Develop a research question that reflects a particular aspect of the culture’s influence that is evident in the work. Then, research that element of the work that seems to reflect some aspect of the time period, country, social climate, and political climate that produced it.  You might also research the author and how he or she was influenced in his or her works by these things. 

The research essay assignment includes several small assignments that should be completed as steps that will lead to the writing of a good research essay.  Each of the small assignments counts for a percentage of the final grade for the research essay assignment.  If you don’t do one of the preliminary assignments, your grade for the essay will be lowered.

Research Question: A research question is a question that you will use to focus your research as you attempt to find the answer to it.  The research question is your thesis statement expressed as a question, and the answers you find support for the thesis statement.  By submitting this, you will be letting me know which of the three options you have chosen to write about, what particular shared element of the two works you are going to explore, and what your research question will be.

Annotated Bibliography:  A bibliography is a list of sources.  An annotation notes that a reader has taken while reading a piece of writing.  Therefore, an annotated bibliography is a list of sources that includes notes you have taken on each source.  We will be going over the annotated bibliography requirements later in the semester, but you can begin looking for sources as soon as you have decided what your topic and research question will be.  You will need to have four secondary sources in your annotated bibliography, even though you only need two for the final draft of the essay.  Secondary sources are pieces of writing that are about the works of literature that you are writing about; primary sources are the works of literature themselves.

Research Question Due Date:  Must be submitted in the appropriate folder in GeorgiaView no later than Saturday, March 6 by 11:30 pm.

Annotated Bibliography Due Date: Must be submitted in the appropriate folder in GeorgiaView no later than Sunday, April 4 by 11:30 pm.

Formal Outline/Rough Draft Due Date:  Must be submitted in the appropriate folder in GeorgiaView no later than Sunday, April 11 by 11:30 pm.

Final Draft of the Research Essay: Must be submitted in the appropriate folder in GeorgiaView no later than Sunday, April 18 by 11:30 pm.

You are welcome and encouraged to submit the above assignments before the due date.

Requirements:

Your essay should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length.

It should quote or paraphrase from at least two scholarly secondary sources, not counting the works of literature, the primary sources, that you have chosen to write about.  You may use electronic, print, or film sources, as long as they are reputable.  GALILEO, the library’s scholarly database, is the best place to find reputable sources.  Wikipedia is not a reputable scholarly source.  Neither are Cliff Notes, Monarch Notes, Schmoop, or any other online “shortcuts” for interpreting literature.  If you list any of these on your Works Cited page, you will get a 20-point reduction on your essay’s grade.

You need to document your sources correctly using MLA documentation.

The last page of the final draft of your research essay must be a Works Cited page that includes both of the primary sources and both of the secondary sources that you quoted or paraphrased from in your essay.  You must quote or paraphrase from all three of the sources.

The Assignment:

First, select one of the following works of literature that have been assigned this semester:

The Narrow Road to the Deep North  by Matsuo Basho

The Love Suicides at Amijima by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

Faust by Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

“The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Any of the poems in our textbook by Charles Baudelaire

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen

“The Old Chief Mshlanga” by Doris Lessing

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Read the work that you selected, then think about it.  Particularly think about the ways in which the work might be influenced by the time period, country, social climate, and political climate that produced it.

Develop a research question that reflects a particular aspect of the culture’s influence that is evident in the work. Then, research that element of the work that seems to reflect some aspect of the time period, country, social climate, and political climate that produced it.  You might also research the author and how he or she was influenced in his or her works by these things.

After you’ve done your research and discovered some answers to your research question, write a thesis statement that includes these answers.

Finally, write an essay to go along with the thesis statement, including in it paraphrases and quotes to support your own ideas that provide proof of the correctness of your thesis statement.

Example:  Goethe’s Faust was written during the Industrial Revolution in Europe, at a time when scientific intellectual inquiry, applied to the production of goods, brought about the invention of machine technology that made it cheaper, easier, and quicker to produce goods than had been possible when all goods were made laboriously by hand by craftspeople.  Some people worried that human intellectual curiosity and the technologies that resulted from it might not be so beneficial to humankind, and that science might even go too far and create situations that are harmful or deadly to humans.

Faust may be a reflection of concerns about the Industrial Revolution.  The character Faust is a university professor, a man of science who wants to find out all the secrets that Nature hides from humankind.  His desire for knowledge leads him to make a bet with the devil Mephistopheles, who agrees to give Faust all the knowledge, pleasure, and exciting experience that he desires.  Faust, in turn, agrees that, if he is ever so pleased by an experience that the devil devises that he asks that the experience be prolonged, then the devil can have his soul.

As a result of this bet, Faust begins to see other people as only means to his personal ends, which are to get as much knowledge and as much pleasure as possible.  Gretchen, in particular, is exploited by Faust’s desires.  He, at first, only wants to use her for sexual enjoyment, but she has fallen in love with him because of Mephistopheles’ plotting and scheming to get her to sleep with Faust.  Faust falls in love with her, too, but it is too late for him to save her, as her life has been destroyed by her relationship with Faust.

A research question relating to Goethe’s Faust could be something like this: ”In what ways was Goethe inspired by the Industrial Revolution when he wrote the play Faust?”  Research on the Industrial Revolution and on Goethe’s opinion about it could help reveal the answer to this question.

The first three paragraphs of the example represent what a student’s ideas on the relationship between Faust and the Industrial Revolution might be.  Research would help the student find out whether her ideas are valid or not.