English 9

Research Project
Mr. Mikalaitis As you may know, in your junior and senior years you will have to complete major literary research papers. Trust me when I tell you that both of these papers are time consuming and require a great deal of hard work! In order to better prepare you for these papers as well as other challenges that lie ahead, we are going to do a scaled down version of the junior/senior research paper. You will thank me later. So heres the deal: *You will write a five-page literary research paper on one of the following literary works: Brave New World Slaughterhouse 5 The Handmaids Tale One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest 1984 * You will create a research question that deals with one of the following issues that is present in your chosen text:

alienation, growth through suffering, loss of innocence, redemption, guilt, friendship

*You must create a thesis statement that answers your research question and use four credible sources to support your assertions. *Your paper must include at least five quotations from the primary text and five from your research material. *During the research phase of this project you will place each of these quotations and the related bibliographical information on index cards that will be handed in well before the final paper is due. You will be responsible for handing in 20 index cards. *You will also hand in a prospectus. *The paper and works cited page will be done in MLA format.

What is literary criticism? The source of our interest in literature is the search of meaning in a literary work. One might define this as seeking to discover the truth of a text by bringing to light ideas and new interpretations that my serve to expand our notions of the durability and merit of the work. This study is creative and ever evolving because it is a process; literary criticism explores possible alternative explanations of a text through many approaches to theorizing about a texts meaning. Some theories of literature offer an analysis as the historical inscriptions of human being while others study the technical, thematic or rhetorical function of the work. Still others explore the beauty of the work, the use of language choices and the multiple meanings of work within the work. Thee are as well cultural, historical, archetypal, psychological and philosophical analyses of texts. Current literary criticism seems to have evolved from an established traditional aesthetic which analyzes a whole work to a more modern and fragmented deconstructed of forces affecting the text: the times, the biography of the author, gender, socio-cultural-political issues as well as language choices. Why criticize literary works? As early as the Greeks and maybe before there has been this question of what makes for a good or quality play or story. We continue to have this question and we know that individuals differ in their ideas and tastes about what makes literature good. We are always wondering about the canon of literature read in schools, or whether the canon of literature over-emphasizes certain core ideas and whether those ideas are worthy of such recognition.