Paper Guidelines and the Paper Topics For the SECOND paper in GHUM200 James Madison University

Guidelines:

• GENERAL --
  Your paper should be roughly 1500-1600 words long; please doublespace and use a 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 about this literary work, 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.)
  For every sentence you write, ask yourself why that sentence is there. 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. You should also attempt to make this paper stronger than your first one by paying special attention to any issues that were weaknesses in that first paper.
  
• CITING WORK -- You must cite all quotes and paraphrases properly and include a bibliography/works cited page.
• 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.

Topic Information:

You must choose one of the following topics unless I approve a unique proposal (ie., not something found all over the internet :) ) submitted to me sufficiently in advance of the paper due date. The specific deadline for such requests is Thursday, 4/15.

The literary work upon which your topic is based should be your most important source for this paper. For some topics, secondary sources are possible, but unless you get explicit permission from me to make an exception, use additional sources beyond the primary text only if the particular topic calls for them and then only if they are reputable, authoritative sources. Subscription online resources available through the library are fine, but don't use random google searches. Books, of course, are good too. :)

The topic you choose should make sense to you and, ideally, seem at least a little interesting to you. 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. You 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 a 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 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? How about the setting of story? Then look for patterns in what you have observed. You could also try making a list of possible points of view on this topic and then look for evidence to support the various sides.
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, remember any issues that came up in terms of shaping and argument and/or writing in your last paper. skills that you are hoping to improve since the last paper. Remember too that 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 SOME TOPIC OPTIONS: (Remember: These are topics; you still need to come up with your own thesis. Again, you can suggest your own topic too, but these topics must be approved. You can request approval by emailing your suggestion to Dr. Cote by 4/15.)

1. Develop and discuss a thesis on the relevance of the narrative choice to have Harrison Bergeron be an adolescent in the short story "Harrison Bergeron."
2. Looking closely at the characters in "Driftglass," consider the extent to which one's personal identity is treated as something that can be seen/recognized by others.
3. Argue for or against a feminist reading of "Two Words". An authoritative souce on feminist theory (but not on this story in particular) may be used.
4. Develop and discuss a thesis concerning the nature of personal identity in "Two Words".
5. For those interested in political or cultural issues, develop and discuss a thesis on "Walimai" as a statement about South American politics or society. Authoritative historical/political/cultural sources may be used. Remember Allende's background and be sure to focus on the right part of South America!
6. Develop and discuss a thesis on the point of the oddness of the "miracles" in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings".
7. Explain what Stevenson does with similes and/or with repetition in "The Bottle Imp".
8. Develop and discuss a thesis on the general definitions of good and evil implicit in "The Bottle Imp".
9. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, the characters do not have complete control over their fates. Look at the ways at least three different characters COPE with the limits to their free will and argue that the novel presents some point of view about these coping mechanisms. You could think, for example, about who copes best and who copes worst, about whether the same coping mechanism works for everyone, about whether gender is a factor, about whether the perception of who/what has the control over one's life makes a difference, and so on.
10. Develop and discuss a thesis on the importance of explanation in A Prayer for Owen Meany. Which character(s) do the explaining and what is the effect of these narrative choices?
11. Develop and discuss a thesis on McCarthy's view of free will and/or religion as shown in The Road. (For example, what, if any value does he seem to believe free will has? Similarly, does he seem to see value in religion? Do you perhaps see a connection?
12. Re-examine all the dreams (and their contexts) in The Road. Why are they there? Is there a pattern to the role(s) they play in the novel?
13. Develop and discuss a thesis on the extent to which Bryant presents the viewpoint in The Kin of Ata are Waiting For You that there is/is not an animality at the core of human nature.
14. Develop and discuss a thesis about what Bryant sees as the correct or incorrect role of words in society, as seen in The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You and in her own writing of this novel.
15. Discuss in careful detail Butler's views in "Bloodchild" on what it means to be/become an adult.

Now for 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 have all these qualities. Even the most naturally talented writers can write some truly horrible sentences and have some very confusing passages 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.