Write a Research Paper
Budget: $30 – $250 USD
Length: 5 pgs., EXCLUDING the works cited page
Research/Documentation: It is mandatory that you conduct research for this assignment. You must use at least FIVE sources, and at least TWO of these sources MUST be scholarly journal articles. In addition to using outside research for this assignment, you may also use specific textual examples, depending on your topic.
This assignment requires you to use appropriate MLA documentation. When you write an academic paper, you must cite all the sources that you have used, even if you don’t quote them directly. MLA requires all sources to be documented with a system of parenthetical citations keyed to a list of works cited. A list of works cited is a list of works that you quoted, paraphrased or alluded to in the text of your paper. Failure to cite your sources will lead to plagiarism (passing off the words and ideas of others as your own). Plagiarism is a very serious academic offense.
Formatting: Your first page should include an MLA style heading (beginning one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type your name, your instructor’s name, the course number, and the date on separate lines, double-spacing between the lines). Your title should also appear on the first page of your paper (below the heading, centered). The entire paper should be typed, double spaced with one inch margins. Use Times New Roman as your font style and 12pt as your font size or Calibri as your font style and 11pt as your font size. Be sure to number your pages beginning on page 2.
Topic: Using your Norton Anthology and course lectures/discussions, choose a topic in American literature from its inception through 1865 for further investigation. Suggestions include (but are not limited to) the following:
Conduct outside research on one of the major course themes (e.g., reasons for settlement, what constitutes Southern literature, victims in settler/Native American conflicts, etc.) as it applies to a specific work(s) in Early American Literature. You must develop a position which you support with evidence BEYOND what has been presented in the course lectures.
Investigate an author and discuss the relationship between the author and his/her work. How did the author’s background and life experiences impact what he/she wrote about? If the work is fictional, can you see any parallels between the author’s life and the fictional work? Use literary criticism/research to support your claim(s).
Discuss the way in which the time period a work was written significantly impacted its content and/or meaning or analyze particular passages that reflect the time period in which the work was written. Use literary criticism/research to support your claim(s).
Compare/contrast two works or authors. Incorporate literary criticism/outside research to support your claim(s).
Use literary theory (e.g., psychoanalytic, New Historicism/cultural studies, feminist, etc.) to analyze a work. Incorporate literary criticism/outside research to support your analysis.
*Note: If you have an idea for a way to address an issue in Early American Literature not included on this list, please get my approval.
Again, your investigation should go beyond the headnote provided in your text and/or the information presented in the course.
Also, don’t forget what you learned in English Comp: Your paper should have an introduction, body, and conclusion. You must have a thesis statement that is positioned at the end of your introduction. Your thesis statement declares the main point or controlling idea of your paper. It is specific and opinionated. It is not broad or general. It makes a claim that you will spend the rest of your paper supporting. As this is a research paper, your introduction should place your thesis within the larger, ongoing scholarly discussion about the topic.
Research/Documentation: It is mandatory that you conduct research for this assignment. You must use at least FIVE sources, and at least TWO of these sources MUST be scholarly journal articles. In addition to using outside research for this assignment, you may also use specific textual examples, depending on your topic.
This assignment requires you to use appropriate MLA documentation. When you write an academic paper, you must cite all the sources that you have used, even if you don’t quote them directly. MLA requires all sources to be documented with a system of parenthetical citations keyed to a list of works cited. A list of works cited is a list of works that you quoted, paraphrased or alluded to in the text of your paper. Failure to cite your sources will lead to plagiarism (passing off the words and ideas of others as your own). Plagiarism is a very serious academic offense.
Formatting: Your first page should include an MLA style heading (beginning one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type your name, your instructor’s name, the course number, and the date on separate lines, double-spacing between the lines). Your title should also appear on the first page of your paper (below the heading, centered). The entire paper should be typed, double spaced with one inch margins. Use Times New Roman as your font style and 12pt as your font size or Calibri as your font style and 11pt as your font size. Be sure to number your pages beginning on page 2.
Topic: Using your Norton Anthology and course lectures/discussions, choose a topic in American literature from its inception through 1865 for further investigation. Suggestions include (but are not limited to) the following:
Conduct outside research on one of the major course themes (e.g., reasons for settlement, what constitutes Southern literature, victims in settler/Native American conflicts, etc.) as it applies to a specific work(s) in Early American Literature. You must develop a position which you support with evidence BEYOND what has been presented in the course lectures.
Investigate an author and discuss the relationship between the author and his/her work. How did the author’s background and life experiences impact what he/she wrote about? If the work is fictional, can you see any parallels between the author’s life and the fictional work? Use literary criticism/research to support your claim(s).
Discuss the way in which the time period a work was written significantly impacted its content and/or meaning or analyze particular passages that reflect the time period in which the work was written. Use literary criticism/research to support your claim(s).
Compare/contrast two works or authors. Incorporate literary criticism/outside research to support your claim(s).
Use literary theory (e.g., psychoanalytic, New Historicism/cultural studies, feminist, etc.) to analyze a work. Incorporate literary criticism/outside research to support your analysis.
*Note: If you have an idea for a way to address an issue in Early American Literature not included on this list, please get my approval.
Again, your investigation should go beyond the headnote provided in your text and/or the information presented in the course.
Also, don’t forget what you learned in English Comp: Your paper should have an introduction, body, and conclusion. You must have a thesis statement that is positioned at the end of your introduction. Your thesis statement declares the main point or controlling idea of your paper. It is specific and opinionated. It is not broad or general. It makes a claim that you will spend the rest of your paper supporting. As this is a research paper, your introduction should place your thesis within the larger, ongoing scholarly discussion about the topic.