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CL 10 Take-home Midterm Paper Prompt

The midterm assignment for CL 10 is to write a 2,000-word research paper on any book that we read in the first half of the course. Please demonstrate to me in your paper that you actually have conducted research and have thought deeply about this text. Analyze it in detail. To complete this assignment, you MUST cite at least 2-3 secondary sources (preferably books or articles). You should cite your sources in a minimum of 10-12 notes or bibliographic citations. Quote from your sources to support your arguments; simply mentioning the names of texts is inadequate. Show me that you have read them! A quotation from the novel you are analyzing does not count as a source. Online resources such as JSTOR and Proquest (both available on the UCI Library website) may be particularly helpful to locate sources. Including page numbers and quotation marks in your citations is necessary, not optional. You jeopardize your grade by not doing so. You will not receive credit if your citations are all from one source. Long quotations from the readings should be avoided. If you do include many long quotations, your essay should be longer than 2,000 words. Papers shorter (even slightly) than 2,000 words will not receive full credit. Limit your use of videos, Wikipedia entries, and websites. Do not use blogs, theses, or dissertations. Visiting the library to check out or consult books is strongly recommended. Aim to find the standard works on a topic and engage with them, not just anything you locate online. A standard work is typically published in a recognized journal or by a university press. Your paper will be evaluated in part on the quality of your sources. If you are unsure about quality, you can check the number of citations a source receives on Google Scholar. Ask me for suggestions. Try to be analyticalrather than merely praise the genius of a particular creative figure. Writing that an author was a genius is empty hero worship, not research. It is essential to be scrupulous when you are quoting from the work of someone else. I will be happy to recommend readings and help you select a topic. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness or ignorance but rather an expression of a desire to learn. Starting to work on this assignment as soon as possible is an excellent strategy to improve the likelihood of receiving a good grade.

Here are 11 keys to writing an excellent midterm (and writing strong essays more generally):

1. Limit your paragraphs to 12 lines and structure them to make a specific point.

2. Make sure you spell check your paper.

3. Write your paper in a manner that advances an argument and is not merely a reflection of the order in which you read sources. It must have a beginning, evidence, analysis, and a conclusion.

4. Cite the language of the figure or figures you are writing about, yet be critical about them. Argue and disagree!

5. Use secondary literature to conduct your analysis and not simply to provide citations.

6. Avoid repetition and make a point once and only once. Doing otherwise suggests the absence of an argument.

7. Employ concepts and define them.

8. Describe specific narrative forms, explain their significance, and avoid vagueness.

9. Locate ideas in relation to their historical moment.

10. Provide complete citations as described above.

11. Supply examples to support your assertions.

Your paper must be uploaded to Canvas by 11:59pm on Thursday February 5. This is a hard deadline, for I need time to read and grade your papers and return them quickly so you can obtain feedback on your performance in the class.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE ASK ME IN CLASS!