Write an argumentative paper (6-8 pages, 1500-2000 words) on a work or works from the class.  The essay should be an interpretive argument like the other paper you wrote for this course, but it should be more fully developed.  It should also have some connection to one of the central issues of the class (i.e., decadence, aestheticism, determinism, naturalism, the history of the period, etc.).  This project might be particularly well-suited to comparing two works from the U.S. or UK which treat a similar subject.

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 I've just read Conrad's Heart of Darkness (a novel most of you have read), and as I'm reading it, I get interested in the way he uses language to create sensory impressions.  In particular, I'm captivated by the scene when Marlowe and the natives are traveling up the river to 'rescue' Kurtz and the dreamy tone he creates there.  My basic topic has to do with language effects in the novel and how and why they are created.  I remember a report I heard about literary impressionism, and I think that that might have something to do with it, so I do some reading on that topic.  After I do some reading, I know I'm on to something even though I'm still not sure what my thesis is going to be.  I do an MLAIB search, and I come up with five articles on impressionism and Conrad. 

After I've read them, I learn some interesting things about how Conrad thought about language, but I don't find anything that directly deals with the jungle passages I'm reading.  I formulate a tentative thesis that goes like this:  In Heart of Darkness Conrad follows tenets of literary impressionism in order to on the one hand connect his readers to the physical scene of the jungle and on the other hand alienate them from the action.  This paradoxical experience enables him to create both sympathy for with the plight of the African natives and also anxiety over their positions in the modern world.  Ultimately, he uses style to reinforce his critique of imperialism.

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 literary impressionism, explaining what it is and how it works.  I'd probably isolate certain key principles that Conrad uses in the novel.  Then I would need to find passages that follow these practices and show how they are used to create the paradoxical experience I describe and how these are connected to Conrad's anti-imperialist project. 

After a first draft, I decide I need to give some more background on HOD and imperialism, so I decide to use that as part of my introduction since critics have so thoroughly established this idea.  Then I go into a transitional section where I talk about style and how it used to reflect content/meaning and use the literary impressionism section to isolate the kinds of stylistic elements I want to discuss.  Then I polish up my paragraphs of applying the ideas to the text and use a few critics to back up my argument.

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 heard or articles you read in your research already.  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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