Guidelines for 'The Documented Paper' Assignment (150 pts)

Length—7-10 pages, including MLA works cited page (shorter papers will be returned). A works cited page is required, and in proper form (see MLA Style Manual, 1985 or more recent). This critical exercise should be a well-researched literary analysis. The student should select a subject only after consultation with the professor and an appropriate amount of reading and research in the area of the chosen topic; a sampling of previous criticism may prevent the student from repeating critical commonplaces. 

A set of Instigator Questions will be provided before the Thanksgiving break to help direct you on possible approaches to this assignment.

The paper is due on 15 December and should be submitted to me by noon of that day. The Documented Paper should be submitted in a folder that contains your rough drafts and notes.

TIPS for writing your Documented Paper:

Do not waste space by announcing what you are going to do, or by reminding us at the end what you have done. For instance, avoid unnecessary language like, "In this paper, I will attempt to demonstrate . . . ."

Do not waste space attempting a general account of the period or the authors; wherever relevant, you may refer to whatever you may know about them, but you are being asked to write about literature and its uses, not history or biography.

Write in the third person and the present tense when explicating a literary text. If recounting historical events use the past tense.

Do not retell the stories or summarize the plots; you may assume that your reader knows the books.

Passages quoted of more than five lines should be indented and single-spaced.

Do not indulge in vague generalizations or unsubstantiated pronouncements; always refer directly to the stories themselves to prove or illustrate a point.

Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks.

Repeat nouns (such as names) rather than possibly ambiguous pronouns (he, she, it, etc.).

Avoid the use of adverbs.

Strive for clarity, and above all focus; lay out your line of argument carefully, and do not deviate from it by indulging in extraneous matters.

Avoid wordiness; two words are better than three, and one is better than two.

Do not use the same words over and over again.

Remember that there are things called paragraphs, and organize your essay appropriately.

Put a title on your paper, number your pages, leave reasonable margins on all four sides of the paper, and double space throughout.

Avoid "Index Words" ["this" and "these"].