Xianfeng Mou
ENGl 267 World Literature 1,700 to the Present
Research Paper—Argumentative Paper
Your research paper is an argumentative paper in which you try to persuade readers to agree with you or to consider your arguments seriously.
The very first requirement that leads to a good position paper is to find your position.
Finding your position
For instance, here are some sample positions that I came up with. A position implies someone can always challenge it.
- Kate Chopin’s The Awakening was banned upon publication in 1899 because readers disagreed with the idea that a woman like Edna should want a separate space of her own.
- Kafka’s Metamorphosis describes the process of reification of the human being and its tragic consequences in the alienating modern society.
- Beckett’s Endgame illustrates that life inherently has no meaning, and the meaning of an individual’s life is what he or she creates for it.
- Contrary to what many readers have believed, the protagonist in Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” has expressed what he wants to say—that it is not desirable to live a life without spiritual commitment in the format of a question instead of a declarative statement.
- Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart rewrites, from the insider’s sophisticated perspective, a story that the British commissioner intended to title The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger about a strange man—Okonkwo—killing a messenger and hanged himself so as to contest cultural tradition and change in a changing world.
How to find a good position
To find a good position, try to search what makes you feel or think strongly. If you are particularly passionate about one literary piece or one specific theme, you have a good start.
As your classmate has reminded, the best way to find a position, if you do not have one close to your heart, is to go to the library’s databases and do some searches. Just looking at the titles of the papers will give you some idea. Reading three scholarly articles will refine your position to a manageable scale.
Remember you are only required to write seven pages.
Positions are argument. You will need the support of those outside sources to strengthen your own position or to refute those ideas that are against your position.
Your idea should be related to one or more pieces we have covered throughout the course. It is one way to show how you get inspired. Generally you are not encouraged to choose a story not included in the class, although the author has been included. If, however, you are madly in love with that story, you at least need to show that somehow it is connected to a theme that we have discussed.
You are encouraged to choose one author or one topic that you have not dealt with during your midterm.
Instructors discourage recycling your own project produced for another class in a previous semester, though recycling is rare.
How to write a good argumentative paper
On what an argumentative paper should be like and how you should do to produce a good argumentative paper, Purdue’s OWL (online writing lab) has excellent, free sources. Here is the link you are required to explore. You can also surf around for other relevant topics such as evaluating the sources, integrating sources, citing the sources, detailed writing skills and other related materials.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/ (accessed April 13, 2009)
There are also other sources you can find on line. The following one is a little bit old.
http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/owl&writingcenter/OWL/Argument.html (accessed April 13, 2009)
My old course website happens to have some materials available on argumentative papers. Here is the link if you are interested in knowing how to integrate outside sources into your own writing, especially under the section called Project Materials. The other material may also prove useful. The document open password is 106.
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~imfeng/106ISpring05/05Spring106I.htm
Specific requirements about the paper
Find your position and get the instructor’s permission.
The paper should have seven pages. It should be at least six full pages in length, plus one page for end citations. If you want to go longer, do not exceed eight pages.
Pay attention to the development of your ideas and the structure of your entire paper, especially the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Write a concise thesis statement and relate all your paragraphs to that thesis. Also pay attention to topic sentences and transitions. In one word, this paper should be well-written.
If you ask me to dig out information, the paper is not well-written. It is advisable to ask a friend to read your draft and see how that friend reacts. You can also use a writing lab tutor as your sounding board.
For documentation, use in-text citations in a proper format. You can use MLA, APA, or Chicago style as you see fit. Also pay attention to styles of end citations, be it Works Cited (for MLA), References (for APA), or Bibliography (for Chicago).
Use at least Three scholarly sources. (Refer to Purdue OWL for evaluating sources)
Paper is due at the beginning of the last class May 1, 09.
Notes about your final exam:
It will focus only on materials we cover after the mid-term.
I will have ten short questions. They are not as long as your mid-term questions. You will be asked to take them home and prepare for at least six of them. Your final exam questions will be chosen out of the ten.
I might also want to add a few one-sentence True or False questions to test whether you have finished the reading assignments. Say ten questions, each is worth 1.5 points.
If I am correct, your final exam lasts two hours.
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Created by Xianfeng Mou, spring 2009, All Rights Reserved. Added on 08/26/09.
