Paper Guidelines and the Paper Topics For the First Literature Paper in GHUM200 James Madison University

Guidelines:

• GENERAL --
  Your paper should be roughly 1500-1600 words long; please doublespace. (If possible, please also use New Times Roman 12-point font.)
  The point of the paper is to show that you have a very good grasp of one or more of the works we read, that you can have and coherently share an insight (a thesis) about this literary work that goes well beyond class discussion, and that you can argue persuasively, using specific evidence, especially quotes from the text, that your insight is correct.
  What is most crucial is to have a specific, fully developed and well-supported idea while avoiding any needless repetition and irrelevant extra material. For example, summarize only as much of the plot as is relevant to your thesis and do so at the point in the paper where it is needed.)
  More generally, for every sentence you write, ask yourself why that sentence is there. Also, think carefully about the quotes you use as evidence, choosing those that most specifically give the right type of information or raise the right type of question for the reader.
  
• CITING WORK -- You must cite all quotes and paraphrases properly and include a bibliography/works cited page (even though you'll be using just one literary work as your source.)
• TITLE --
  Your work needs an appropriate title, which should be on a separate title page with your name and other relevant information. An appropriate title is directed; it gives the reader a hint about the main point you will be making in your paper. In fact, having a title that you think really encapsulates the paper is one good indication that your paper itself has direction. Extra tip: Great titles in works of literary analysis also attempt to capture the reader's attention. (Hypothetical example: "Sucked In: Powerlessness and The Black Hole in Frederik Pohl's Gateway." :))
• HELP --
  Feel free to talk to me if you have questions about any of these guidelines.

NECESSARY TOPIC INFORMATION:

FIRST, YOU MAY NOT USE ANY OUTSIDE SOURCES AT ALL BESIDES THE LITERARY WORK(S) UNDER DISCUSSION.
You MUST choose one of the following topics unless you submit an alternative proposal in your upcoming topic assignment AND I approve that alternative by Tuesday, 2/11. The topic you choose should make sense to you and, ideally, should also seem at least a little interesting to you.:) You must then find some very specific point of view that you can argue for on that topic. That will be your thesis. This is not a simple response paper; it's a persuasive analysis, which may be a new type of writing for you. You will need a thesis that you can support with very specific arguments and for which you do not see any blatant counter-evidence that you can't eliminate.

If you have chosen your topic but don't yet have a thesis, brainstorm a bit. Ask yourself questions like, in what way is the personality or behaviour of one or more of the characters in the text(s) relevant to this topic? How do specific moments in the plot relate to this topic? How does the setting relate to this topic? What particular images or metaphors does the author use that relate to this topic? Are there any particular lines from the text that stick in my mind and seem to sum up an idea related to this topic? Next, look for patterns in what you have observed. Alternatively, you could find it helpful to start by making a list of possible points of view on this topic and to then look for evidence to support the various sides, choosing the point of view that works with the evidence or determining that the right point of view lies somewhere in between two different points of view on your original list.
Before you begin writing a draft of the paper, you should have at least a tentative answer to these questions: What conclusion(s) have you reached? What would be an informative title, in light of these conclusions, for your paper? Will you have plenty of specific excerpts from the text(s) to support your conclusion? Will you have something to say about any apparent counter-evidence against your conclusion? In the process of writing the draft, you may change your mind about some of your answers; that's absolutely fine! Just make sure that you do leave time for editing and that your final draft is completely consistent with your final thesis. Hint: Neither take a more absolute stand than you think you can support nor resort to cliches as arguments.
HERE ARE THE TOPIC OPTIONS: (Remember: These are topics, not thesis statements.)

