American literature, including research into the socio-cultural and/or critical context of the work.

L 354 Research Paper Guidelines

The research paper should be a critical analysis of one or two works of American literature, including research into the socio-cultural and/or critical context of the work. The research paper should be 2500-3000 words in length (about 10-15 pages), refer to at least five scholarly sources, and be documented in MLA style.

Two kinds of research are possible. If you are interested in the social, cultural or historical background of the work, you can investigate these issues by consulting scholarly sources and applying what you learn to an interpretation of the work. For instance, you could investigate the economic situation in the South after the Civil War in order to better understand class conflict in William Faulkner, but the primary focus should remain on Faulkner (i.e. don’t turn it into a history or economics paper).

Or your research can focus on what literary critics have said about the work. In this case, your task is to find out what others have said about the work and contribute to the ongoing critical conversation in an original way. It is also possible to combine socio-cultural and literary research, as many contemporary scholars do.

Scholarly sources are found in peer reviewed academic journals. You can find these sources by searching the MLA International Bibliography, Project Muse and J-Stor through the library’s website. If you’re not sure how to locate scholarly sources, come to my office for a tutorial.

Your first task is generating a good topic: one that interests you enough to sustain you through the long writing process, that is complex enough to give you plenty to say, but that can be adequately dealt with in the scope of the paper you have to write.

1. Begin by re-reading the text, or at least crucial parts of it. Pay close attention to how your second reading differs from the first. What do you notice now that you missed the first time? What aspects of the text stand out? Why do you notice them? What issues do they raise?

2. Try to answer a question that you are genuinely curious about.

3. Follow up on a connection between this text and another.

4. Use a particular critical tool or theory to explore an aspect of the text.

Moving from topic to thesis: If you can generate a good question, your thesis will be the concise answer to that question. The thesis needs to be arguable, a statement that reasonable people could differ over, not a simple assertion of fact. “How” and “Why” questions are usually the most productive.

Some general questions that can be modified for different works:

What does the work suggest about the time and place it was written and the values of the author and audience?

What techniques of characterization are used to guide and limit readers’ responses?

How does the author convey the “ethnic or local flavor” of the characters and setting to an audience of outsiders?

How does the setting(s) contribute to major themes?

Hunt for symbols: What symbolic values are inherent in our culture? How does the work build on or modify these?

What tensions or ambiguities can you find? How does the text attempt to resolve these?

Which words and phrases are repeated? How do these motifs contribute to the meaning of the text?

How does the work compare with others that tackle the same themes?

Remember that your thesis will evolve as you learn more about the topic and discover new ideas. Often the final thesis emerges in writing the conclusion to the first draft of the essay, so don’t let the hunt for a perfect thesis keep you from developing the body of your paper.

Use quotes from the text to support your argument. Cite key passages and then discuss them. If something is worth quoting, it’s worth talking about. Don’t ever fall into the trap of believing that “the quotes speak for themselves,” or somehow make your argument for you. Use long quotes (over three lines) sparingly, and only when your reader needs to have the exact words in front of him to understand what you’re saying about the text. As a rule of thumb, your comments after a quote should be at least as long as the quote itself. If you don’t have that much to say about the quote, paraphrase part of it to provide context and only quote the key words.

Pay attention to the transitions between paragraphs. Each transition should advance your argument by making a connection between the ideas in the two paragraphs.

The conclusion should do more than merely restate your thesis. After all, the first time your readers saw your thesis we hadn’t read your paper. By the end of the paper our understanding of your argument should be more nuanced, and the conclusion should reflect a deeper understanding of the text than was possible at the beginning.

I enjoy discussing possible paper topics and commenting on draft essays, and I’ll be happy to help you along the way, but you’ll need to take the initiative and ask for help. See me before or after class, during office hours, or make an appointment. If you have a draft, you can also send it to me by e-mail, and I’ll add marginal comments. If you send me a draft a week in advance of the deadline, I’ll have comments to you in a day or two, and then you’ll have time to revise.

For more information on what I’ll be looking for and how your paper will be evaluated, consult the “Evaluation grid for the research paper” available in canvas>files.