Research Paper

Why Tragedy – Final Research Paper Overview fall 2014

The Project: To compose a research paper of 6 pages in length, not including Works Cited. This paper is worth 20% of your grade in the course.

Content: Using the ideas and concepts of one or two of the tragic theorists in the course, you will examine the nature of tragedy in one of three plays: Wilson’s Fences, Labute’s Fat Pig, and Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics. Your thesis is a simple one: you are arguing that the play is a tragedy. You may choose one of the three theorists to support your thesis: Aristotle, Hegel, or Nietzsche. You may use just one of these, or you may add the ideas by Arthur Miller in his essay, Tragedy and the Common Man. So please understand – one of Aristotle, Hegel, or Nietzsche – that is a minimum. And you may also use Tragedy and the Common Man. It is perfectly fine to use one theorist; however, your analysis will have to be very detailed to get to six pages. Do not try to “pad” the length of the paper by the use of extended quotes or plot summary. Get this right, please. If you do the assignment incorrectly, you will receive an F.

Schedule: You have approximately three and a half weeks to do the whole project including the Thanksgiving break. Each phase of the project will be evaluated and count towards your final grade and must be uploaded to Live Text.  Do not procrastinate. Begin now!!!

• Scratch outline due…Nov. 13

• Ten note cards [I will cover in class] …ten quotes and final outline …due Nov 20

• Final copy due….Dec. 4. Final Copy due with Works Cited. There are no extensions for this paper.

• Final Exams begin Dec 9. Please see the final exam schedule on the Academics Page for the time of the exam. Attendance is mandatory. The Vice President of Academics must approve any changes.

Research component:

• You must cite one theorist at least twice.

• If you use Miller’s essay, you must cite that twice as well.

• You should cite one of the critical essays you used for your annotated as well.

• And you should cite the play itself.

• This should total ten citations

• All should be reflected in Works Cited

Grading Rubric

• All in text citations and works cited must be in correct form.

• You must introduce quotes in your text

• The essay will have strong topic sentences for paragraphs. Do not begin paragraphs with quotes.

• You must use one of the methods of raising interest in an introduction and conclusion. You must not use the summary.