English 3385.254 and .255: Children’s Literature
Texas State University—San Marcos
Spring 2013
Caroline E. Jones

Paper Topic March 21, 2013 (10 points)
Minimal requirement: book (or series) title and author (this will get you three points).
For full credit, you must include, as well as the book (or series) title and author, a brief (2-3 sentence) discussion of your literary and/or critical approach—what themes, motifs, developments, ideologies, character qualities, plot or literary elements etc will you explore? Will you employ a critical approach, for instance, a Marxist, feminist, ecocritical, or psychoanalytical reading of your text? Finally, you must include a working thesis statement—this will change as you get more deeply into your research, thinking, and writing. Your working thesis statement is simply the first step of an ongoing writing process.

Paper Workshop April 4, 2013 (200 points):
The paper workshop is a peer response workshop. You will be graded on two components: 1) the draft you bring for your group (100 points), and 2) your responses to your peers (100 points). You will bring to class either an electronic copy (on a laptop) or a hard copy of a FULL WORKING DRAFT of your paper. In groups of three (or sometimes four) you will read at least two other papers, respond to each using the peer review sheet (available on TRACS), and follow the readings with guided discussions of each paper.

You MUST turn in a copy of the workshop draft of your paper in the TRACS assignments folder BEFORE or BY class time on Thursday, April 4, 2013.

Workshop Draft Rubric:
Basic outline: 25 points
1 page: 30 points
Detailed outline: 40 points
2 pages: 60 points
3 pages: 70 points
4 or more pages: 75-80 points
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Working thesis statement (clear, effective, and underlined): 0-10 points
Works Cited page: 0-10 points

Your grade will be one of the top group, plus both of the lower group

Critical Analysis April 18, 2013 (300 points):
This is a combination research paper and critical analysis. Select a children’s novel or picture book, from our course list or beyond it. You must have your book title, paper topic, and thesis statement approved by the instructor—see the paper topic deadline above and on the course schedule.

Offer a close textual and critical analysis, using at least three critical sources (at least two from beyond our semester reading list). You may, but are not required to, take an eco-critical approach: How does the novel or picture book look at the environment? What ideologies (surface or passive; implicit or explicit) about sustainability do you see in the text? What is the role of nature, the environment, and/or sustainability in the themes, plot, and/or characters? No matter what your approach, if you choose a picture book, use Nodelman and Reimer’s chapter twelve for critical grounding.
Source Requirements: • Primary source (novel, picture book, folk or fairy tale) • Critical (literary) source from beyond course reading—this means about literature or literary analysis • Critical (literary) source from beyond course reading—ditto • Critical source (literary or otherwise) from within or beyond course reading • Minimum sources: FOUR (4) • OPTIONAL additional primary sources (novel, picture book,