You will select your own topic and write at least a four to five-page term paper about your topic. The novels read in class are your primary sources. You must focus on a theme or topic developed during the semester. You are to argue for the thesis you have chosen. To do so, you must demonstrate knowledge of the subject and synthesize information from two or more texts read in class in addition to consulting at least two or more relevant scholarly written articles on your topic.
Below are, as a reminder, the required textbooks for our course. These books should be your primary sources.
Condé, Maryse. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. Univ. of Virginia Press, 2009.
Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones. Peng Rand, 1998
Schwarz-Bart, Simone, and Barbara Bray. The Bridge of Beyond. New York, New York Review Books, 2013.
In addition, the course syllabus, under Recommended Texts, contains several lists of scholarly written articles (secondary sources).
Paper Expectations:
Skills
You should demonstrate the following skills: persuasive arguments, clarity, and research skills.
Tone
This is a formal report. You should only use first-person sentence constructions in your conclusion where you are offering your own opinion supported by the research.
Audience
Your audience is a group that is generally knowledgeable about the field of education – in other words, your classmates.
Style Expectations
Your writing will be expected to adhere to standard written English, including the following:
• No run-ons, incomplete sentences, or comma splices
• Scholarly language
• Subject and verb agreement
• No spelling errors
• Carefully editing in the final paper
Evaluation. The paper will be evaluated on the following criteria:
– Thesis. How clear, creative, and coherent is the overall thesis? Does it engage directly with the assignment prompt? Does it accurately indicate the direction of the paper as a whole?
– Evidence. How appropriate and sufficient is the evidence used? Has the strongest evidence been selected from each source under consideration? How balanced are primary and secondary evidence?
– Analysis. How perceptively and fully is the evidence interpreted? Is the argument linked back explicitly to the evidence? Does the argument go beyond a simple repetition of the evidence?
– Organization. How clearly and logically organized is the presentation of the argument?
– Style: How precise and efficient is the writing? How well has the paper been proofread and edited?
– Citation. All primary evidence and secondary sources must be fully and conventionally cited.
