English 116 Final Research Paper
The Research Paper
Over the course of this semester, you’ve responded to several analytical questions related to the six short stories we read. In your discussion of these stories, you’ve reflected on historical, social, and political contexts, you’ve considered the author’s purpose, audience, and assumptions, and you’ve discussed ways that the authors use persuasion techniques and literary devices to communicate their implied arguments. The research paper is a culminating project in which you combine all of the above skills in order to analyze one of our short stories in more depth.
Utilizing the story itself along with outside sources that you research, your research paper will answer the following questions:
1. How is the story relevant in historical, social, and/or political context(s)? (Choose one, two, or all three contexts to examine)
2. What was the author’s intended purpose in writing this story? (In other words, what message was the author trying to send?)
3. Who was the author’s intended audience and/or what audience is most impacted by this story?
4. What assumptions did the author make in his/her story? (Consider what the author assumed about the audience and/or a specific time period)
5. Which modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos) has the author utilized, and how effective is the author in doing so?
6. How does the author use literary devices (symbolism, characterization, foreshadowing, etc.) to convince the audience of something? (Choose as many devices as you’d like)
To complete this assignment, you’ll need to:
• Provide a brief summary of the story
• Write a multi-sentence thesis statement that provides a logical plan of development (road map) for your essay
• Use AXES body paragraph structure (or another logical organization structure) to organize your ideas (I am not going to set a page length; I assume that you will write enough to discuss each of the questions above satisfactorily. I would bet that this will take you 8-12 pages to do.)
• Reference and cite at least five outside sources** (any sources that I have provided you throughout the semester can be used, but you need to find five of your own as well; please see my note about sources on the next page)
• Include direct quotations from the story itself when applicable
• End your analysis with a statement about the overall significance of your research
• Demonstrate an understanding of MLA conventions, particularly in the use of formatting, in-text citations, and the Works Cited page
**A note about your outside sources: You should be looking for literary criticisms already written about the story you’ve chosen or its author. You will find these kinds of sources using the library databases and/or Google Scholar. You may not use any “.com” sources from the internet unless I approve it first.
Short Stories to choose from are:
https://www.poemuseum.org/the-tell-tale-heart – The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
https://iaisp.uj.edu.pl/documents/1479490/29437798/Cisneros-Woman-HC-_02_V._Popescu.pdf – Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros
http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfiles/447/Classes/28660/A%20Good%20Man%20Is%20Hard%20To%20Find.pdf – A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O’Connor
http://gwwest.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/93103065/Stephen%20King%20-%20Night%20Shift%20-%20The%20Man%20Who%20Loved%20Flowers.pdf – The Man Who Loved Flowers by Stephen King
Final Research Paper Holistic Rubric
(270-300 points) HIGH PASS: The High Pass essay is clearly superior in every respect. It is fluent, well developed, and well organized. It responds directly to the prompt questions and contains a clear thesis statement that drives the argument. It demonstrates an ability to both analyze and draw inferences from the cited sources. The paragraphs of the High Pass essay demonstrate depth through extensive concrete supporting details with clear transitions. It shows a strong command of language and mastery of MLA formatting.
