E NGL 340 (2012-2013)

D EPARTMENT OF E NGLISH
F ACULTY OF A RTS U NIVERSITY OF C ALGARY

Instructor: Office: Phone: E-mail: Twitter: Web: Office hours:

Dr Michael Ullyot Social Sciences 1106 (403) 220 4656 ullyot@ucalgary.ca @ullyot ullyot.ucalgaryblogs.ca By appointment (phone or e-mail)

T H E R E S E A RCH P ROJ EC T ( 2 0 % )
This paper is due (in class) at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 15th, 2013.1 The Research Project is a 2500-word paper that makes an argument about any one of the major authors we have studied in 340: the Beowulf-poet, Chaucer, Marlowe, Milton, Swift, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, or Woolf. It will require you to find, read, and cite (using MLA format) at least three scholarly journal articles or monographs that have influenced your argument. First, choose one of these topics: [Ive prefaced each with quotations from Shelleys Defence of Poetry in volume D of the Norton; but you need only to focus on the questions
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Past and present. [A]ll the great historians ... were poets (861). How does the author treat the recent and/or distant past in his or her writing? How does s/he imagine and interpret the pasts relationship to the present? Present and future. The future is contained within the present as the plant within the seed (857). How does the author view the future, beyond the moment of his or her actual composition or narrative description? What are the future consequences of present actions? Nature. Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed. ... [I]t compels us to feel that which we perceive, and to imagine that which we know (866). How does the author imagine the relationship between human beings and the natural world? Empathy. The great secret of morals is ... a going out of our own nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own (862). How do characters or speakers empathize with ideas, actions, and people outside of themselves? How do these perceptions of external things improve their self-understanding? Diction. The distinction between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error (860). How do the authors word choices, in prose or verse, represent a departure from conventional meanings or expectations? Use the Oxford English Dictionary to analyze these choices.

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Submission guidelines and late penalties are on page 7 of the course outline. ENGL 340 Research Project | Page 1 of 2

Second, choose one of these authors (put an X in one of these boxes):

Past & present Beowulf Chaucer Marlowe Milton Swift Wordsworth Shelley Keats Tennyson Woolf Present & future

Nature

Empathy

Diction

At least five days before (by April 10th), e-mail me a one-page, point-form outline of your argument, including a provisional thesis statement/verdict. What are you arguing, and how will you use the textual evidence to make the convincing argument and counterargument? I will weigh this outline when I determine your final mark but it is not a contract: you can change your mind and your approach after you submit it. Remember that effective critical writing is clear, precise, and concise. Include a word-count (including quotations, but excluding Works Cited) on your title page. Do not exceed 2500 words.

Feel free to make an appointment to talk with me about your paper, any time before April 8th. For writing advice and presentation guidelines, go to my blog <ullyot.ucalgaryblogs.ca>, click on Teaching Materials, and then on Effective Critical Writing <ullyot.ucalgaryblogs.ca/teaching/ecw/>. Finally: were going to turn the usual essay-writing formula (introduction/thesis body conclusion) on its head. Instead of starting with a thesis and supporting it with paragraphs of evidence, work toward your thesis as the culmination of your essay, as its final sentence, its logical verdict. Your job is to write like a judge presiding over valid but conflicting argumentsnot a lawyer arguing an air-tight case. You still need an introduction that establishes what your subject is, what your issue or question is, and why this issue or question needs resolving. You still need to write in paragraphs, and your argument still needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. But the goal is to show that youve not pre-determined your argument/thesis, but that youve arrived at it after careful consideration of the alternative(s). Offer a really good argument against your argument. Why might other readers hold this conflicting view? Why should they change their minds to agree with you? One technique might be to start your essay with a seemingly plausible answer to the question, and then to present evidence showing why it seems righteven over a few paragraphs. Then explain how other, better evidence shows that this position needs to be changed or even refuted, leading you to conclude with your thesis/verdict. You could use phrases like, At first glance, it would seem that X. But on closer examination, Y is more convincing. Or you could show how argument X is based on narrow evidence, and that argument Y is more true to your text.

ENGL 340 Research Project | Page 2 of 2