Writing a Literary Research Paper Mrs. Tabb
The literary research project involves a book that you have either read in or outside of lit class. You may read a novel, a play, or a book of poems, written by a British author.
Your final paper should be 6-8 pages long (typed/ 1500-2000 words). It should not be a simple book report or plot summary of your supplemental work, but instead should focus on thematic similarities and differences, influences, or another approved topic. The point here is not to be right so much as to display your thinking processes.
Below are a series of questions around which papers can be organized. Dealing mainly with works we have read or will read in class, each question focuses on a single major theme. What you have to do is think through the major themes and then reformulate one of these questions so that you can use it to structure your paper.
This list is not restrictive: it is meant to provide you with suggestions and guidance; you are perfectly free to twist, combine, and even invent your own topic. You may read any book by a British author, however, if I have read and know the book well, it is much easier for me to help you write the paper.
Plagiarism of this paper will require me to fail you for the entire course-- it’s not worth it to even think about it.
I will be glad to be of help at all stages of writing this paper. Please feel free to talk to me during HHSW (or e-mail me) about which book to read or, once you have read your book, what themes to think about. I can also help you organize your paper, develop an intro paragraph, and I will even go over a rough draft with you.
1.Almost all the works we have read so far portray differing views of man. Explore the view of man as depicted in a work of literature. Perhaps you could compare 2 works of lit and their opposing views. Perhaps an author contrasts a view of man within the work, using 2 different characters. (Beowulf, Gulliver’s Travels, The Taming of the Shrew, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.)
2.Write about the imagery found within a work of British literature. For example, fire and light within Frankenstein, the human body in Gulliver’s Travels. Or write about the stereotyping in The Taming of the Shrew. Or write about man’s feeble attempts to play God or control nature as shown in Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
3.Is the view of man portrayed in Gulliver’s Travels still relevant today? Could you compare and contrast the satirical view of man in the book with human folly today?
4.In many of the works we have read so far we have seen characters who are SELF-DIVIDED or somehow at odds within themselves. Compare and contrast the nature, causes, and effects of this divisive nature in the characters of ______.
5.What is a true hero? What aspects of a true hero are exemplified by Beowulf? Are there any true heroes today or was Beowulf the last of a dying breed?
6.What other works of literature or film have been influenced by (name a work)?
7.Several of the works we've read so far deal with the problem of FREE WILL. The question of whether man has free will and what he should do with it is particularly relevant. How does the issue of free will come into works we've read? What do the various authors think about the possibility of free will? **NB be sure to distinguish carefully between what you think the author thinks and what his characters seem to think.
8.Compare and contrast differing view of women as portrayed in The Taming of the Shrew, or between two female characters from two different works.
Other possible ideas:
Friendship
Marriage
Political Satire (then & now)
Sin
Fate
Honor
The danger of too much knowledge
Violence
Sacrifice
Love
Ideas taken from: