The Literary Research Paper

The Literary Research Paper is only slightly different from a traditional research paper; the basic process is the same:

• Select Topic
• Determine your OWN thoughts--write your first draft: know WHAT you know before you begin; in doing so, you will know what to cite in your paper
• Seek expert information - in this case, your work has been done for you; you will be using specifically selected critical essays on one of the two stories we read, as dictated by your chosen topic
• Once you have the information, read it critically, more than once; take notes and figure out how the notes relate to the story AND to what you already think
•      Determine what you can use

     IMPORTANT:  you will not use everything in every essay; you will learn a great deal about what critics think and have to say about the respective short story, but it will be up to YOU to select what you can incorporate into YOUR essay.  In other words, you'll be evaluating, analyzing and synthesizing--all of which are upper-level forms of critical thinking. It IS hard.  No one ever said writing a research paper was easy.

• Yes, you DO have to use the articles listed for each essay.
• Yes, you CAN do more research on your own, but that is IN ADDITION TO the selected journal entries.

TOPICS:

A Study of Symbolism in Town and Forest in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"

Is It You or Me? The Question of Disspelled Illusion in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"

The Unavoidable Weight in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

The Importance of Imagination in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

Reference Material -- These essays are all available through MSC library and Galileo

Tritt, Michael.  "'Young Goodman Brown' and the Psychology of Projection"
Ellis, Robert P. " Young Goodman Brown"
Lawson, Benjamin S. "Young Goodman Brown"
Paulits, Walter J. "Ambivalence in 'Young Goodman Brown'"
Predmore, Richard. "'Young Goodman Brown': Night Journey into the Forest"

Piedmont-Marton, Elisabeth. "The Things They Carried"
Kaplan, Steven. "The Things They Carried"
McDonough, Christopher Michael. "Afraid to Admit We Are Not Achilles: Facing Hector's Dilemma in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried"
Blyn, Robin. O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"
Robinson, Daniel. "Getting it Right: The Short Fiction of Tim O'Brien"

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO NOTE:  When referring to the title of an article OR a short story, use quotation marks; for example, "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Things They Carried" book indicate short stories.  The Things They Carried refers to a BOOK, in which "The Things They Carried" is the first story or first chapter.