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pmla-scholarly-positioning

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Use when positioning a PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association) essay within the critical conversation so it reads as a significant contribution to literary and language studies. PMLA readers span periods, languages, and schools, so the essay must engage the criticism they expect and stake a clear intervention. Stakes the contribution; it does not write the literature survey.

PMLA-Skills/skills/pmla-scholarly-positioning/SKILL.md

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# Scholarly Positioning (pmla-scholarly-positioning)

PMLA publishes essays that **address a significant problem** for a broad membership. Positioning is
how you show the problem is real and that your essay moves the conversation — not throat-clearing. The
goal is to place the essay where scholars across periods and methods can see the stakes and the move.

## When to trigger

- Drafting or revising the introduction and the "intervention" paragraph
- A reader said you "ignore obvious criticism" or "don't engage the debate"
- Your period/field reading is solid but the essay doesn't reach the wider membership
- You need to distinguish your reading from the closest prior critics

## How PMLA wants the conversation engaged
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