Write an argumentative paper (8-10 pages, 2000-2500 words) on a poem or poems from the class.  The essay should be an interpretive argument like the other paper you write for this course, but it should be more fully developed. 

I encourage you to begin your process with a question or concern from one or more of the works and use that as a starting place.  Use critical and historical resources to help you answer the question, but of course, you will be the driving force behind the essay.

Let me give you an example:  Let's say you've just read Wordsworth's "We Are Seven" and get interested in the notion that this poem is an allegory for a conflict between neoclassical and romantic values as Rob suggested in class.  The more you read the poem, the more persuaded you are that this is a compelling reading of the poem that needs to be fleshed out (and that Rob is a genius).  The question you decide you want to answer is How does "We Are Seven" reflect cultural values of the late eighteenth century? To begin answering this question, you flesh out a basic outline and then begin to do some preliminary research.  You don't find any articles that spell this theory out, but there are a few that break down "We Are Seven" and you find a few books on intellectual history that address the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

After you've read the articles, you learn a great deal about the values of the enlightenment and a shift in values that occurred with some people with the French Revolution.  The more you read the more you learn that it was not a simple shift.  After a great deal of note-taking and drafting you decide that your preliminary thesis will be: Wordsworth's "We Are Seven" reflects a transitional moment in intellectual history dramatizing a shift from enlightenment values to romantic values. 

At this point, my thesis is pretty messy, but it gives me a map for how I might write the rest of the paper.  I would need to give some background information on the values of each period and then show how the poem reflects these values. 

After a first draft, I decide that have a bit too much background and that the paper is reading a bit too much like an encyclopedia entry.  Consequently, I try to scale back the intro section and spend more time talking about he actual poem and how it dramatizes these conflicting values.

There are an infinite number of other ways you could approach this assignment, but I thought it would be useful if I walked you through it once.  You can build on some of the presentations you will have heard or articles you will read.  I want you to do some research, but the main point is for you to make your own argument here.  You should drive the essay, not your research. 

 Here are some general suggestions for the process:

• Review your notes and books.  Think about ideas and issues that have interested you as you've been reading.  In particular, think about topics/issues/questions that we might have discussed but not have explored extensively.  Also think about topics you might have considered in other classes that might apply to some of the texts we're reading (psychology, philosophy, art, music, religion, other English classes, etc.).

• Try to formulate a guiding question.  Why does the author use this strategy to address this topic?  Why do certain issues keep recurring in these novels?  Why does history seem so distant to this novel?  Why does this character develop in this particular way?  What do these songs/pictures/biblical references add to the novel?  How does this novel comment on the culture at the time.  The list could go on and on.

• After you've come up with a question, pose a tentative answer—this is your tentative thesis.

• Start to do some research.  Look for articles that are related to the topic.  Ask peers to borrow copies of articles they may have gathered for their bibliographies. 

• If you have trouble finding information on your topic, seek help.  Talk to me or a reference librarian, and we’ll help you.  Don’t expect to find something (and don’t look for an article) that makes your case for you.  Look for information/examples that will help you make your own argument. 

• MAKE COPIES OF ALL ARTICLES/ SOURCES YOU examine OR USE.  IF THERE IS A QUESTION OF PLAGIARISM, YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO FIND YOUR SOURCES.  IF YOU USE BOOKS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE COPIES OF THE PAGES FROM WHICH YOU TAKE INFORMATION. 

• Definitely make an outline before you do too much drafting.  Sure you’ll change your order, but an outline will help you get a sense of the big picture of your argument.

• Be flexible with your thesis.  As you're revising, play around with your ideas.  After you've written through the paper once, you may find that you've come up with something totally different (and better) than you planned.  That's okay, just change your thesis (that's why it's tentative) and rework from there.

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