SUNY Fredonia
Division of Arts and Humanities
ENGL 427-02/580-04: Major Writers: Postcolonial Hawthorne
Fall 2007
Dods 101, TTh 2-3:20
Office: Fenton 279; MW 10:30-12, TTh 9:30-11, and by appointment; 673-3125
E-mail: simon@fredonia.edu, brucesimon18@yahoo.com
Web Page: www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/
ANGEL space: https://fredonia.sln.suny.edu

The Final Research Project, Fall 2007

This page takes on three important questions about the Final Research Project: what, what for, and how to (here's where you can find the assignment sheet). My goal is to make this page as useful to you as possible, so let me know if it can be improved. If anything is badly worded, unclear, or missing, please contact me with constructive criticisms. Thanks.

What

The Final Research Project is your chance to propose, research, and write on a topic of your choice that connects the course and your primary academic or intellectual interests in a format of your choice. You may choose to write a critical or a pedagogical essay, or do a creative or a web authoring project. Or you may propose a different format and see if you can get it approved. Whatever format you choose, you must select and use at least two of the critical studies from the course bibliography and find and use at least two additional print secondary sources, in addition to whatever additional non-print research you want to do. Here's more on the suggested formats for the Final Research Project:

• Critical Essay format: write a critical essay (for undergraduates, of at least 10 pages/2500 words; for graduate students, of at least 15 pages/3750 words) in which you offer a comparative analysis of The Scarlet Letter and one or more postcolonial novels you've been reading in the second half of the course, using your research to help you support and justify your position. The goal of this option is for you to hone your analytical and persuasive skills by entering into an interpretive dialogue with other readers/critics of the work(s) you have chosen to analyze. This format is particularly recommended for graduate students considering applying to a Ph.D. program.
• Pedagogical Essay format: write a pedagogical essay (for undergraduates, of at least 10 pages/2500 words; for graduate students, of at least 15 pages/3750 words) on how you'd organize a mini-unit devoted to one (or more) of the works we read in the course and on your reasons for teaching it (them) in the way you described, drawing on your research to help you develop, support, and justify your teaching plan. The goal of this option is to show what you've learned in the course about American literature and postcolonial studies by making a case for the best way of teaching a set of works from the course at the upper middle school or high school level. Your essay, in other words, should not simply describe what you want to do with your class; it should explain why and justify your choices. Your essay should explain and justify your goals, methods, and modes of assessment--it should make a case for why it's important to teach students the material, concepts, and other things that you want them to learn, for why the teaching strategies you plan to use will help you achieve your goals, and for why the assessment methods you have chosen will enable you to tell to what degree students have met your goals. This format is particularly recommended for graduate students seeking permanent certification.
• Creative Writing format: write a story, play, series of poems, personal essay or other work that is in significant intertextual dialogue with an author, work, genre, movement, or issue that we've studied this semester, along with an author's note of at least three pages detailing the critical issues you are addressing in it and the process that went into your composition of it. The goal of this option is to show what you've learned about American literature and postcolonial studies by writing a work of your own and analyzing it in relation to works and issues in the course. Rather than, say, analyzing how someone else's text works, or arguing for how you'd teach students to do this sort of analysis, as in the previous options, you'd be showing what you've learned about creative writing in the period by "doing it yourself." By entering into an intertextual dialogue with other writers--by relating your text to theirs using any of the modes and devices of creative writing--you will be able to get across your "take" on the other works, on the critical issues they engage, and the narrative/poetic/dramatic strategies they enact.
• Web Authoring format: create an analytical web site devoted to a specific aspect of Hawthorne/American literature/postcolonial studies that hasn't been treated well on the web (see the links page for an introduction to what's out there, and to help you figure out what needs to be done) that includes an essay of at least three pages detailing the critical issues you are addressing and the process that went into your construction of it, along with a bibliography of all your sources (both electronic and print). The goal of this option is for you to provide an educational/critical resource for other readers. Your site should go beyond the usual moves (providing biographical and bibliographical information on an author, selecting quality links for further information) to fill a need/niche that is unfilled or undeveloped or not yet well done on the world-wide web.

The possible topics for the final project are wide open. You might, for instance, modify any of the options for the critical essay or do variations on them now that we (will) have some novels under our belts. Or you might come up with something completely fresh and original. Basically, it's your job in the proposal to convince me that doing what you want to do in the format you want to do it is the best way to finish the semester!

