The final paper for the course is a research essay. You may not write on a text which you have already
written on for the course. The idea behind this essay is to have you research some aspects behind the
satirical character and/or content of one of the texts.
The general model for this is the Smiley Face from Watchmen. See what I will say about that in class –
that is, when one knows that it had the kind of meanings that it did during the Reagan era of American
politics, how this serves to open up the satirical use of it in the text.
Write a research essay on one of the following topics. Note that some of these topics have been touched
on in the lectures for the course; your task is to explore what was perhaps touched on in the lectures in
greater depth on Veidt’s obsession with Alexander the Great in Watchmen. How accurate is his account of
Alexander’s life work, and how does his relating of the story of that bear upon Veidt’s character and his
role in the novel, and the role of that in the novel’s satire?
On the Research Aspect of the Assignment
You must employ no less than two secondary sources in your assignment; I would suggest not employing
anymore than five. For some of these topics, you will find scholarly papers which already deal with them;
if that is the case, your task is to draw upon them to construct your own argument about the topic. Also,
while Wikipedia is a good resource to get started in your research, this cannot be the secondary source
which you use exclusively and extensively in your final paper – a few references to it are OK, and you
may of course consult it to send you off in the right direction of finding actual, scholarly articles which
either a) address the topic per se, or b) provide research background for your own approach to the topic.
Resources for Research
I will make a post about this, in the form of a Workshop, sometime next week. But, with that said, the
obvious, immediate resource is the internet, and, as I say above, Wikipedia. However – and this is
something I will take up in more detail in the Workshop – be wary of internet resources: some are better
than others, and you should be aiming for scholarly articles, or articles that at least approach scholarly
standards, rather than things like SparkNotes or Coles Notes. If you have any doubt about an article which
you are going to use, contact me and I will let you know if it is OK or not.
