In the analysis paper, I asked you to write about a fictional text using only your own ideas. This assignment will ask you to go to the next level and engage with another writer's analysis of the function of social norms and differences. Your paper should respond to one of the assigned non-fiction readings by Lennard Davis, Garnette Cadogan or Susan Bordo. If you have another essay about difference in mind from outside of this course, you may request my approval to write about that instead.

Your paper could respond to the writer's argument in one of several ways. You might agree with the writer's perspective and add to it by making an argument about an aspect of the topic that they don't consider. Alternatively, you might challenge the writer's point of view and present your own instead. Be sure to avoid the pitfalls that we discussed earlier in the module. Look back at the lecture slides on "Joining the Conversation" if you have any doubts.

While responding to your chosen text, your paper should present a well-structured argument in its own right, and with its own distinct thesis. Your reader should not need to have read the other text in order to understand yours. While you might provide a summary of Davis's argument, for example, your paper should not follow the structure of Davis's own, addressing each point that he makes in turn. As with any paper that you write for this class, the structure should make sense for your thesis, and use evidence from the other text as and when it is necessary to support the points that you are making.

Again, you are not asked to do additional research for this paper. If you choose to do so, you may refer to a maximum of one additional "primary" text (a piece of advertising, for example, if responding to Bordo) and one additional "secondary" text (which could be a writer who disagrees with your chosen writer's argument or provides a different perspective on the same topic). It goes without saying that any texts you cite (including the one you are responding to directly) must be cited correctly in MLA format.