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Termpaper:  Requirements

Topic
Your term paper for this course must be a form of literary interpretation or analysis.
Your primary source(s) for this paper can be one (or more) short story, novel, or
poem.

For your primary source or sources (the works of literature you will be reading), select
work by one or more of the writers in Literature: Reading, Reacting Writing. (If you want
to use the works of a writer not represented in our text, clear it with me first.) 

For more information, read Selecting a Topic

Secondary Sources
In addition to interpreting or analyzing the primary source(s) (the work or works of
literature), you need to include reference to secondary sources. Your research should
involve investigating what others have written about the primary source(s) or issues
related to your paper's focus. 

You will need to devote significant time in the library and online for conducting research for
this paper. 

For your research, you are required to find these sources related to your topic: 

  • six to ten articles from periodicals. 
  • one to two books (in addition to the primary source). 
  • one or more WWW source

Searching archives of email lists and newsgroups is also recommended.

In the paper itself, you must 

  • cite at least four of the sources you have found. 
  • use a mixture of direct quotations and paraphrases
  • use MLA style documentation.

Length of Paper
There is no set length for the term paper.  Successful papers generally range from
8-12 pages. 

Papers shorter than 8 pages tend to be underdeveloped, while papers longer than
12 pages are often broader in scope than necessary.

 
 

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