Your Research Project Assignments - Here They Are!

This course requires that we do some research. As such, you have a research paper due at the end of the term. You have two options to choose from:

Option #1.
Literary Research Paper: Choose a major theme from The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, demonstrate and analyze how that theme is constructed throughout the entire book (this means reading all five chapters). You must also find and read two scholarly articles (using the library databases) that address the theme in some way, and cite those articles within your paper according to the MLA guidelines.

In a sense you are making an argument about the theme that Kingston constructs in her text. Therefore, you must use examples from her text as well to support your argument. Remember, it is never enough to just plop a quote into the text. Quotations cannot stand alone. When you use a quote you must first set it up properly so that the reader has some context for where it comes in the story. And then, you must give some analysis of the citation. Why did you choose to cite that quote at this exact point in your argument? Analyze what the quote means and how it fits with your argument.

This assignment will be a typical literary research paper, and I will bring in a model one for you to follow. (If you chose to write about The Woman Warrior already for essay #2, you have the option of simply expanding that original paper and turning it into a longer, researched piece.) The research paper must be 5-7 pages in length.

Option #2.
Unconventional Research Paper: Write an autobiographical paper that focuses on some aspect of your own personal identity --either race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class or culture – as it connects to some current public issue in the U.S. (this of course may include the war in Iraq). We will spend some time in class brainstorming possible current public issues that may be doable. But you should also start thinking about it now if you are interested in this project.

Part 1. Explain the aspect of your identity that you chose and discuss how you understand it to be part of who you are. Consider how this aspect of your identity impacts your life on a regular basis.

Part 2. Explain what the current issue is that you have chosen to explore in relation to your identity, making clear the connection between the two. In addition to explaining what the issue is, you must also give some analysis. Consider: What is at stake in this issue? Who is involved? Does it directly or indirectly impact your own life? How does this issue play out in the word - in the media - in the lives of everyday people?

Note: You may write this paper in the form of a narrative if you would like. (One way to think about this is by considering two pieces we read in this class: Audre Lorde’s piece, “The Summer I left Childhood was White” and Satrapi’s Persepolis. Both told their own autobiographical stories as they were set within the framework of the cultural climate around them – Lorde’s in the midst of racism and segregation, and Satrapi’s in the midst of war and revolution.) Or it can take a more traditional academic prose form.

Either way, (unlike Lorde and Satrapi) you must conduct and include some research for your piece: Find, read and cite one academic source – either scholarly article or academic book that is concerned with your topic. And find, read and cite at least one newspaper or magazine article that addresses the current issue. Again, you must follow the MLA guidelines for in-text citations as well as a works cited list.

(If you think you can expand the first essay you wrote on identity, then you may choose to do so, as long as you revise that piece so that it meets all of the standards of this assignment). The research paper must be 5-7 pages in length.

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These papers will be due in stages (this will become clearer next week). But the final draft is due Weds. May 16. All topics must be presented to me for approval ahead of time. Please feel free to ask questions here(in the comments section) if you have any, but know that we will talk about these projects at length in class as well.

Have a great weekend, all.

Peace, Erin