This week you should select an author for your research paper, and toss around some ideas for aspects of his/her work to consider. Choose at least three authors, and send me an informal writing about the advantages and drawbacks of each author, as well as some general reflections on images or themes which tend to occur across multiple works.
I’m not imposing specific guidelines about which authors are eligible as subjects. I suspect that you’ll find the research and writing process easier if you choose conventionally “literary” authors, but at the end of the day the choice is yours. If you decide you want to write about Dr. Seuss, and you find very little room for interpretation in Green Eggs and Ham, or if you choose to write about Tom Clancy and discover a lack of academic critical work about Hunt for the Red October, then don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Keep in mind that the research paper is not a biography. It should not be about the author’s personal life. Your main source should not be interviews with the author. It is a long critical piece, and it is fundamentally about interpretation of an author’s work. You should be making an extended argument about themes, images, symbols, topics, techniques, etc. Biographical material about your author should be limited, if it appears at all.
So, for instance, I don’t want to know that C.S. Lewis was a Christian, or that J.R.R. Tolkien fought in World War I. What I want is your analysis, based on the reading of literary texts and secondary sources, of what Lewis’s work says about Christianity, or what Tolkien’s work says about combat.
Informal Writing Assignment:
Submit a 1-2 page brainstorm regarding at least three authors you might choose as topics.
Week 9 Submission Checklist:
- Your research paper topic brainstorm. (Informal Writing #6)
- Revision of Paper 2