Instructions and Possible Topics for the First Paper
Length: Five pages
Form: Double-spaced, one-inch margins” on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Title: Required and descriptive – not “First Paper” or the title of the book or story.
Resources: Consult the “Advice and Writing Help” folder on this class’s Black Board site.
Your paper will offer an argument about some significant aspect of, or issue in, at least one of the texts that we have read so far. I expect it to be an act of literary interpretation, which means that I expect you to read and interpret the text we read as a work of fiction, not history, advice literature, or anything else – except as relevant to understanding the text.
Whatever topic you settle on, you must devise & thesis. What’s the difference? “The sea in The Awakening” is a topic. “In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the sea to represent…” is the opening of a thesis statement. A topic usually produces a paper that lists several instances of the topic’s appearance to show that it in the text and even “important.” Important for what is not a concern of the topic-driven paper. The significance of the subject is central to the thesis-driven paper that you will write! A good thesis is arguable and a good paper makes a good argument that relies on your interpretation of the text, and it draws on insights by other critics if you consult them. A thesis too obvious too need defending introduces a paper that does not need to be written. Choose one that does need to be written.
NOTE, TOO: The topic-as-title is not a good title. “The Sea, Kate Chopin’s Ambiguous Symbol of ,” is much better than “The Sea in the Awakening.”
Instructions and Possible Topics for the First Paper
Length: Five pages
Form: Double-spaced, one-inch margins” on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Title: Required and descriptive – not “First Paper” or the title of the book or story.
Resources: Consult the “Advice and Writing Help” folder on this class’s Black Board site.
Your paper will offer an argument about some significant aspect of, or issue in, at least one of the texts that we have read so far. I expect it to be an act of literary interpretation, which means that I expect you to read and interpret the text we read as a work of fiction, not history, advice literature, or anything else – except as relevant to understanding the text.
The “Works and Worlds of Fiction” page (in the “Advice and Writing Help” folder) offers questions that may help you to focus and gather, your evidence. Nevertheless, you must not ignore the rhetorical dimension of the text. Remember, the world of the text is created by the novel not merely described by it. The historical apparatus in The Marrow of Tradition is not supplied to test Chesnutt’s skill as a journalist, but we can use it to see what he made out of the history as he formed his novel’s world in order to think about the African American experience of Jim Crow America.
Whatever topic you settle on, you must devise & thesis. What’s the difference? “The sea in The Awakening” is a topic. “In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses the sea to represent…” is the opening of a thesis statement. A topic usually produces a paper that lists several instances of the topic’s appearance to show that it in the text and even “important.” Important for what is not a concern of the topic-driven paper. The significance of the subject is central to the thesis-driven paper that you will write! A good thesis is arguable and a good paper makes a good argument that relies on your interpretation of the text, and it draws on insights by other critics if you consult them. A thesis too obvious too need defending introduces a paper that does not need to be written. Choose one that does need to be written.
NOTE, TOO: The topic-as-title is not a good title. “The Sea, Kate Chopin’s Ambiguous Symbol of ,” is much better than “The Sea in the Awakening.”
Instructions and Possible Topics for the First Paper
Length: Five pages
Form: Double-spaced, one-inch margins” on all sides, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Title: Required and descriptive – not “First Paper” or the title of the book or story.
Resources: Consult the “Advice and Writing Help” folder on this class’s Black Board site.
Your paper will offer an argument about some significant aspect of, or issue in, at least one of the texts that we have read so far. I expect it to be an act of literary interpretation, which means that I expect you to read and interpret the text we read as a work of fiction, not history, advice literature, or anything else – except as relevant to understanding the text.
The “Works and Worlds of Fiction” page (in the “Advice and Writing Help” folder) offers questions that may help you to focus and gather, your evidence. Nevertheless, you must not ignore the rhetorical dimension of the text. Remember, the world of the text is created by the novel not merely described by it. The historical apparatus in The Marrow of Tradition is not supplied to test Chesnutt’s skill as a journalist, but we can use it to see what he made out of the history as he formed his novel’s world in order to think about the African American experience of Jim Crow America.
Whatever topic you settle on, you must devise & thesis. What’s the difference? “The sea in The Awakening” is a topic. is the opening of a thesis statement. A topic usually produces a paper that lists several instances of the topic’s appearance to show that it in the text and even “important.” Important for what is not a concern of the topic-driven paper. The significance of the subject is central to the thesis-driven paper that you will write! A good thesis is arguable and a good paper makes a good argument that relies on your interpretation of the text, and it draws on insights by other critics if you consult them. A thesis too obvious too need defending introduces a paper that does not need to be written. Choose one that does need to be written.
