Research paper and formal outline - Two short stories

Research Paper Strategies

As you complete your research paper, please note the strategies below that are useful in

helping you create a thorough and well-organized paper.

1.

After rereading the two stories chosen, decide on what they have in common and on what literary

techniques and/or literary criticism studied in class applies to both stories.

2.

For example, if you were completing an analysis of O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”

and Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home,” you can have a thesis such as this:

The plots and characters of O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story and Hemingway’s

“Soldier’s Home” tell the truth about the realities of war and its consequences making these

works open to Biographical, Historical, and Psychological Criticisms.

In this thesis, you have accomplished the following:

 You have identified the stories and the authors

 You have established the literary techniques and criticisms you will be using in your

analysis

 You have indicated what you plan to prove—the authors’ use of these techniques to make

a point/send a message/give their stories purpose

3.

Next, you need to decide how to organize your paper.

 Because you have identified plot, characters, and three criticisms, these will determine

your essay structure/organization.

 Always use a paragraph structure that mirrors the order of your thesis.

o (Keep in mind, that a lot of times, though you plan to discuss one technique in a

single paragraph, you may need to use more than one because the information is

too much for one paragraph.)

4.

For each paragraph, you need to write a topic sentence that connects back to your thesis. Then

you would develop your paragraph by proving your topic sentence using support from the

story/stories and from your research sources.

 For example, the topic sentence for the first paragraph after the Introduction can be as

follows:

o The plots of O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” and Hemingway’s

“Soldier’s Home” tell the truth about the realities of war and its consequences

making the stories open to a Biographical Criticism.

 First, you would begin explaining the plot (summary, ordering, conflicts) of O’Brien’s

“How to Tell a True War Story”

 Then you would apply a Biographical Criticism to O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War

Story”

 Last, you would quote or summarize what a critic has said about O’Brien’s story and/or

its connection to his biography.

 Now, you repeat the same process for Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” (you can do this

in the same or in a new paragraph (beginning with a transition that shows a connection

between the two paragraphs).

Note: Creating a Formal Outline of your paper BEFORE you write it will be helpful.