20th Century American Fiction, fall 2006
Guidelines for prospectus, annotated bibliography, and term paper

Prospectus/bibliography due: Anytime before the midterm (Oct. 31)

The term paper this semester will be 10 pages (more than 10 is fine, but less than 10 will be frowned on) on a topic that you design yourself. You might focus closely on one of the novels we’ve read, compare and contrast a couple of novels, or trace one common theme through several of the novels. Feel free to take any critical or theoretical approach.

While the subject of the term paper is very much open to you, I’d like you to take the intermediate step of writing a prospectus, which will help me to see what you’re interested in and offer guidance and suggestions on your project. The prospectus, which should be 1-2 pages, is essentially a plan for the work you intend to do. It gives some background on the question you’re interested in exploring, suggests why that question deserves attention, and offers a tentative working thesis (that is, the argument you plan to make).

You are most likely to find a good subject by reading – both of the text itself and of secondary sources. Thus, the prospectus should be accompanied by an annotated bibliography. In this case, I would like to see a bibliography of at least three sources, following MLA style. Each source should be annotated, that is, accompanied by a paragraph explaining the source’s argument. When possible, I would like you to read sources beyond those discussed in class, and not include only those articles which have been called to your attention by your classmates. As a rough guideline, you might try to include two or three sources located independently, and supplement them with works from the class bibliography.

While I am open to your taking a fundamentally New Critical or close-reading approach to your essay, I still expect you to work with outside sources in order to make the case for why your particular close reading is necessary, how it contributes to and closes a gap in the existing body of work on your subject.

Please keep in mind that I do not accept late papers, so plan ahead in case of last-minute emergencies. You should also upload both the prospectus/bibliography and term paper to turnitin.com (instructions on doing this will be forthcoming).