Description
The Research Project is the primary focus of ENG 210. For this project, you will choose a short story from the list provided, read and analyze that story, and use library databases to engage in secondary research about the story, its author, the historical context, and/or issue(s) the story examines Much of your work during the second half of the semester will involve researching and reading about different perspectives that relate to your short story. A broad, deep knowledge base surrounding your topic is critical to a thorough, successful research paper—you cannot write authoritatively about a subject without a comprehensive understanding of the issues and contexts surrounding it, including perspectives in opposition to your own. So, the more research you do, the better your final paper will be! We will discuss how to locate, evaluate and utilize various resources that will be crucial to your work. If you have additional questions or concerns at any point during your research process, please don’t hesitate to contact me or our class librarian for help. I will be guiding you throughout this process as you engage in several major and minor assignments that help lead you to the final product, including a Research Proposal and an Annotated Bibliography, as well as smaller assignments, like brainstorming, outlining, drafts, and peer review. Each assignment component is carefully structured to support the development of the final product. Ultimately, the project will culminate in a 6-7-page essay–an extended literary analysis of a chosen short story that engages with secondary research to support an analytic argument organized logically for audience understanding and delivered in a polished final product. The end product should not be a catalog or summary of a current phenomenon or situation, but rather an argument in which you take a critical position on your primary text and situate your voice in the conversation with other scholars. Final Paper Requirements: 6-7 page research-based essay (not including Works Cited page) 1-primary source (literary text) 4-5 secondary sources (3 of which must be scholarly/peer reviewed) MLA-style citation and format for both in-text citations and a final Works Cited For the Final Research Paper, you will use all of your developing skills in summary, analysis and synthesis to develop and pursue your own line of inquiry by embarking on an extended investigation into a literary text. Your analysis of a primary text will be informed and complicated by the work of other experts in the field, as well as research into the social-historical context in which the primary text was set and/or written. The end product will be a thoughtful, critical, and persuasive thesis-driven article about the meaning, power, and/or structure of a literary text supported through literary analysis and supported and/or complicated by secondary sources.
