ENG 231, Semester Research Project
This page details each of the major steps you will take in completing your semester research project.
This project will provide you with an opportunity to learn about an author and their work in detail.
At this point in your college career, you should be familiar with the research process, but if you need to brush up here's a good site that explains the research process step-by-step.
STEP 1
READ THE ASSIGNMENT AND DECIDE ON A TOPIC
As the overview of the project notes below, your topic must be a work by an American author before 1865. This can be a work that we have read as a class together, but it doesn't have to be.
You will first need to explore your textbook for a work and author that interest you. Most of the important American writers that were working before 1865 will be found there.
When you locate an author/work that you feel you may want to research, go to the library databases and complete a search for that author/work. Skim over some of these materials to get a feel for the topic. The databases Literature Resource Center, Academic Search Premeir, and Masterfile Premeir, will be good resources for you.
It is very important that you choose a work and author that interests you and that you want to learn more about it. This will make the research process proceed smoothly for you.
THE ASSIGNMENT:
Your final assignment for this class is to compare and contrast the varying critical views of a work (short story, novel, or play). This can be a work that we did or did not read together as a class this semester.
Sometimes much is gained from an examination of differing critical opinions on topics like “The Meaning of Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter," “The Idea of the True Self as Developed by Walt Whitman" or “The Limits of Knowlege in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.” Such a study would attempt to determine the critical opinion and taste to which a work did or did not appeal, and it might also aim at conclusions about whether the work was in the advance or rear guard of its time. You will also need to place the work historically. How was it viewed at the time of publication? Has the view of the text changed at all over the years. What specific elements of the text were valued in the past? How/why is the text still relevant today, and will it remain a relevant American text in the future. You should also include important and releveant biographical information about the author as it relates to the text under discussion.
Purpose
In this type of paper a writer is forming an academic argument. Essentially what you are writing here is a textual history. As the writer you are arguing whether you feel this text will be remembered and or a "relevant" text to American literature in 50 years. Keep in mind that you are arguing that your view is a valid one (not the only one as someone else in class may disagree with you and may be able to support that position with evidence as well).
Audience
Your audience is made up of academics, scholars, literary critics, professors, and students (who are academics, scholars, and literary critics). This audience may be somewhat familiar with the text itself; however, you are to assume that they no nothing of the varying critical views of this text. It is your job to educate them in this regard.
Because your audience is a scholarly one, your paper must be presented in a formal manner. You should use high diction and avoid first person, personal pronouns (you, we, us, me, mine, my, our, ours) and contractions.
Focus
The focus of your paper is to explain whether or not you feel this text will be remembered and/or relevant to American literature in 50 years. You must support your argument with evidence. This evidence will be the varying critical views of other critics.
You may choose any work by an American author that is published in our textbook, but the work must have appeared before 1865. If you have a favorite early journal, short story, collection of poems, or novel and that author's name is not on the list, ask me about it. Chances are that it will be okay too. It should be a work, however, that is considered “literature,” not genre fiction, it must be by an American author, and must have appeared before 1865.
WARNING: Your paper SHOULD NOT be a report about the author's life. You should focus on what you find to be an interesting and important aspect of the book/work. If you choose to discuss the author's life, you should only relate those events from their life that may have impacted the content of the work somehow.
Organization
I.Introduction to the author and work
II. Biographical information about author (this section should be very brief and you should only related material that is relevant to the author's work that you are discussing).
III. A brief plot summary of the work
III. Works historical importance OR Work’s critical reception upon publication ( look at a minimum of 3 book reviews)
IV. Varying critical views of the work (by at least three critics); critical views
examine the deeper meaning of the text
V. Discuss briefly your own critical view of the work and whether you
agree or disagree with any of these critics.
VI. Conclusion
Format
Your essay should have a title. It should also be typed, double-spaced, with one inch margins all around, Times New Roman Font, & 12 pt. Refer to your handbook: The Writer’s Brief Handbook for other questions about format. Your essay should be a minimum of 4 pages and no more than 6 (This does not include the works cited page). You must include a works cited page in proper MLA style as well as a copy of each source with all information used, paraphrased, or quoted highlighted. Each copy of a source must be clearly identified as to author, publication, and clear page numbers. Remember that literary criticism is formal academic writing. The first person, personal pronouns, and contractions should be avoided.
YOU MAY NOT USE WRITTEN INTERNET SOURCES. To receive credit, your essay must include at least four to six written outside sources of research information pertaining to your subject.
Again, Academic Premeir, Masterfile Premeir, and Literature Resource center will be good sources of info for you:
In addition, you should locate books at the CPCC or Charlotte Mecklenburg Public libraries.
Some Important Points to Remember About the Basic Structure of an Essay:
Your introduction should clearly and completely introduce your topic to your reader. In other words, it should preview the entire content of your essay. You must also state a clear claim in your intro. In this case, you are to argue whether you feel the text you have chosen will be remembered and/or relevant in 50 years. Your claim should be one sentence.