What For

So far this semester you've already done a good deal of writing--ranging from the informal free writing on specific topics in class and more focused/sustained interactions on the ANGEL discussion board, to writing a short critical essay. What the Final Research Project allows you to do is to pull together all the skills you've developed in these smaller assignments and move through the entire research and writing process: from considering what texts and questions interest you the most, to identifying a research topic or inquiry, to developing your own perspective on that topic or question though critical reading of primary and secondary texts, to conveying your perspective in the form you feel would best showcase your research and critical or creative skills.

How To

The first stage of the Final Research Project is to write a proposal and get it approved. In it, you must propose a topic and format for your project, describe specifically what you want to focus on, explain your interest in the subject, justify making it the focus of the final project, lay out your research plans, and provide a bibliography of works you've already consulted in developing the proposal. In other words, you must try to persuade your audience (in this case, me) that what you want to do is worth doing. As with any proposal, your job is to pique your readers' interest and get your readers excited about seeing the results of your research and analysis. Often, this involves laying out a key question, explaining its significance, and suggesting how your approach to answering it will improve on existing approaches. Usually this takes at least 3 pages, and for the sake of my eyes, let's make it typed or word processed. This proposal will be due in class on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, although you are encouraged to get it to me as soon as you can. We'll meet to discuss your proposal soon after you turn it in.

The next stage is to research your topic. Actually, your research should begin before you start your proposal--a good proposal is the result of a good amount of research into what precise question to ask, who else has asked it, how they have attempted to answer it, what their answers have been, and why you are dissatisfied with any single answer. So it's not like this is a stage that happens after you've turned in your proposal and we've talked it over; it overlaps the proposal drafting stage. You should use the reserves, the links page, and the library databases to help you accomplish this research. Learn how to use the interlibrary loan system and how to take advantage of advice from your professors and reference librarians. A lot of what we talk about in discussing your proposal will be research-related.

The final stage is to use your research to help you draft, revise, edit, and hone your final project itself. Again, this can be an ongoing process--you don't have to wait until your research is complete until you begin drafting your project; in fact, you shouldn't. I'll be happy to discuss any stage of the writing process with you--from brainstorming to organizing your thoughts, from drafting to revising, from editing to proofreading.

So here's the assignment sheet for the Final Research Project.

Due: no later than 11 pm on Friday, December 21, 2007, in the Final Research Project dropbox in the "Lessons" area on the course ANGEL site.

Format: typed or word-processed; meeting page/word count minima laid out above in a double spaced document with reasonable fonts, font sizes, and margins; a heading that includes your name, the course name or number, and the date; a title that alludes to main themes of the project; formatting, bibliography, and citations (the latter two of which should appear only in the author's note if you are doing the creative format) in MLA style (see the links page for explanations and examples of MLA style; the basic template is: Author. "Title of Poem, or Essay, or Story." Title of Book from which It Comes. Ed., Editor of Book [if any]. City of Publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Page Numbers.); proper quotation format in body of paper according to MLA style (typically author's last name and page number in parentheses in body of paper--"..." (Du Bois 17).--and blockquote format for quotations five lines or longer).

Audience: In general, think of your immediate audience as someone who may be interested in the core issues of the course but who has not been taking this class; hence, you can't assume that your readers have read the texts you're writing on, so you have to include the kind of background that someone not taking this course would need.

Grading Criteria: Dependent on the format you've chosen, as follows:

• Critical Essay format: I will be grading this essay in terms of how well you make your case for your argument, how well you base your argument on research, textual analysis, and interpretation, and how well-organized and well-written your paper is. Hence I will be evaluating the coherence, validity, and persuasiveness of your paper's argument, the effectiveness of your paper's structure, and the quality of your paper's prose (diction, grammar, syntax, and punctuation).
• Pedagogical Essay format: I will be grading this essay in terms of the quality of the lesson plan itself, how well you make your case for your pedagogical goals and strategies, and how well-organized and well-written your essay is (including diction, grammar, syntax, and punctuation).
• Creative Writing format: I will be grading your project on the quality of the fictional work and of the author's note, the inventiveness with which your work engages the work or works and critical issues it is responding to, and the quality of your writing (including diction, grammar, syntax, and punctuation).
• Web Authoring format: I will be grading your web site on the quality of its content and design, on the originality and thoughtfulness of approach to the topic you have focused on, and on the quality of your writing (including diction, grammar, syntax, and punctuation).