1. Consider both the main characters in "Death and the Librarian" in terms of how they blur the lines between life and death. Do they blur the line between these states in similar ways or in very different ways? Your thesis should center around how the author uses the combination of the two characters to convey a particular thematic view on the true relationship between life and death. You need to decide what you think that particular view is, and the goal of your paper will be share your evidence from the story and your reasoning in order to persuade your reader that you are correct in thinking that the short story presents this view. You might also want to consider how images in the story (like “smoke and apples” for instance) might related to this issue.
2. A "bildungsroman" is a novel that thematically explores the the emotional development and maturation of a child into adulthood. Ender's Game might be categorized as a "bildungsroman" because, at least superficially, we see Ender grow from the age of 6 to the age of 12, and we even get a glimpse of him at a considerably older age. Is this a central theme of the novel, i.e., to what extent and it what ways does Orson Scott Card explore emotional development and maturation in this novel? If so, what message does the novel contain about this kind of development? If not, what is happening instead? Your thesis on this topic should result from considering the extent to which and the ways in which Ender changes over time, and from discovering whether the evidence suggests that the changes occur because Ender is growing up or for other reasons.
3. Discuss how the narrative in "The Small Assassin" contrasts language suggesting powerlessness and passivity with language of power and agency to help represent the baby in the story as an at least vaguely plausible killer. As a start on this, you must understand what these contrasts mean, and you might then look at how the narrative describes what Alice Leiber thinks, does and says ("Alice watched her knife and fork move.") and how she is physically described in contrast to how the baby and his actions ("...his mouth opened and shut, opened and shut.") are described in the story. Look for recurring patterns!
4. (A) Contrast the thematic treatment of guilty feelings (the psychological state) in Ender's Game with the treatment of this theme in Frankenstein. Specifically, your thesis on this topic should result from considering similarities and differences between how Card and Shelley handle the effect(s) that psychological guilt has on the actions, beliefs, health, etc. of individuals and/or on society.
5. **** As discussed in class, a fifth topic option is to compare the concept of true friendship as it is developed in Frankenstein and in Ender's Game. Do these two novels make the same assumptions/conclusions about what true friendship is and about what impact having a real/true friend has on a person's life? Remember that the word "friend" is being used broadly here to include not only what we would certainly call "friends" but also similar family relationships, etc.

Finally, Here Are Some Writing TIPS --
This may be a new type of writing for you. Allow yourself the time to work on this skill.
While the best papers will achieve elegance in language and thought, the writing problems I worry about most are those that decrease the effectiveness of your communication.
For example, while you are right to try for a moderately formal writing style and to avoid slang, it is dangerous to use terminology you don't completely understand. If a simple, non-slang word you already know expresses your meaning exactly, use it. If not, carefully research the correct word and learn how to use it in a sentence. This generally requires more than a dictionary/thesaurus. If you find yourself needing to use the same word over and over and can't be sure an alternative in your thesaurus really has exactly the right meaning in your context or if you're not sure exactly how that word is used in a sentence, try paraphrasing your whole sentence instead. Yes, this is all part of the painful process of becoming a more advanced writer... and I can tell you from personal experience that there's really never an end to that process. As a starting point for word choice decisions, there is a link to the OED below.
Watch out too for word choices that could seem ambiguous to your reader, and also for sentence (and paragraph) structures that either force the reader to guess at how your current point relates to what you've said so far or cause the reader to be distracted away from your ideas by awkward phrasing. Nothing ruins a good point like a sentence that has to be re-read several times! (Bad word choices, random tense changes, run-on and incomplete sentences, and dangling modifiers can all do this. Ask me, if you don't know how to identify some of these things.)
It's important not to expect your first draft to be perfect or even "good enough.” The most naturally talented writers can nonetheless write some truly horrible sentences and have some very confusing passages or connections in their first drafts. Really!! Expect to do some editing.
Finally, sometimes when you think you're having a problem with the "writing", what's really causing the problem is that you are a bit fuzzy on the details of your thoughts. In can be hard to make a good argument, writing factors aside. If you find that you keep saying to yourself, "I know what I want to say but I just don't know how to write it," ask a friend to let you talk out loud about the idea. (Remember that, unlike your friend, your reader will need you to get it right the first time because he/she can't ask questions.) If you can't talk about your thoughts yet either, try outlining them. They should have some logical structure. Maybe you really can't make up your mind what you believe? Or, maybe you're trying to make a couple points at once? You may need to make some more logical choices before you can share your thoughts coherently.