Research Paper

The culminating assignment of our semester is an 8 page research paper, though it involves several other
assignments along the way. We have (or soon will have) covered a wide array of genres, modes, and devices
(romance, ballad, lyric, dramatic monologue, the gothic, the Byronic hero, courtship plot, bildungsroman,
aesthetic essay, imperial adventure) as well as topics (desire, gender, selfhood, social class, the relationship
between nature and self, the allure of the past, imperialism and race). Consider one work or group of works that
you would like to explore further in light of one of the themes we’ve covered (or even one that we haven’t if
something else interests you).

You may choose any of the authors on our syllabus as your focus, and I encourage you to read beyond the
confines of the syllabus in the work of that author or genre. You do not need to have a thesis at the start; just an
area of investigation. It takes time to develop a research topic, to go from an interest in an author, a form, a
problem, or a topic, and turn it into a thesis. Somewhere in between your initial intuitions about a poem or novel
(how it works, what it does), the other critics you consult, and the research you do, the project will emerge. The
goal is to work steadily in order to develop a clear sense of your topic and to be able to argue persuasively in
writing about the poet or poems in question.

Topic Proposal

Write a 1-2 page proposal for your topic. Your proposal must include the following:
1) The first half should explain the general parameters of your topic (“representations of women in the
dramatic monologue,” for instance, or “love and class conflict in the Charles Dickens”). You must explain
which authors and works are relevant to this topic and why.
2) The second half should propose questions that you hope to answer in the process of your writing.
Why does this topic merit attention? What do you hope to learn about the topic/author/genre/etc.? Explain with
reference to specific examples in the text.

Annotated Bibliography

For this assignment, you will write roughly 100-150 words each on three of your scholarly resources. These
resources may be articles or chapters of books. For each, you should summarize the key parts of the critic’s
argument as they pertain to your topic. What does the critic have to say about the poem or writer? What is
particularly helpful (or problematic) about the critic’s interpretation?