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Guidelines for the Research-Informed Critical Response Papers for

ENG 225: Survey of World Literature I

 

Your three, research-informed critical/analytical essays must include, in some way, your selected work of literature from the sign-up sheet of the relevant module AND it must use ONE of the following three approaches that you have not used before (NOTE: each approach MUST include a strong thesis as a starting point and should use the linguistic “tools” you learned in ENG 121 and 122 to demonstrate/prove your thesis. Any/all primary and secondary sources cited must be fully documented in your paper as MLA-style in-text citations and in a works cited page):

 

Option 1: Write a 3-4 full pages (not including the works cited page) research-informed compare-and-contrast analytical essay of your chosen work of literature from the sign-up sheet plus one other from our texts based on a topical (or) thematical connection, e.g., two pieces about birds (or) the fear of death.  Use, at least, two scholarly sources, i.e., articles from peer-reviewed academic journals or published books, to support your thesis.

 

Option 2: Write a 3-4 full pages (not including the works cited page) research-informed persuasive/argumentative essay based on your chosen work of literature from the sign-up sheet that will either prove a point, change the reader’s opinion and/or clarify an issue within the work.  Use, at least, two scholarly sources, i.e., articles from peer-reviewed academic journals or published books, to support your thesis.

 

Option 3: Write a 3-4 full pages (not including the works cited page) research-informed “synthesis” paper that integrates and explores the key concepts you understand/absorb/retain from three scholarly articles, i.e. articles from peer-reviewed academic journals or published books, about your chosen work of literature from the sign-up sheet. For more information on how to write a synthesis paper, see the articles I’ve posted on WebCT (or, I will send you by e-mail).

 

REMEMBER: You will write three research-informed critical/analytical papers for this course.  For each of them, you will choose a work from a sign-up sheet that must be used in your thesis. You must also use a different approach for each paper. For example, if you use “Option 3” for paper 1, you must choose either “Option 1” or “Option 2” for paper two.  For the final paper, you must use the final option that you have not yet used in a paper.

 

*For some useful hints on “what makes a good literature paper,” see Purdue University’s article “Writing about Literature” on their Online Writing Lab (OWL) here:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/618/01/

 

**For some practical advice on the mechanics of writing a paper about literature, please see Capital Community College’s page here:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/literature.htm

Finding a scholarly, published book is one thing but if you still need guidance on how to find a scholarly journal article for your chosen literary selection(s), please read the advice at the following links:

From the University of Dayton: http://library.udayton.edu/faqs/howto/findscholarly.php
From the University of North Carolina: http://library.uncg.edu/depts/ref/handouts/scholarlyjournals.asp
An article by eHow writer Heather Walsh: http://www.ehow.com/how_2172535_find-scholarly-articles.html

Remember, you can use their advice for “defining” a scholarly article, but their search engines will only work for the their students. You will need to use the SLU library databases to search and find your own articles.

Please visit me in person during my office hours if you have concerns that can't be handled elsewhere,

Dr. Hobbs