Professional Examples

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Professional Examples

Before we begin writing, let’s examine an example of a critical lens essay.

You can check out examples from former students by reading critical essays on Anthem, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World.

Below are professional examples for each critical lens, all written by Lois Tyson in Critical Theory Today: A User Friendly Guide. They’re all written about the novel The Great Gatsby. If you’ve never read Gatsby, that’s ok. You can still gain a better understanding of the critical lens by looking at an example of a well-written critical lens essay.

Choose the essay below for the lens you’d like to use for your essay. Note that each file begins with a list of questions that theorists writing from that lens might ask. I’ve left the list in these files since they might help your thinking. Then, after the list of questions, the actual essay begins.

As you read, consider these questions:

What types of information and evidence are included?
What types of information and evidence are not included?
How are quotes gained from the literary texts treated differently from evidence gained from the critical lens?
Where and how is analysis included in the piece?

Also take a few moments to analyze the author’s organization in this example:

How does the introduction orient the reader to the topic?
How long are the paragraphs? Why did the writer decide to separate the paragraphs in the way they did?
What kinds of transitions are used?

How does the conclusion articulate the implications or significance of the analysis?