You have to create a context for your written contribution. As I noted earlier, Bartholomae echoes the spirit of our course when he suggests that we need to use "the work of one author ... as a frame for reading and interpreting the work of another"(18). Your task is to summarize the "frame," way of thinking, or theoretical concept. It's also a way to introduce key vocabulary and definitions that you will then repeat as you write your essay. Every application essay you write must do this.

This is the skeleton outline. You may be able to do it in one paragraph, but it may take two. Take no more than one to one and a half pages.

1. First, introduce and contextualize the text by answering "Who wrote or produced the text?" "When was it published, screened, or produced?" "What else was going on in the political, social, or literary world?" Second, briefly and neutrally describe the text and plot. "What is the text about?" Consider this example:

1. A "graphic novel," Maus I was first serialized in a somewhat different form in the underground comix magazine Raw between 1980 and 1985, then cast in book form in 1986 under the title Maus: A Survivor's Tale, I: My Father Bleeds History. Parts of volume two, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, II: And Here My Troubles Began, were also published in Raw, but arrived in book form in 1991 along with a CD ROM version produced by Voyager in 1994 which includes interviews, color sketches, camp maps, journal entries, family photographs, and early drafts. Maus is a hybrid of sorts, crossing multiple genres. At once biography, autobiography, history, novel, and of course, comic strip, the books record the life of Art Spiegelman's father Vladek Spiegelman, from prewar Poland to Auschwitz to Rego Park, New York. Importantly, this story is told within a self-reflexive and guilt ridden frame-tale, blurring the boundary between Art Spiegelman the artist, and "Art Spiegelman" the character.
   

2. Ask a question, point out a problem or interesting aspect of the text, or summarize a misguided interpretation--all in an effort to say, "How do we make sense of this text? Or in the case of a couple of your essays, "Is it any good?"

You can also use aspects of introduction strategy #1 at this point. Summarize a "naïve" reading of the text, then problematize it or point out unanswered questions or problems. You still need to create a motive for the theory to follow.

3. Introduce the theory/concept you plan to use.

Briefly summarize the theory or concept you plan to use to answer the questions or solve the problems. Be sure to cite a small passage and talk about it. To start, say something along the lines of ...

1. Louis Althusser's concept of "interpellation" provides a useful way to talk about identify and culture. For Althusser, "interprellation" refers to ...
   

2. 
   

3. One way to make sense of this vexing text is to think of it as a "performance." Julian Wolfreys argues that a performance text requires....
   

4. 4.Given the theory or concept you chose, what's your point?
   

It must pass the "I will prove" test. That is, I don't want you to write the words "I will prove that…" but if you can't mumble the words before your thesis and still have it make sense, then it's probably not a clear thesis statement.