Literary Research Essay: Social Context in Literature
Due Date: April 5, 2021
According to Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandela, editors of Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, the historical, geographical, and physical setting of a story can impact the feelings and behavior of the characters. Therefore, learning about a storys social context can help the reader to better understand the characters and events (Kirszner and Mandela 270). For your literary research paper, you will learn and write about the importance of the setting in relation to one of the short story options listed below from Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing and/or MindTap Literature 2.0. Identify the storys historical, geographical, and/or physical setting and research information about it. In addition, use literary databases, such as Literature Resource Center, to find literary criticism about the story. You are required to cite from at least seven sources, including the story itself, within your essay and properly document them. In addition to the story, at least two of those sources must provide historical, geographical, and/or physical information about the setting of the story. Furthermore, three of those sources must provide literary criticism. If you do not include any outside sources within your essay as support for your argument as well as document them with in-text citations and list them on your works cited page, the essay will not be accepted as a research paper, and you will receive a zero for it. Once you have decided upon the story and completed preliminary research, formulate your thesis statement, making sure it argues how the setting influences the characters and the events. Your essay must be at least four full pages and no more than six. You must document your sources on your Works Cited page following MLA guidelines. You are required to submit your essay through the MindTap link within Blackboard by the due date indicated below.
Before submitting your research paper, you must submit a prospectus and bibliography page. A prospectus is a paragraph or two that should indicate the story you have chosen, what you hope to show in your research paper, your tentative thesis statement, the types of sources you plan to use, and the problems you anticipate. Your bibliography page is a list of potential sources. You should have at least ten sources properly listed according to MLA guidelines. For instance, they should be in alphabetical order, have hanging indentation, and be double spaced. The word Bibliography should appear at the top of the page. In order to do the literary research paper, you must submit your prospectus and bibliography page together by the deadline below and get them approved by your instructor first. If you do not, you will not be permitted to submit this literary research paper and will receive a zero for it. Once it is approved, your bibliography page will be converted to a works cited page. You will submit your works cited page at the end of your research paper. There are several sources that you can and cannot use in your paper. Encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia and Encarta Encyclopedia, are not acceptable. On the other hand, you can use such reference books as Short Story Criticism and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism and such databases as General Reference Center Gold and Literature Resource Center. You can also use sources from the Internet to provide information about the social context of the story. However, you cannot use unreliable sites or sites that contain essays used for plagiarism, such as www.123helpme.com, www.radessays.com, www.megaessays.com, www.cheatessays.com and www.antiessays.com. (If you have any doubt about whether or not an Internet site you are using is acceptable, contact me.) Also, do not use book reviews in your research paper. Since your bibliography page should be converted to your works cited page, you should keep the guidelines for the types of sources you can use in your research paper in mind as you develop your bibliography page.
Keep in mind that this research paper is your paper. The outside sources are only there to back up your argument, not overwhelm your own thoughts and ideas. There should not be more space in your essay for outside sources than there is for your own interpretation and literary analysis. In addition, this is not a history report, book report, or biography for the author. Rather, it is a literary analysis essay that incorporates research into it. Also, do not submit a plagiarized essay. Your essay will be considered plagiarized even if it is just a small portion of the essay that you took from someone else and did not give that person credit through an in-text citation and/or works cited page entry. If your essay is just a report on what your outside sources say; a history paper, book report, or biography; or if you plagiarize, you will receive a zero for your grade.
Prospectus and Bibliography
Literary Research Paper Due Date: 11:59 p.m.
No late papers will be accepted!
Short Story Options
Battle Royal, Ralph Ellison
Barn Burning, William Faulkner
Big Black Good Man, Richard Wright
Everyday Use, Alice Walker
The Lesson, Toni Cade Bambara
The Red Convertible, Louise Erdrich
A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner
The Sky Is Gray, Ernest Gaines
Sonnys Blues, James Baldwin
The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin
This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, Sherman Alexie
A Worn Path by Eudora Welty
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Young Goodman Brown, Nathanial Hawthorne
Please note: You cannot choose a story that you already wrote about for the first two literary analysis essays in this course.
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