Theme Paper

I’ve also added Paper 4 and recommended sources that you can take a look at as well! You can use Paper 4 in Paper 5 so that it is part of the research essay and a rough draft of the paper. The main goal for Paper 5 is to look at parts of the story and connect them to a larger idea or theme in the whole, just as we did in class. Keep in mind, a theme does not reduce the meaning of the play to a cliché. It identifies a text’s central concern and answers the questions: what is this text/author trying to accomplish, or what is this text/author making readers think about? You have the freedom to choose the theme or themes you want to discuss; however, you should limit yourself to the discussion of one or two related themes so that your paper develops a sustained analysis of key scenes to support a thesis about the significance of a controlling idea or theme in one of the assigned stories. If I were working on this essay, I might review our reading and discussion questions that connect a scene to a theme or themes in the story. I might choose to revise an answer or response to a question and develop an additional question or questions that will lead me to a paper topic. I might even return to a response paper. For this research paper, you will need to meet the following requirements: 1. choose key scenes and related themes in either “The Birthmrk” to discuss 2. situate the text in its cultural and historical context 3. identify the genre (short story) of the text 4. explicate key scenes and passages related to a theme from the text to support a thesis-driven essay that incorporates at least 3 scholarly research sources in addition to the primary text (four sources total). Research sources: The research sources you choose should add new depth and complexity to your essay. They should not simply be used abundantly to fill up space or used just barely enough to meet the research requirement. Sources should help you situate a text within a particular literary movement and historical period in addition to providing analysis that can support your claims about a text. You might also choose a source you can disagree with and challenge a critic’s interpretation of a text or reading of a particular scene of significance. Enter into a dialogue with the scholar who authored the essay. Think back to Paper 4 and the way you engaged a source in that critical response. If that paper is related to your research paper topic and theme, you may use Paper 4 as a scaffolding assignment and include content from that paper in Paper 5. You must have four hard sources, total, and must use the following types of sources: 1. You will need a critical analysis essay, which engages the texts, authors, or issues you are dealing with. Instead of simply using this writer’s work to ‘fill out’ your reading, engage this author. What is this author’s claim? How does his or her argument/analysis affect your own (do you agree with this writer’s perspective? If not, what is the significance of this critical disagreement?)? You can find this type of essay in a journal from a database or a book. Sometimes, a news or magazine source will provide this type of critical analysis. 2. You will need a historical/thematic background source. This type of source can be found in a book, news article, journal from a database, or an approved database online. 3. For the remaining sources, I’ll allow you to choose whatever seems to be needed to effectively make your argument. These sources, like the others, must be substantial scholarly sources (that is, books or journal articles). Your literary texts also count as sources. Objectives for Paper 5: • to parenthetically cite a minimum of four different hard/scholarly sources, including a primary text assigned for class and three critical sources • to produce a thesis that represents your argument/idea on the topic • to demonstrate an understanding of correct in-text parenthetical citation formats and Works Cited formats • to produce a final draft that includes consistent and correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage • to demonstrate the ability to write well organized and well developed body paragraphs • to show that you can include your own voice within an essay that includes a series of cited, authoritative sources • to demonstrate that you can include the credentials of your sources at least in the first reference to each authoritative source • to show, through your documentation practices, that you understand the fundamental principles of academic honesty and intellectual responsibility.