Use the body of your paper to prove this claim (see steps II-V in the outline above). The details of your argument are placed in the body.
The conclusion should present a concise summary of the argument presented in the body of your paper and should also restate your claim (using different language then used in its presentation in the intro). When read together, the intro and conclusion should form ONE IDEA.
Basic Rules about MLA citation:
You must cite at the end of each paraphrase and directly after each direct quote. Each sentence of a paraphrase or direct quote must include a signal phrase/author tag (i.e., Smith argues that, Smith claims, Smith explains, Smith points out, etc.). The signal phrase signals to your reader that the ideas found in a sentence belong to a source and not to yourself. If you do not include a signal phrase in a paraphrase of direct quote, you have plagiarized. For instance, if the following idea was from a source, you would have plagiarized even if you provided a citation at the end: "Melville was influenced in the writing of Moby-Dick by the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, whom he met in 1850 and to whom he dedicated Moby-Dick" (Smith).
Without the signal phrase, the above sentence would be considered plagiarized because you did not use the signal phrase (and therefore didn't explain show who made the statement). It should read, Smith claims that "Melville was influenced in the writing of Moby Dick by the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, whom he met in 1850 and to whom he dedicated Moby-Dick" (Smith).
For other information about MLA citation, see your handbook or OWL at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
Your grade for this assignment will be determined as follows:
Total Possible Points: 100
Final Draft, evaluated on the following criteria:
Focus (22 points): Does essay have a clear purpose? Overall claim stated? Focus on a single idea or aspect of the literature?
Development (22 points): Does the author introduce the author and work, placing them historically within the American liteary canon? Does the author provide relevant biographical information about author? Give a brief plot summary of the work? Does the author discuss the work's historical importance OR its critical reception upon publication? Present varying critical views of the work (by at least three critics)? Does the author briefly discuss their own critical view of the work and whether they
agree or disagree with any of these critics? Does the writer explain for the reader how the evidence supports interpretation? Does writer quote accurately from the source, including citing specific page numbers?
Organization (22 points): Do first few sentences arouse the reader’s interest and focus their attention on the subject? Are readers expectations set and clearly met? Do paragraphs have clear focus, unity and coherence? Effective transitions?
Style (7 points): Is language clear direct and readable? Are sentences clear, concise, and easily read by intended audience? Is word choice appropriate for audience? Do sentences reveal and sustain appropriate voice and tone? Does writer use the literary present tense to describe events in the story?
Mechanics (7 points): Are there obvious errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Are there patterns of error?
Grading scale:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 0-59
STEP 2
DECIDE ON A FOCUS
Although you need to touch on all of the items listed below in the overview such as historical importance of your text, its relevance, etc., ask yourself what interests you most about the text and explore that. Perhaps you can formulate a thesis about this interest. Chances are if you find this aspect of your text interesting, so will your reader.
STEP 3
WRITE YOUR TOPIC PROPOSAL
Semester Research Project Topic Proposal
Your first task related to the semester research project is to first choose a topic for study. A project proposal will help organize your thoughts for the research task at hand. Your proposal should be a minimum of one page (and no more than 2) typed, double-spaced and repsond to the following five items:1. Introduce the author and work that you wish to examine and present your topic in question form (This will be your research question; i.e., remember that the assignment asks you to argue whether or not your chosen author/text will be remembered and relevant to American literature in 50 years, so your question needs to addresss this; i.e, Will Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter be remembered and relevant to American literature in 50 years?).
2. Explain why this particular author and work are compelling to you.
3. Describe what you already know about them.
4. Explain what more you need to learn.
5. Discuss where you plan to look for research material (i.e. specific library databases that you might use, etc. You might want to see a librarian for help with this question).
The topic proposal is due: Monday, 2/1/10
This is how your proposal will be graded:
Total Points: 10/
The writer Introduces the author and work they wish to examine and presents their topic in question form (2 points).
Writer explains why this particular author and work is compelling to them (2 points).
Writer describes what they already know about the author work (2 points).
Writer explains what more they need to learn (2 points)
Writer discusses where they plan to look for research material (2 points).
Grading Scale:
A 18-20
B 16-17
C 14-15
D 12-13
F 0-11
STEP 4
BEGIN YOUR SEARCH FOR SOURCES AND COMPLETE THE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
As the overview of the project notes below, YOU MAY NOT USE SOURCES FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB. To receive credit, your essay must include at least four to six written outside sources of research information pertaining to your subject. These sources must be from the library's databases or hard copies from the library's collection of books, magazines, journals, and newspapers.
Don't forget that in addition to the CPCC library, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is a very good resource. The main branch is located in uptown at the corner of 6th and College, but there are other branches all over the county.
