Final research Paper

10-12 pages, 12 point font, double spaced

Due April 23rd by 6:30 to turnitin.com

For your research paper in this class, you'll be analyzing a literary (or otherwise appropriate; let me know if you want to do a film, etc.) work, just as you have done in the past.  That means conducting research to see what other critics are saying about the work and entering the conversation about it armed with your own, original, opinionated thesis statement.

What may be new for most of you is the added "layer" of theory this paper will need.  You need to choose one (or two at the most, I'd advise) of our theorists with whom to get cozy and intimate.  Spend some time thinking about how this author's ideas are reflected in and to what extent they shape your analysis of the work you've chosen.  Then quote that writer/theorist while building your argument.  You don't have to stick to quotes that can be found in Richter; if you need, for example, some Marx that's not in the three essays Richter reprints for us, go and find it, catalogue it as a source on your works cited page, and use it in the paper.  What's important here is that you use the primary source--you quote Marx (or Althusser, or Jameson) instead of just assuming a familiarity with his ideas.

I'd like to make sure no one feels pressured to quote the primary theory more than the primary literary source: the Marx (for example) should provide the framework for your argument about (for example) Pride and Prejudice , but you shouldn't be using the words of Lizzie or Mr. Darcy to prove that Marx was right (funny that we know him by his title Mr. and her by a nickname, btw; what would Marx say about this?).  Theory should serve our inquiry into literature, not the other way around.  Your critics may or may not be as theoretically inclined as you in the paper.  Do not worry if they're arguing without the theoretical framework; you may even be able to use that to your advantage in the paper ,and it may show that you're doing something new and exciting with the work.

Have fun and let me know if you'd like to talk about this at any stage in your writing!