Barry University From Beyond and Cults of Lovecraft Synthesis Essay

Barry University From Beyond and Cults of Lovecraft Synthesis Essay

As you have already learned, the goal of an essay about literature is to offer readers an argument about the power, meaning, and structure of a piece of literature. This was the goal of your Textual Analysis Essay, and it is the primary goal for the Synthesis Essay as well. The difference, however, is that this assignment calls on you to engage in conversation with other literary scholars as you continue to hone your skills in literary analysis.

In this essay, you will use multiple sources provided by your instructor. Your primary text is “From Beyond” by H.P. Lovecraft. Your secondary text(s) is the article(s) Cults of Lovecraft by John Engle.

This is not a research paper, so please do not do further research beyond these sources, and do not cite anything other than these three sources in your essay.

This assignment calls on you to develop skills in synthesis. You will need to position your argument in conversation with Engle. Academic scholarship is often described as “a conversation,” and that’s how you are being asked to treat your secondary sources.

Getting Started

The final result will be a 4-5 page essay that makes a cogent argument about the meaning, power, and/or structure of the primary text supported by deep and rich analysis of the story, and that responds to, complicates, and/or extends the arguments made by scholars.