Guidelines For the Third (larger) Paper or Creative Project in ENG221H James Madison University

GUIDELINES:

• GENERAL --
  For this paper, you will choose to do either (A), a "classic," thematic literary analysis paper, or (B), a creative representation of some thematic perspective in one of the literary works we've discussed this semester. In either case, your work should relate to a literary work you have not already addressed in one of your earlier papers.
  

  (A) OPTION: If you choose the formal literary analysis, your paper should be roughly 1300-1500 words long. (Please doublespace and use New Times Roman 12-point font, single-sided printing.) This will be approximately 5 to 6 pages. Slightly more is not a problem.
  You will choose as a topic some thematic issue in your chosen literary work. (Some examples are discusesed at the end of this document.) Your paper will show that you have a very good grasp of this work,that you can have and coherently share a thematic insight (a particular thesis on the theme you're examining) that goes beyond ideas and other material from our class discussions, and that you can argue persuasively, using specific evidence, most especially quotes from the literary text, to show that your insight is correct.
  What is most crucial is to have specific, fully developed, well-organized, and well-supported ideas while avoiding any needless repetition and irrelevant extra material. For example, as with the shorter papers summarize only what is particularly relevant to your point(s) and do so only where it is needed.
  More generally, for every sentence you write, you want to feel confident that you know why that sentence is there, why in that paragraph, and why at that point in the paper.
  

  (B) OPTION: If you choose the creative option, you will be either producing a short creative writing text of your own (ideally not longer than, say, an 8-12 page story or a few pages of poetry, but long enough to achieve the goals described here) or producing visual artwork. Your creative work should deeply reflect and/or significantly respond to some thematic perspective in your chosen literary work, and you will submit a (500-700) word explanatory write-up with your creative work that both concisely justifies the thematic perspective and carefully explains how your work connects to it. (A couple well-chosen quotes from the literary text would certainly be hepful.)

  
  




ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELEVANT TO BOTH OPTIONS:


• USING QUOTES -- As with the other papers you've written, you should think carefully about the quotes you use as evidence in this work, choosing those that most specifically give the right type of information or raise the right type of question for the reader. Make sure to use a quote when appropriate rather than just summarizing some observation you've made about the text. Make sure you clearly indicate the connection between your quote and the point you are making with it, especially when the connection is indirect or metaphoric.
  Also, one of the tricks to using quotes in your writing is to consider ways to incorporate them into the structure of your sentences and paragraphs. Try not to let them float in your paper like detached little written icebergs, breaking what you want to be the smooth process for your intended audience of following along with your ideas.
• CITING WORK -- You should not use any outside source other than the literary work(s) under discussion unless you get advance approval from me. (In some cases, an additional source may provide useful context with an authority that you can not claim for yourself. Such a source may well be approved with the understanding that it will not be the focus of the paper.) You must, of course, cite all quotes, paraphrases, and borrowed ideas properly and include a bibliography (or "Works Cited") page even if your topic involves using just one literary work as your source.
• TITLE AND TITLE PAGE --
  Your work needs an appropriate title, which should be on a separate title page with your name and other relevant information. An appropriate title for a literary analysis is directed; it gives the reader a hint about the main point you will be making in your paper. In fact, knowing you have a title that characterizes or strongly alludes to your perspective in the paper is one good indication that your paper itself has direction. The title(s) of the literary work(s) you are referencing should not be the title of your work. (Turn a title page in Extra literary analysis title tip: Great titles in works of literary analysis also often attempt to capture the reader's attention. (Here's one hypothetical example: "Second Breakfast: A Celebration of Eating in J. R. R. Tolkein's The Hobbit :)) An appropriate title for those of you submitting creative work is not the same, of course, but should be relevant. :) The separate explanatory write-up submitted with a creative work can simply be titled as "Explanatory Write-Up for [your work here]." :)






• You may, in consultation with me, choose your own topic, but there are also some specfic topic ideas below for your consideration:
  1. Choose ONE of the four narrators in Moxyland and take a stance on what a detailed examination of that particular narrator tells us about some aspect of "being" in a society with some of the characteristics depicted dystopically in that novel. There are a number of different particulars to consider to fully explore this topic. [Creative variant, perhaps respond to a one of these characters in your own creative written or visual work, or perhaps produce a fifth, different perspective with your own narrator or visual art?]
  2. Consider how purgatory is implicitly defined by Tolkein through his story "Leaf by Niggle." Some considerations may be what it's like, what it's for, who goes there, etc. Obviously, there are options for creative exploration here as well, including perhaps an interpretative visual representation of Niggle's own artwork...
  3. In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," to what extent is Thurber suggesting that an active imagination is a good alternative to real experiences?
  4. In "Patriotism," to what extent, if any, is Mishima arguing that all human life is intrinsically valuable? Why or why not?