5 Typed Pages Minimum Ccac Trifles Film By Susan
Drama Paper Guidelines
To put it simply, in writing your short drama papers, follow the same format guidelines which I outlined for you for poetry and fiction papers: 3-5 typed pages minimum, 1″ margins, double-spaced. Drama papers should focus on, but are not limited to, the works on the syllabus: Trifles, Hamlet or Seinfeld, Will & Grace or any other drama of your choice. Already I’ve seen many of you be very creative in your thinking about accomplishing the task of a paper; remember, the more satisfied you are with your writing and topic, the more interesting it is for you to write and for readers to read.
The papers I’ve seen so far are very strong in terms of offering an interpretation of a text’s meaning and in providing a sense of your critical thinking and response to poems and fiction. What still needs work, however, is to deal directly with the literary text in advancing your interpretation of its meaning. In other words, show your audience how the author writes the text to create the meaning/response you’re getting. Simply put, how does the text make its meaning? What evidence from that text–in lines, phrases, structure, form, sound, imagery, etc.–can you provide for your reader to demonstrate what you’re telling that reader? This is what I mean by explication, by analysis.
As in the poetry and fiction papers, drama papers should still be explication of text. Unlike poetry and fiction, though, you can’t take on the whole text: it’s too big a project, and the task is too demanding for a short paper. Instead, your aim should be to focus on an aspect or related aspects of the text–plot, conflict, theme, character, setting and stage directions, dialogue, etc.–or interpretation of its meaning–and show how the playwright appears to be creating those aspects through the language of the text. Then, don’t just leave it there; go on to draw some conclusions about the analysis you’ve just done. Think of your reader as responding at the end of your explication with “so what is the significance of what you’ve shown and told me here?”
More specifically, in terms of topics to write about: for Trifles, you can find any number of ideas from: the background information on the play and short story version in your text or in the questions that follow the play. Or, you might go to the library (either here or Hillman Library at Pitt), or the Web, and check out what other writers (critics) have had to say about the play. This might lead you to historical, cultural, social and other kinds of background on the play’s content or issues, or it might lead you to examine what others have found meaningful about Glaspell’s writing.
For Hamlet, I will have posted a list of “considerations” and suggestions for papers to help you think about the text as you read/view it and also a number of handouts (or URLs) regarding modern productions of, and modern issues related to, the play. Any of these can lead to