Formal papers will be prepared according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) format as indicated in the Little, Brown Handbook and in Kirszner and Mandell. In each paper you will provided a standard Works Cited page, listing in standard bibliographic format the texts you mention in the paper. There will be five topics:
Paper I: What books have made a difference and what kind of reader am I? In a paper of at least full two pages, describe the kinds of adult reading (from high school to the present) that you have engaged in by discussing at least three books that have made a difference to you. Summarize these books, analyze them (identifying the genre or category of writing they represent, discussing what their style and structure are), and evaluate their significance to you. Discuss how education has modified your reading tastes, habits, and practices, if at all. Your documentation should include a bibliography of the books that you refer to in your paper, using the standard MLA Works Cited format.
Paper II: Where are they going and where have they been in Joyce Carol Oates's short story? In a paper of at least three full pages, examine the short story in light of these questions: Are we to read the story as an instance of social and psychological realism or are we to read the story as a gothic allegory? In light of the fact that Oates leaves the story without an explicit conclusion, what do you infer occurs and what evidence do you use to support your argument? Do you interpret Connie as a ridiculous figure (she is consumed with “trashy daydreams”) or as a heroic figure (she saves her family from violence by leaving the house with Arnold Friend)? You may choose to focus your paper on just one of these questions (or on two, or all three). Cite the primary text (the story itself) and secondary texts (critical articles) included in the casebook in order to support your claims. Establish your claim about the story by summarizing it in a thesis statement located in the introduction to your paper, spending the rest of the paper defending your claim. Your documentation should include a bibliography of the texts that you refer to in your paper, using the standard MLA Works Cited format. Consult Chapter 38 in K&M.
Paper III: What Forces Produced This Poem?: Culture Contexts for a Poem by Langston Hughes. In a paper of at least three full pages, select one poem from the "Poetry Casebook" of Langston Hughes and research the cultural context out of which it was written. These contexts include Hughes’s own biography, Euro-American literary traditions, African-American culture, and the social history of the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Using the textbook (primary texts and secondary texts in the casebook), libraries, and on-line sources, you will examine biographies, social histories, and other texts from that culture. In addition to primary materials, you will also examine secondary or critical sources. Your documentation should include a bibliography of the texts that you refer to in your paper, using the standard MLA Works Cited format. Consult Chapter 38 in K&M.
Paper IV: What is his problem?: Culminating Project on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In a paper of at least four pages, examine the interview between Hamlet and Ophelia in Act III, Scene I and develop an interpretation of the scene. Make sure that your interpretation of this scene does not occur in a vacuum, that is make sure that you have provided a context for your interpretation by examining relevant scenes that precede and follow. Employ critical, secondary sources in order to support your own interpretation of this scene of the play. These secondary sources can be movie reviews as well as literary scholarship or historical or cultural studies. (See the sources provided in the K&M casebook.) Analyze one film or video version of the scene that you believe is closest to your understanding of the play and evaluate its effectiveness. Defend your choice of this film version as being closest to your interpretation. Your documentation should include a bibliography of the texts that you refer to in your paper, using the standard MLA Works Cited format. Consult Chapter 38 in K&M.