Research Paper Assignment

ENG 102

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER

TOPIC DUE APRIL 4^TH (TYPED ONE PARAGRAPH) –WILL BE PART OF YOUR FINAL PAPER GRADE

DRAFT DUE APRIL 6^TH

BEING ABSENT ON THE DAY A PAPER IS DUE DOES NOT GIVE YOU AN EXTENSION.

APRIL 6^TH IS THE ONLY DAY I WILL ACCEPT DRAFTS

FINAL DRAFT DUE APRIL 20TH

5 PAGES

·         You must use at least 3 outside sources to support your thesis.

·         You must use examples from the texts we have read in class and the outside sources. Papers that do not quote outside sources or the text will not pass.

·         Follow MLA guidelines we have discussed all semester (Everything from heading to block quotes to number the pages…everything).

·         Works Cited Page

You may chose your own topic for the final research paper as long it involves a text we covered in class. You must use at least one text from class in your thesis. You can compare or incorporate a text from something you have read elsewhere (this would count as one of your three outside sources). You have to make sure you have a narrow enough topic that this does not turn into a book report. As we have gone over with our first papers, you need to analyze the text you are writing about not simply tell me what happened in them.

Outside Sources can be found at the following cites:

Literaryhistory.com

(Enter the author’s name into the search box and click on the first link it provides)

http://libraryguides.essex.edu/literature

Also visit the class blog to look back on links I provided:

ECCEngcompii.blogspot.com

·         Never end a paragraph with a quote.

·         Cite outside sources within in your text; if it appears on your works cited page it has to be used in the paper (direct quotes or paraphrasing).

·         Always keep in mind: is this quote proving and supporting my thesis? If not, do not use it!

You can do this. Ask me any questions you may have when writing your paper. Ask me in class or email me: Soconnel@essex.edu.

Help Picking a Research Paper Topic

As you all know by now we will begin work on the final research paper soon. Below is a link that I think can help make this task less daunting:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/03/

We will talk about what you can write about next week. Keep in mind that a research paper is not a book report so you'll need to pick a narrow topic that involves one of the text or texts we have read.

Prof. O'Connell

Themes and Symbols from The Hours

Themes:

• The Human Fascination With Mortality

• The Constraint of Societal Roles

• Ordinary Life As More Interesting Than Art

Symbols

• Laura’s Cake

• Richard’s Chair

• The Dead Bird

The Yellow Wallpaper Information for March 9th

The in class essay (midterm) will be on March 9th and will be on "The Yellow Wallpaper". The link below will give you access to a number of articles on the story. As I said you can have your text book with you on the day of the test but no other outside texts. Take some time to look through some of the articles to get a better sense of what the story is about.

http://www.literaryhistory.com/19thC/Gilman.htm

Have a good weekend.

Prof. O'Connell

Nawabdin

This is a favorite short story of mine because it addresses issues of choice and trust. We see Nawabdin, a dishonest man himself in his cheating of the electric company, get cheated by a man on the side of the road. It brings up issues of honesty and whether there different types of "lying" and whether cheating a major company is any different from cheating a man.

I would guess most of us would not feel bad if we got away with not paying our Verizon phone bill for a month but would feel bad about cheating the deli you get coffee from each morning. What is the difference? Clearly a company like Verizon is a faceless corporation that makes billions of dollars a year while the people that own the deli have the same struggles as you and me.

Here a few links related to the story:


http://may-on-the-short-story.blogspot.com/2009/02/nawabdin-electrician-slumdog.html

This link allows you to listen to the author read the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101484912

Second Essay due Wed Feb 23

Prof. O'Connell

"A & P" by John Updike

We will go over Updike's story today in class so I wanted to post some links.


Here is a page with a link to many Updike articles:


http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Updike.htm


Here is a blog entry about Updike's portrayal of women:


http://jmrlblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/nobody-belongs-to-us-except-in-memory-john-updike/



The second essay will be assigned today and is due Wed Feb 23. Here is a link to a database that is very easy to search for outside sources related to literature. Simply enter the author's name in the search bar and it will show you plenty of articles related to that author's work. You will just have to find the articles/journals/critical response that works with YOUR THESIS!


http://www.literaryhistory.com/index.htm

Some Links on Grace

http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/lewiss/Oconnor.htm

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/flannery-oconnors-good-man-hard-find-whos-real-misfit

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Concept-of-Grace-in-A-Goodman-is-Hard-to-Find

http://www.cord.edu/faculty/steinwan/nv13_pence.htm