Dates:
Submit proposal for research paper, March 16. This should consist of a one-page outline in note form, including the research question you are proposing to investigate.
Final essay is due April 4 (worth 25%): 2000 words.
Topic:
Choose a text, writer, or issue that interests you, and that is related to the literature studied during the course, whether term 1 or term 2. For example, if you became interested in Donne, you could make a study of a group of his poems not discussed in class. Or if you found Romantic poetry interesting, you could look at the work of another poet such as Keats. You can also choose to write on a text we discussed in class, but the essay must go significantly beyond the points raised in class. Be sure that you frame the essay in relation to a research question (this will be stated in your thesis sentence(s) in the first paragraph).
What is "research"?
For the purpose of this essay, "research" requires that you look beyond the text or texts you have chosen, and make productive use of contextual information, whether about the author, the text's place in literary history, the historical period in which it was written, or recent critical writing on the author. It doesn't require that you take account of all of these aspects, but you should draw on some significant information or criticism that will help you to situate the text and interpret it. For some example topics, see the notes at the end of the Hardy page. Your final essay is likely to include citations to around six to ten reference sources that contributed to your essay (you will probably examine more references than you actually include).
Sources for research:
General guides to literary research: see Stewart et al., Essay Writing, pp. 498-502. Many of these guides are available in the reference section of the library.
The MLA Bibliography (online here; U of A access only) for journal articles, book chapters, etc. For a number of other bibliographical databases, some providing access to full text online, see this list (most are also U of A access only).
The Internet. There may be useful information to be obtained from an Internet search, but you should be cautious before making use of a particular site. Evaluate the site. Ask: who produced it (is an established scholar responsible for it?); is it up to date? A good place to start for literary sites is the Voice of the Shuttle (but even here, be careful!).
Otherwise, be prepared to browse along the shelves relating to the author you are interested in. A good strategy is to begin with the most recent work you can find, whether book or journal article, and work back from there making use of any promising references it provides.
Format:
Layout of essay: see Stewart et al., Essay Writing, pp. 175-6.
Referencing sources, see Stewart et al., Essay Writing, pp. 272-277. We require MLA style for essays in English.
Document prepared February 27th 2001