English

ENGL 2327: American Literature I

Due date: Sunday, 10 July, 2022 via Dropbox at 11:59 PM

What it is: The research paper is an argumentative paper with support from other writers. Your argument, or thesis, will be your own idea about a work (or several works) of American literature. You will defend that idea by quoting, paraphrasing, and/or summarizing scholars who have written about the same works and whose opinions match, complement, or contrast with your own.

What I can write about: You should make an arguable claim (emphatically not a summary of plot or critical consensus) about at least one work of American Literature that we have read together. Aside from this stipulation, you have almost complete freedom in topic generation; you may choose to compare and contrast several works, to focus deeply on just one, to expand an existing journal into a larger argument, or even to bring in a work not on our syllabus—provided you spend the bulk of your time interpreting a work of American literature.

Specifications:

· Length: the paper should be at least 1,500 words. This word count is exclusive of the works cited page.

· Works Cited: the works cited page is a list of all works you actually cite (remember, you cite any work that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized). There should be at least five secondary sources on your works cited page, not including the primary text(s) (the actual works of literature you’re writing about, in other words). You should use MLA 8th edition to format the list; alphabetize your entries by the author’s last name and use hanging indents. Do not use numbers when listing sources.

· Dimensions: use a standard 12-point font such as Garamond, Times New Roman, Palatino, or Baskerville. Set all document margins to one inch. These will often not be your word processor’s default settings, so check carefully.

· MLA formatting: your paper needs a proper heading (on the first page only), your last name in the top right header, and page numbers in the top right corner. Do not write a separate heading for the works cited page; simply start a new page and label it “works cited.”

· Parenthetical citations: use parenthetical citations when you quote, summarize, or make use of verifiable data. If you use an idea from another author, it must be cited, even if you have not quoted the author. Use the standard parenthetical without commas, the abbreviation “p.” or anything besides the author’s last name and the page number (Author 55).

· Block quotes: if your quote runs over four lines of text, you should reformat it to a block quote. These are indented one inch, do not include punctuation marks, and are followed by a parenthetical citation after the period.

· A good rule of thumb is to use precise and relatively brief quotations to support your point. Do not let any paragraph be composed of >50% quoted material; try to ensure that the paper is <30% quoted material. Quoted material supports your writing, but does not replace it.

· Grammar and punctuation: I expect this paper to be polished and professional. This means no comma splices, no sentence fragments, no failures of parallelism, no awkwardly incorporated quotes, and especially no spelling errors or typos. You are responsible for checking your own style, even if a peer reviewer does not catch the issues with your paper.

· Plagiarism: when you submit your paper to Dropbox, it will be automatically submitted to Turnitin.com; I will evaluate every Turnitin originality report to ensure that you have been treated fairly. Remember that plagiarizing any of your research paper will result in automatic failure of the paper, without exception. All you need to do to avoid plagiarism is to use parenthetical citations (Author’s Last Name, pg. number) any time you use or refer to a source in any way, and quotation marks (“”) whenever you use exact words.