raymond craig associate professor
department of english
english studies :: research paper guidelines
Assignment: Write one 12 page
paper using your approved Paper Proposal as the guideline. In the
proposal, you should have identified a critical problem relevant to
the literary works you have chosen; you are now completing that work.
The research paper is due at the end of the term; however, a draft
of the paper is due approximately three weeks before the end of the
term.
Format: Use the MLA Handbook,
of course. You must submit a properly formatted manuscript that
includes endnotes and a Works Cited List. The 12 pages in the "Assignment"
refers to 12 pages of text--notes and bibliography are in addition.
Do not put the paper in a binder or folder.
Contents: These guidelines are
not a recipe. They are designed only to tell you what rhetorical
"work" the paper must do. You should organize the material
so that it is as effective as you can make it.
I. Opening Paragraphs
Identify the critical problem
Explain the significance of that problem
Make clear your claim (this does not have to
be a formal thesis statement, which can be deferred until the
beginning or even the end of section C below)
II. Survey of Critical Literature
Survey criticism already available on the critical
problem (perhaps organized according to similarities of approach)
Present a "fair" delineation of these
critical arguments
Demonstrate the logical strength and weaknesses
of each approach (if you are only "extending" an argument,
you indicate that the approach doesn't go far enough)
III. Presentation of Your Claim
(organized to best present your argument)
State your claim
Demonstrate the validity of the claim through
warrants and data (citation of extra-textual and textual data)
IV. Closing Paragraphs
Demonstrate the relative (vis a vis other current
criticism) validity of your claim
Articulate the significance of your claim and
how it resolves the critical problem.
