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THE RESEARCH PROJECT ( 2 0% )

This paper is due (in class) at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 15th, 2013.1

The Research Project is a 2500-word paper that makes an argument about anyone of the major authors we

have studied in 340: theBeowulf-poet, Chaucer, Marlowe, Milton, Swift, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats,Tennyson, or Woolf.

It will require you to find, read, and cite (using MLA format) at leastthree scholarlyjournal articles or

monographs that have influenced your argument.

First, choose one of these topics: [Ive prefaced each with quotations from Shelleys Defence of Poetry in

volume D of the Norton; but you need only to focus on the questions

1. Past and present. [A]ll the great historians ... were poets (861). How does the author treat the recent

and/or distant past in his or her writing? How does s/he imagine and interpret the pasts relationship to

the present?

2. Present and future. The future is contained within the present as the plant within the seed (857). Howdoes the author view the future, beyond the moment of his or her actual composition or narrative

description? What are the future consequences of present actions?

3. Nature. Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it

adds beauty to that which is most deformed. ... [I]t compels us to feel that which we perceive, and to

imagine that which we know (866). How does the author imagine the relationship between human

beings and the natural world?

4. Empathy. The great secret of morals is ... a going out of our own nature, and an identification of

ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own (862). How do

characters or speakers empathize with ideas, actions, and people outside of themselves? How do these

perceptions of external things improve their self-understanding?

5. Diction. The distinction between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error (860). How do the authors

word choices, in prose or verse, represent a departure from conventional meanings or expectations? Use

the Oxford English Dictionary to analyze these choices.

ENGL 340 Research Project | Page 1 of 2

1 Submission guidelines and late penalties are on page 7 of the course outline.

ENGL 340 (2012-2013)

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Instructor: Dr Michael Ullyot

Office: Social Sciences 1106

Phone: (403) 220 4656

E-mail: ullyot@ucalgary.ca

Twitter: @ullyot

Web: ullyot.ucalgaryblogs.ca

Office hours: By appointment (phone or e-mail)

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Second, choose one of these authors (put an X in one of these boxes):

At least five days before (by April10th), e-mail me a one-page,point-form outline of yourargument, including a provisional

thesis statement/verdict. What areyou arguing, and how will you usethe textual evidence to make theconvincing argument and counter-argument? I will weigh this outlinewhen I determine your final markbut it is not a contract: you canchange your mind and yourapproach after you submit it.

Remember that effective criticalwriting is clear, precise, and

concise. Include a word-count(including quotations, butexcluding Works Cited) on yourtitle page. Do not exceed 2500words.

Feel free to make an appointment to talk with me about your paper, any time before April 8th.

For writing advice and presentation guidelines, go to my blog , click on TeachingMaterials, and then on Effective Critical Writing .Finally: were going to turn the usual essay-writing formula (introduction/thesis body conclusion) on itshead. Instead of starting with a thesis and supporting it with paragraphs of evidence,work toward your thesis astheculmination of your essay, as its final sentence, its logical verdict. Your job is to write like a judge presidingover valid but conflicting argumentsnot a lawyer arguing an air-tight case.

You still need an introduction that establishes what your subject is, what your issue or question is, and whythis issue or question needs resolving. You still need to write in paragraphs, and your argument still needsto have a beginning, middle, and end.

But the goal is to show that youve not pre-determinedyour argument/thesis, but that youve arrived at itafter careful consideration of the alternative(s).

Offer a really good argument against your argument. Why might other readers hold this conflicting view?Why should they change their minds to agree with you?

One technique might be to start your essay with a seemingly plausible answer to the question, and then to

present evidence showing why it seems righteven over a few paragraphs. Then explain how other, betterevidence shows that this position needs to be changed or even refuted, leading you to conclude with yourthesis/verdict. You could use phrases like, At first glance, it would seem that X. But on closer examination,Y is more convincing. Or you could show how argument X is based on narrow evidence, and thatargument Y is more true to your text.

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Past

& present

Present

& futureNature Empathy Diction

Beowulf

Chaucer

Marlowe

Milton

Swift

Wordsworth

Shelley

Keats

Tennyson

Woolf