The Annotated Bibliography
This assignment is crucial; it allows you to explore various critical views on your author and work and prepare some research before you dive into the drafting of your paper. After selecting your topic, you can begin searching. Remember to select articles and references carefully and to be suspicious when deciding which articles to use (is the source credible?).
First, you should locate six written sources that ANSWER YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION FROM YOUR TOPIC PROPOSAL AND adequately addresses and illustrates all of the items below:
I. Biographical information about author
III. A brief plot summary of the work
III. Works historical importance OR Work’s critical reception upon publication ( you may ook at book reviews from the time period if you can locate them or simpy discuss what modern book critics have stated about the work's
historical imporantance)
IV. Varying critical views of the work (by at least three critics); critical views
examine the deeper meaning of the text
Make sure to vary your sources (printed articles [not available on-line], full-text articles from the library’s electronic databases, books, magazines, academic journals, etc.). You should have at least three different types of sources. YOU CAN NOT USE INTERNET SOURCES FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB (Except to locate images). Remember to print a copy of the source.
Once you have decided on your six sources, you will have to read and analyze them and take extensive notes. You should carefully read each source, underlining any ideas that you feel are important and/or those that elicit a strong personal response. As you are reading, record your own personal responses in the margins of the article. If they are long or book-length articles, then do your best to skim them. Always look at the table of contents, the chapter headings, and the index or bibliography in the back. You can learn a lot about a book from doing these things before you read it at length. You will then go back and read carefully the parts that are relevant to your paper.
Next, you should write the article's annotation. Make a list (include images as well). List the sources alphabetically by author’s last name, using MLA style, and then write an eight-to-ten sentence blurb summarizing each of your ten sources. Make sure to identify the author’s thesis in your summary and other important points made in the article. Finally, indicate in a sentence how you might use the source in your paper. Here is an example (but you will double space everything):
Pitts, Leonard. “Parents’ Influence is Limited.” The Dallas Morning News. 2 February 2002, 27A.
In this editorial, Pitts first claims that people are too quick to blame a child’s parents if the child does something wrong. In fact, he says, parents might even enjoy pointing the finger at other parents who have a child in trouble. However, he tell us, once he had his own children, he became more humble and realized that no matter how “good” parents are, children will still do things that are “bad” and against the “rules” that guided how they were raised. This leads him to an example: a song by Marvin Gaye, suggesting that parents should stop trying to mold children “like their own piece of clay.” Finally, he argues that parents should keep offering wisdom, guidance, and love, but stop thinking that they are the ultimate influence on their children’s lives. I will use this article to illustrate the perspective of those that believe when a child does something bad, the blame is too easily placed on parents.For an additional example, click the link below:
The complete Annotated Bibliography is due Wednesday, March 17, 2007.
STEP 5
OUTLINE AND BEGIN DRAFTING YOUR PAPER WITH THE FINAL PRODUCT IN MIND.
See instructions in step 1 above.
Now, after completing your topic proposal and annotated bibliography, you should be ready to begin drafting your paper.
Look back at your research proposal. In paragraph one of that proposal, you were asked to form a research question. The example I gave was "Will Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter be remembered and relevant to American literature in 50 years?
Answer your research question in one sentence. This is your tentative thesis statement.
Mine my be, "Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter be remembered and relevant to American literature in 50 years.
This will be the tentative focus of my paper.
Now, imagine "because" after the end of that statement: "Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter be remembered and relevant to American literature in 50 years <because>.
Do the same for your tentative thesis. Imagine because after your thesis. Based on your research, how would you answer this?
Your reasons "because" will become the topic sentences of your body paragraphs.
Develop a rough outline for your paper. After you have read about your sources and thought about how you might use them in a paper, the next step is to begin to organize your thoughts and your research material in a manner that communicates your thesis in a coherent way.
After you have outlined your ideas, you should begin drafting your paper. DON'T FORGET TO CITE USING MLA CITATION AS YOU GO! YOU MUST ALSO COMPLETE A WORKS CITED PAGE!
Don't forget that you must introduce a source the first time you use. Afterward, you must use a signal phrase when you paraphrase or directly quote. Each sentence that is paraphrased or directly quoted must have an author tag/signal phrase! If you do not use one, you have plagiarized! In addition to the signal prhase/author tag, you must also include an in-text citation and list that work on your works cited page.
STEP 6: REVISION
After you have a rough draft, review the instructions above and the grading rubric to ensure that you have included everything that you need. You should also examine your paper to make sure that is focused (has a clear thesis) and is well organized.
STEP 7: EDIT
Check for spelling and punctuation errors.
STEP 8: REFLECTION
After you have completed your paper, please complete an informal reflection:
Your reflection must be submitted in Blackboard, along with your final draft, in the textbox provided for your paper (just copy and paste).
Failure to submit a reflection will result in a one letter grade deduction for the final grade for this project.
