Your second major writing assignment requires you to conduct substantial research in order to discuss a topic of your choosing. Choose a text from our syllabus, formulate an interpretation of a particular aspect of that text, and then locate and read at least four outside sources concerning some issue germane to your topic. For example, you might find four sources discussing Gilgamesh’s vision of the underworld, or the significance of the witches in Macbeth. Evaluate each source’s reading in light of your own. What are the common topics? Does your research enhance or contradict your interpretation? Finally, write a well developed, coherent essay that synthesizes your four sources’ arguments, and advances your own position on the topic.
While you will be focusing on your own argument in this paper, you must still present information from your sources as fairly as possible (as you did in the explanatory synthesis). You will be arguing for a position on the basis of a reasonable consideration of the information and arguments presented by your sources. Be mindful that your own argument will require that you make an explicit claim, present adequate support for it from your research and from your primary text, and articulate your assumptions so that the relationship between your claim and its support is apparent.
This essay requires that you focus on contributing original ideas to inform the debate or enhance the understanding of your research topic. The essay should spend most of its time advancing your argument. You accomplish this by gathering information, considering its validity, endorsing it or rejecting it accordingly, and challenging those sources with your own questions on the matter. This rhetorical stance should lead you to take an active role in establishing the direction of the “conversation” and communicating the importance of the research to your readers. You will be evaluating sources on the basis of the information and arguments they presented, but you will also be trying to ask and to answer questions your sources are not considering but should.
Once you have begun your research and have a sense of the issue/topic, begin by asking yourself the following questions: How does my reading of the primary text relate to the readings of my sources? Is there a perspective/solution that is not being considered? What’s so particular about the nature of the issue or the way the scholars talk about it? How did this problem/issue come about? What else do we need to know in order to endorse a position? Why should this issue/topic matter to the readers of my essay? How does my argument shed new light on the primary text?
Be mindful that your own argument will require that you make an explicit claim (thesis) and present adequate support for it from your primary text. Acknowledge what groundwork your sources have laid, and then use your own argument to advance that work. Ultimately, you will use your research to engage in literary analysis—an explanation of how your primary text works (or acquires meaning) on the basis of its particular features.
Introduction
Your introduction should do several things. First, it should generally introduce your topic and any background information your audience may need. Your introduction may also provide an idea of the information you will cover in more detail throughout the body of the paper. The introduction you write MUST contain a thesis statement. Think of your introduction as a funnel, generally introducing your audience to the ideas and information that will be important in your information until you’ve narrowed down what you are saying to your thesis statement.
The Body
The body of the paper is where you will explain your points and evidence that support your thesis. Remember to organize your body section well so that your ideas flow well one into the other.
The Conclusion
The conclusion is where you remind your audience of the major points you made in your body and solidifies how these arguments support the thesis statement. You may also use it as a place to demonstrate the importance and impact of your ideas, or to expand on new ways to think about the issue.
Revision
Every student will be expected to put forth effort to revise and improve their paper. We will have mandatory conferences as well as a work day in class to support your revision attempts. Students should also take advantage of the on-campus resources such as the writing studio to support their efforts to revise and improve their work.
Citation Style
Use the MLA documentation style consistently to attribute information and expression of ideas to your sources. Every time you quote or paraphrase from the sources provide the corresponding parenthetical citation. The last page of your essay should be a “Works Cited” page, which, as the name indicates, lists the sources to which you referred in your essay. The “Works Cited” page does not contribute to your minimum page length.
Outline of the paper. I choose to write about three women in Homer’s “The Odyssey” : Athena, Penelope, and Circe.
Introduction
Thesis:
Body
Greek women during the 1600-1200 BCE
What were their roles?
How did they act and how were they treated?
Transition sentence into the odyssey:
Athena – confidence, practicalness, cleverness
What was her role in the Odyssey and how did her characteristics fit in with her role?
How her characteristics from the odyssey relate to Greek women/gods.
Transition sentence to Penelope:
Penelope – passivity, loyalty, patience
What was her role in the Odyssey and how did her characteristics fit in with her role?
How her characteristics from the Odyssey relate to Greek women/rulers.
Transition sentence to Circe:
Circe – loneliness, sexualness, deceitfulness
What was her role in the Odyssey and how did her characteristics fit in with her role?
How her characteristics from the Odyssey relate to Greek women/gods
Conclusion
Thesis statement
Recap of intro
Works Cited Page
