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.

First Read through the assignment to get a feeling for what you are being asked to do:

Your final assignment for this class is to compare and contrast the varying critical views of a work (short story, novel, or play) that we 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 importanat and releveant biographical information about the author.

An outline for your research paper might look something like this:

I.    Introduction to the author and work

II.   Biographical information about author (This section should be brief).

III. Work's 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.  What did you find to be an interesting aspect

      of the text?  Was there a particular theme that you thought was important?

VI.  Conclusion

NOTE: With preapproval, your paper may focus on a work we did not read together as a class or another topic dealing with American literature before 1865.

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 should have a minimum of 6 sources and 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.  Refer to pages 2165-2191 in your textbook for questions about writing a research paper.   Refer to this link for questions about writing a research paper on a literary topic.

YOU MAY NOT USE INTERNET SOURCES FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB.  YOU MUST USE SOURCES FROM THE LIBRARY OR THE LIBRARY'S ELECTRONIC DATABASES.  Don't forget about electronic books at NETLIBRARY on the library's website.  To get credit, your essay must include at least four to six written outside sources of research information pertaining to your subject.  

Important Dates:

•Topic Proposals Due:  see current class schedule

•Annotated Bibliography due:  see current class schedule

•Final draft with all planning work and reflection:  see current class schedule

NOTE:  Keep all planning work, brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, workshop responses, reflections, and numbered versions of the essay to hand in with the final version of the paper in a 2-pocket folder (for classes that meet in person only, not online).

Your grade for the written portion of 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     72-80

B     64-71

C     56-63

D     48-55

F       0-47

STEP 1

DECIDE ON A TOPIC

As the overview of the project notes below, your topic must be a work by an American author before 1865.

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.

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. 

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.  Each of these items should be discussed in at least one pargraph each.

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., historically, how does the work fit into the American Literary Canon).

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).

See the current class schedule for due date.

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 , 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 10 written sources that deal with your topic that present varying positions and perspectives .  You should ensure that together all ten sources 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 ten 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.

NOTE:  Although you are locating 10 sources, you only need to write annotations for 6 of them.

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 here.

See the current class schedule for due date.

STEP 5

BEGIN DRAFTING YOUR PAPER WITH THE FINAL PRODUCT IN MIND.

See the instructions above for specifics.