Choosing Topic.
Porter 1
Ann Porter
Professor Belz
English 1302
June 6, 2022
Preliminary Research Paper Topic (Sample)
In Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” and Sherwood Anderson’s “Hands,” both authors present main characters who are isolated in their respective societies. In Melville’s work, Bartleby is an outsider because he chooses to remove himself from mainstream society by not interacting with other people. Similarly, in Anderson’s work, Wing Biddlebaum chooses to remove himself from society since he has been falsely accused of being a child molester. In this way, both characters are outsiders in their communities by choosing to remove themselves of their own free will.
Choose two story’s and follow the instructions below. Please refer to the sample above. It was help!!!
Sherwood Anderson’s “Hands”
Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral
William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily"
Langston Hughes’s “Salvation”
Flannery O'Connor’s "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
Eudora Welty’s "A Worn Path"
One of your goals is to define how these characters are outsiders. You may focus on the similarities and/or differences between the characters, but the organizing feature of the paper will be connected to the outsider theme. The above stories have many characters to choose from, so give some thought to the angle you would like to take in your analysis. In
other words, you may wish to choose two characters who are outsiders based on the same reasons or characteristics. Therefore, your definition of “outsider” might apply to both characters. Or, you may wish to focus on characters who are outsiders based on different criteria. In this case then, you would have to define the two different approaches (i.e. you would include two different definitions of outsider in your work).
AND
Complete your preliminary research paper topic and post it as a Word document attachment. Your topic needs to follow the sample preliminary topic.
Include a proper heading, header, and centered title, and you need to use double spacing, courier new 12 point font, and MLA style; refer to the Research Paper checklist handout posted in mywritinglab for a detailed description of the Preliminary Topic.
PRELIMINARY RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC (10 PTS):__________
Type out your general research paper topic/introduction paragraph {50-75 typed words} -- indicate which two stories (see story choice list below) you will be comparing and the general approach to the outsider theme. Provide the full names of the authors, the full titles of the works, and the names of the two characters you will be comparing in your essay. You also need to state in one to two sentences how each of your chosen characters is an outsider, outcast, or misfit. Use third person for this component. [refer to and follow the sample preliminary topic hand-out I have posted on the MyWritingLab website in the document sharing list—to access the document sharing list, log onto mywritinglab; then click on ‘student tools’; then click on ‘document sharing’; then scroll down the list to view the pertinent documents] *This preliminary topic will become your introduction paragraph.