English 1302 - Peyer, Valerie: "Using Research and Critical Approaches in Your Writing"

Select either your Essay 1 or Essay 2 to expand on for this last essay. Expand the close reading you did for your selected work into an essay that not only discusses an important issue raised in your literary work, but also analyzes important elements or aspects of the piece. By researching a topic/issue raised in your literary work, by using a Critical Approach (or approaches), and by analyzing elements of your literary work, develop and defend an interpretation about the work you selected.  

Your final polished essay must include the following criteria:

• A thesis statement that states your claim (your central message or interpretation)
• Textual Evidence from your selected work and secondary sources (quotations, paraphrases, and references to the text) in support of your thesis statement. Use 3 secondary sources, with at least 2 sources coming from the SAC library.
• Analysis/Commentary that clearly explains how the evidence you include in your paper is significant to the overall interpretation
• Multiple paragraphs: intro with thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion
• Works Cited page listing the literary work and the secondary sources (at least 3) you are using
• Adheres to MLA citation and formatting guidelines

Audience: Address an academic audience that knows the literary work but wants to understand it better.

Purpose: To convince your audience that your interpretation/argument has merit by supporting your claims with reasons and sufficient, typical, accurate, and relevant evidence.

Format: Your paper must follow MLA standards and must include a Works Cited page.

Length: At least 1,100 words

As always, don’t feel you have to cover everything. Think about what your focus is. Your interpretation should be based on careful close reading of the text. Your analysis should examine some part or facet of the work to enrich our understanding of the text. Rather than covering all of the possible meanings of your selection, an effective essay advances a specific interpretation of—or argument about—the text, drawing upon supporting evidence from your literary piece and your secondary sources.

Suggestions:

• Student Examples: Review pages 1121 – 1125 and pages 2074 - 2083 to see how two students approached this type of assignment.
• Review your original essay (Essay 1 or Essay 2) and decide how you could narrow down your focus. Think about what to keep and what to omit. Re-read your literary work carefully and try to allow time between readings. Take extensive notes as you read.
• Develop a problem or question you’d like to examine. Examining the bigger issues in your piece is always a good place to start. (Examples: To what extent have we moved past societal pressures of image, as presented in Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll”? or Considering the narrator’s situation in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” what conversations are occurring today around postpartum depression?
• Make sure that your essay offers a clear, well-organized argument (interpretation) about the text. If your ideas seem jumbled, consider reworking your outline or narrowing the focus of your paper.
• Details and evidence are crucial. Does your essay include significant information from your piece and your sources to support your interpretation? Does your essay provide sufficient and relevant lines from the text (brief quotes, paraphrases, references), as well as your own explanation and commentary to support your argument?
• Use the correct MLA format when you quote, paraphrase, or summarize another person's words or ideas.

The key to this last essay is planning ahead. Students should seriously begin thinking about their research essay during Week 10.

Although the research essay will be our last major writing assignment for the semester, we will work on several project components beginning Week 10. Each component will contribute X amount of points toward the final copy of the paper, culminating in the final research paper project grade.

Handouts for the proposal, annotated bibliography, and 4 paragraphs draft will be posted in the Research Paper Project Module. Students are responsible for accessing Canvas for the following assignment details. In the meantime, note the following weekly due dates for each component:

Week Due                                    Component                            Possible Points Earned   

                                                                                                      (leading up to the final copy):

Wk 11           Typed Research Proposal due ……………...……..……..…15 pts.

Wk 12           Typed Annotated Bibliography due…….…….……… ...… 15 pts.

Wk 13           Typed First 4 Paragraphs w/ Outline & Works Cited due …20 pts.

Wk 14           Research Paper due …………………………………...……50 pts.