This is the paper where you “start with what others are saying.” You’ll end by giving us a sense of where you want to go in your presentation.
Intro:
Your introduction paragraph can provide an explanation of why you chose this topic. What initially sparked your interest? It’s OK to use first person pronouns here. End the paragraph with a thesis statement that gives a glimpse of where you ended up (your plan for how you will apply what you learned in the presentation).
Body:
Your body section will describe what you found in your research and give a sense of the journey you went on as you chose the approach for your presentation. I suggest organizing your body by theme, explaining how you narrowed down your topic. Mention the articles you consulted along the way. You must use and quote from at least three scholarly journal articles, but you will likely refer to many more. Include the articles you refer to in your works cited page. This should be easy since our databases create the citations for you.
Do not organize your body section by journal article. “In the first article I found…In the second article I found…etc.” does not give me a sense of your process.
Conclusion:
Here’s where you provide a proposal for what your presentation will do. You can think of this as the transition to how you plan to respond to what “they say.”
The presentation (part 2 of your Research Project) will be thesis-driven. You’ll make a claim about the author and specific works of literature and then support that claim with your own direct analysis of the text. You may find an approach or a lens in your research that you would like to try on a different text. You could find some contextual information that you’d like to explore further and apply to the literature more fully. There are a lot of different things you can do. I encourage you to consult with me to help with this section, especially if you’re having trouble.
In your proposal, include a narrow list of works you want to look at, a description of the approach you plan to use, and some thoughts on additional research you will need to do.
Formatting Guidelines:
Quote from at least three scholarly journal articles. Cite your quotations according to MLA in-text citation guidelines. Include a works cited page. Please double space, use one-inch margins all around, use 11 or 12 point Times New Roman font, and follow the guidelines for MLA manuscript format . Your essays should be 4-6 pages long, not including your works cited page.
