Research Project Instructions

All students enrolled in ENG 4560 will conduct a multi-stage research project that will begin with an
annotated bibliography and culminate in a research essay focusing on our course readings and themes.
Both assignments in this two-part sequence should be submitted to Blackboard by the deadline indicated.

I. Annotated Bibliography Deadline:

Deadline: December 6th, by midnight ET

For this assignment, you’re asked to identify four scholarly, peer-reviewed sources and write
annotations of them. Each annotation should include a description of the scholarly source (its
argument, its method, its implications, and any other salient features you notice) and an explanation of
how you anticipate using the source in your essay (e.g., to support your argument, to argue against it, to
provide an alternative perspective). Each annotation should be no shorter than 100 words long but no
longer than 300 words.

Include also, before your list of bibliographic entries, a short statement of research interest. In this
statement of two to three sentences, you will provide a general description of your research topic. Note
that you’re not being asked to state your argument; it’s impossible to have a solid argument before
you’ve done the research.

II. Research Essay

Deadline: December 19th, by midnight ET

Length: 2,500–3,000 words

Using the sources that you culled for the annotated bibliography, write an extended, thesis- driven
essay on one or more of our course’s texts. This essay should be anchored in scholarship, which is to
say that you’re expected to situate your argument to some degree within the context of existing
scholarly perspectives. Situating your argument will require explaining how that argument converges
with existing perspectives as well as how it diverges. (For example, “Scholars, such as Scholar X and
Scholar Y, have argued [fill in the blank] about this short story. While they are right in asserting that
the story [fill in the blank], their arguments tend to overlook [fill in the blank]. My essay corrects this
oversight by [fill in the blank].” Note that this is only example, and you needn’t feel obligated to use
this formulation verbatim.)

You’re required to engage with no fewer than two scholarly, peer-reviewed sources. Let me stress that
it is not enough simply to mention or cite the articles; you need to engage with them substantially—to
have a conversation with the other scholars. Again, these sources may come from articles that you or
your peers discussed for the presentations, but they need not. Please use MLA conventions for citation
and formatting. Unsure about MLA conventions? Visit the Purdue Owl website or consult a reputable
handbook if you have one.