The Research Essay

A research essay can be daunting, to say the least. The best way to make it less daunting is to limit your topics, start early, and be diligent in working on the piece.

In this class, I'm going to make it somewhat easier for you to engage this project and process. First of all, I'm going to limit your topics, or at least the figures you may work on. Choose one of the following authors to write on:

John Donne

William Wordsworth

Christina Rossetti

Mark Twain

Emily Dickinson

Langston Hughes

James Joyce

T.S. Eliot

Katherine Mansfield

D.H. Lawrence

Ernest Hemingway

Flannery O'Connor

Adrienne Rich

Louise Erdrich

Margaret Atwood

As a second limiting step, I'm going to ask that you base your essay on a poem of 20-50 lines or a short story of no more than 25 pages.

What To Do, What To Do?

1. As you're thinking about what author you'd like to work on, don't settle for somebody you've worked on before. Much of the research experience is moving beyond what you know (or think you know) in order to discover new and exciting ideas. Let the very choice of your author be the first step in this process. Check out anthologies, on-line sources, encyclopedias, etc. to get a flavor for the possible lives and works of the people above. Then narrow your focus and settle on one. You must have your author solidified by February 16.

2. Once you've got your authors, begin to read around in their works. Sample lots, from different periods of their careers. As you do so, keep notes on each piece you read. This will help you as you narrow your focus toward that final piece you'll write on. Your topic text must be chosen by February 27.

3. Read and reread your piece about a million times. It ought to come to you while you're sleeping, in the middle of a conversation with your mother, when you're eating, and while you're standing behind the musty ninety-year-old woman who fiddles endlessly with her sweat-wrinkled coupons at the grocery store check out. Take notes on the piece, in several colored inks to show what new things you learned or connected each time you read it. Also, begin to jot notes in a journal on themes and motifs that you're seeing. Finally, begin to ask questions about the text. Ask lots and lots, censoring none at this point.

4. Look again at your journal and ask more and more interpretive questions about your text (i.e. those which force you to argue a point, not just answer yes or no, or true or false), based on your reading of it and the secondary sources you're seeing. Once you've done this highlight your three best ones, and then circle (or whatever) your favorite of those. We'll use these in class discussions to help you shape and focus the line of inquiry you're going to pursue. That said, do not fear changing questions or emphasis along the way. Good research will often lead you to think of better and more interesting questions.

5. Now that you're reading around in both text and criticism, and have at least one question you're ready to consider at length, take a break. Put all the critical books away -- literally -- and sit down and write an instant version of the essay. Do this in one sitting, without breaks. You simply want to write out a 5 or so page version of the argument you want to make. Doing so will allow you to see where you vision is weak and where secondary material can really help you make your point. This instant version will be collected along with your reading journal and draft work when the final essay is submitted.

6. Begin to your secondary research. This means find the books, articles, and on-line sources which you're going to need to write the essay. Start this process early, basically the day you settle on your topic text. Because you're going to have to order interlibrary loan items, you don't want to delay beginning to look for critical articles/books on your piece. There will be an annotated bibliography of your 10-15 required sources due March 30.

7. Generate a prospectus for your piece. This will be due to me on April 9. For what it ought to include I steal, again, from Hale, more or less...

A prospectus is a proposal (for us, approximately 500 words in length) that begins to give shape to the research and thinking that you've been doing. In the prospectus you will narrows your field of inquiry, give your essay a suitable title, lay out the title, settle your critical stance (audience, thesis, critical approach to material) and convey in concrete terms the importance of the project in moving beyond what other people have written to generate a new idea from the combination of your creative reading and conscientious scholarship.

The prospectus should include:

	A useful title for your paper. The title should define the topical area and imply a stance. You might take a look at titles of articles on your subject as found in the MLAIB (Modern Language Association International Bibliography). Remember, you can change a title later, but a good one up front can help remind you -- and later us -- of what you're supposed to be discussing.
	Context and background. This section of the prospectus gives the reader a relevant frame of reference (context) within which to understand your project as meaningful and important. Often this involves describing the question or problem you have decided to address, and if pertinent, summarizing criticism that has addressed or failed to adequately address that question or problem. Think of this as a way of explaining the place of your work, and the importance of your point in the critical conversation about your author. Ex. "While Wordsworth critics have often talked about Freudian imagery and symbolism in his poems, few have considered . . . and many have overlooked . . . ."
	Key terms and definitions, as well as key critics. The prospectus should show your intentions to define important concept words and texts necessary for discourse in the field of study (literary criticism about your author). In other words, if you're going to use that Freudian imagery above and you want to talk about "the id," then you'd better make sure to tell us up front and clearly what it means, both for Freud and in the context of your essay.
	A sense of your thesis, your strategies, and methods. This is the core of the paper and the prospectus. What is your main idea, your answer to the question or solution to a self-posed problem? How will you organize your paper? How will you rhetorically argue your thesis? What critical theories will you use? Although the previous material may seem important, this is where the majority of your time ought to be spent, since this is where your ideas get concretized for us, and for yourself. Remember, this is your essay, not your research's.

8. Begin drafting, then keep revising the essay. There will be in-class time and office conferences to help in this process, as well as the usual tons of outside revision work. The final piece will be due May 6.

The Most Important Things to Remember About Research Essays

	This is your essay, not your research's. What this means is that your ideas must be the driving force in your piece. You cannot rely upon your secondary reading to provide a question, a thesis, or even to start your individual paragraphs. Allowing it to do so is a sure sign that your piece is weak, at best.
	If you're an outliner (for instance, I'm not), outline after you've done your instant version. Allow yourself a draft to figure out what you know and what you want to explore before trying to organize it.
	If you can't find information, it's not because it's not out there. It's simply because you're not experienced yet at finding it. So ask someone who is: a librarian, me, or another professor can be a big help when you feel like you're up against a wall.
	Revise revise revise revise revise revise revise revise revise re...got it?