symbols, etc.) and literary modes (allegory, pastiche, etc.) with which writers communicate complex ideas, themes and social issues.
• Terry Eagleton (2007, p. 50) says: ‘The meaning of a narrative is not just the “end” of it, but the process of narration itself.’ In other words, for the literary critic, the formal structures and devices of a text are just as important as what happens to the characters when the action ends. Discuss your selection of set literary texts with an emphasis on formal elements such as point of view, diction, rhyme scheme, etc. 
• According to Bennett and Royle (2016, p. 66), 'there is a complex, destabilizing and perhaps finally undecidable, interweaving of the "real" and the "fictional"; our lives, our real lives, are governed and directed by the stories we read, write and tell ourselves.' In other words, reality tends in a fictional direction and fiction tends towards reality. Discuss this strange loop between life and art by comparing and contrasting five literary texts.
• According to Kusch (2016, p. 134), 'Developing analytical arguments about literature demands that writers balance close readings of textual details with bigger picture meanings.' Likewise, Eaglestone (2017, p. 53) suggests that the best critical response to a literary text combines intrinsic and extrinsic approaches to interpretation. Discuss at least five (5) set texts showing how their genre elements and formal properties generate significance (meanings and themes). 

Word Count: 1500-2000 words (max.)

Important information about Word Count:

The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations. 

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) Within this assessment, the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

1. The ability to develop an argument (expressed in a brief thesis statement) on the selected texts’ meanings, inter-relation, and social relevance;
2. The extent to which identification of genre elements is used to explain the significance of the literary texts;
3. Evidence of close reading and effective use of secondary sources to support argument
4. Clear and effective writing in scholarly essay style;
5. Appropriate acknowledgement of all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style.