Paper One

Write a 5-8 page paper as specified below. Your source must be approved by me.

Paper One has two parts. For this assignment, you are to locate a source and do the following:

1. summarize it (part 1, also known as Paper 1a)
2. write a brief reaction it (part 2, also known as Paper 1b)

The source should be an academic source about something we have read or will read in class. There will be more details later on how to write the two parts of the paper.

Criteria for a source:

• It should be 8-30 pages long.
• Except in special cases, it must be dated 1995 or later.
• Show it to me for approval, before or after class. All assignments must be done on sources approved by me.
• Xerox it and submit it with your paper.

Proposal:

• By the date specified in the course schedule, you must submit via email a proper bibliographic reference for the article you and I have agreed on. Use the MLA Style of Documenting Sources.
• Before the proposal due date, you need to show the article to me for approval, before or after class.

How to find a good source:

1. Go to Drexel's Hagerty library and look up your topic in the online databases and printed indexes available there. Look in the IAC database on DRAGNET, the MLA Bibliography, the Humanities Index. Get research help from Drexel's librarians, or see me for help with the research element of the paper.
2. Print or copy a list of the journal articles you are considering as sources for this assignment. Be sure to include the name of the journal, volume, number and pages, as well as the title and author of the article.
3. Look for the journals you need at Drexel.
4. If Drexel does not have the source you need, look for it at Penn.
5. Check the source with me if you are unsure whether it is a good one.
6. Be sure you can understand the source! See me for help in understanding it or interpreting any unfamiliar terms.

What to pick as a topic:

1. Any aspect of Molière's Tartuffe
2. Any aspect of Swift's Gulliver's Travels
3. Any aspect of Voltaire's Candide
4. Any aspect of Shelley's Frankenstein

How to write a summary: A document named "Summaries" explains what you are expected to do to write a summary.

The topic: respond or react to the source you read for the first half of the assignment , comparing it to your own understanding of the work, and/or to what was said in class.

Here are some rules to follow as you write this paper:

• DON'T give me a list of similarities and differences between what we/I said in class and your source.
• DO write a complete paper with a thesis statement. A thesis is more than a topic: in this case, it means taking a point of view or presenting an argument you are making about some aspect of the literary work you are discussing.
• DON'T make statements without evidence. Evidence means references to specific words in specific works, giving line or page numbers in parentheses.
• Your paper should have an organization apart from "The next point is," an organization based on sense or development of the argument.

Some suggestions for ideas to consider in developing a thesis:

1. Compare what the article says to what I say in class.
2. Extend what the article said to something that I said in class or to something you read in the book.
3. Apply the ideas in the article to another work we read.