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Research Paper

“Literature exhibits or in other words mirrors society… Literature helps expose societal realities…The basic purpose of literature
is to revitalize and influence our thought process. Literature makes us to deeply analyze societal issues and sometimes it
provides us a solution to solve the problem. The poet, the dramatist, the novelists, the essayist all of them reflects society in
their works.” -S. Keerthika

PURPOSE
1. To demonstrate ability to obtain and comprehend scholarship on literal and critical levels.
2. To demonstrate the ability to prepare an effective, original critical analysis, synthesizing others
views to support your own

RESEARCH TOPIC OPTIONS

OPTION #3: RESEARCH AND DISCUSS THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF A SPECIFIC NOVELIST,
POET, or DRAMATIST
You will choose a novelist, poet, or dramatist as the topic of your research paper. Make sure you
choose one that you can find good essays from our library databases. Your research will be organized
into the following sections. You do not need to label your sections on your paper. Excluding your
introduction, your section must consist of multiple paragraphs.

Section I:
Introduction: Biographical Background:
In this section, you will present information on the artist’s biographical background that has
influenced the artist. This will serve as your introduction. For this paper, your introduction may be
more than one paragraph. The last sentence of the last paragraph of your introduction must be your
thesis.
Section II:
Summary of Criticism:
The goal of this section is to present a summary of critical responses to the artist’s work. You should
find articles that offer general critiques of the artist and specific critiques of the artist’s work(s) that
you are evaluating in section three.
Section III:
Critical Evaluation:
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The final part of the project is a critique of your artist’s works. If you choose a novelist or playwright,
you only have to choose one work. If you choose a poet, you may critique a collected work or three
to five poems. Your critique is argumentative. You are asserting why you think the artist is culturally
significant. Each paragraph should begin with a statement that relates back to your thesis statement
from your introduction. You should then defend your statement with your opinion. This section of
your paper should be 95% your own ideas. You may add a few quotes to support what you are
saying, but do not use quotes that are more than one to two lines. You must write primarily in 3 rd
person. Do not begin sentences with “I think that . . .”, or “I believe that . . .”

Review the following resources before writing your paper:

Introduction to Scholarly Research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LdQeaDN9Qic&feature=youtu.be 3 Ways to Integrate Quotes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmaLg0AVfGY&feature=youtu.be
Formatting Guidelines for Literary Research Paper:

MLA Format
ALL assignments must adhere to the following MLA format. Please go to the following link which will
show you the guidelines in the form of an annotated example paper.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/.

The following video will show you how to change Microsoft Word’s settings to the above MLA
formatting requirement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP0js5gFkfY

When you are working on a works cited page, you need to set your Works Cited entries to a hanging
tab. This video shows you how to do this in Word. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__h9NrgPOys
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Sources of Research

Resources
Review the following resources before writing your paper:

 Introduction to Scholarly Research:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdQeaDN9Qic&feature=youtu.be

 3 Ways to Integrate Quotes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmaLg0AVfGY&feature=youtu.be

Formatting Guidelines for Literary Research Paper:

ALL assignments must adhere to the following MLA format. Please go to the following link which
will show you the guidelines in the form of an annotated example paper.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/.

The following video will show you how to change Microsoft Word’s settings to the above MLA
formatting requirement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP0js5gFkfY

When you are working on a works cited page, you need to set your Works Cited entries to a
hanging tab. This video shows you how to do this in Word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__h9NrgPOys
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