Focusing on Beowulf and two other literary texts we studied this semester, make a claim about what you think that these literary works have in common in their treatment of friendship. Your thesis statement should be narrow enough to develop in a 10 page paper, but complex enough to encompass the three texts, their similarities and differences. Specify the texts in your introduction and make sure that the thesis focuses on them. As you forge your own research question and thesis, think about what the texts want to emphasize about the significance of the friend in the economy of the text. As you reread the texts, bear in mind the following basic questions, even if your thesis will ultimately go in a different direction: is the friendship public and contractual, or private and bound by the laws of love? Can it be both? How to approach the texts and put them into dialogue with each other: A. The texts might ask the same question about x, but offer different answers to that question. Show the similarities and then focus on the differences. What is each text trying to emphasize? B. The texts might ask a similar question and offer a similar solution. What are the similarities, why are they interesting? For this paper you will want to use: A. At least two secondary sources from our syllabus: Aristotle or Cicero, C.S. Lewis, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil (on Perusall). B. A minimum of four peer-reviewed articles and book chapters that help define your terms and interpret the texts through any lens that interests you: literary criticism, history, theology, psychology, social sciences, philosophy, etc. Book reviews do not count as a source. The Bible, aside from the story of Jonathan and David, which can be a primary text, counts as a secondary source. Where applicable, put your sources into dialogue with one another, especially if you find contrasting readings of one of the texts/passages in the texts you are analyzing. Feel free to disagree with sources, if your reading is different from theirs (that implies that you read the sources carefully). General Guidelines: Your essay should include (an) effective/correct • Title of the essay (i.e., not the assignment title) • Introduction • Thesis • Body paragraphs and topic sentences • Conclusion • Use of MLA style, including parenthetical citation and a Works Cited page. Please make sure that you spend time double checking that your works cited are in good order. Go to Purdue OWL to see the basic format for a Works Cited page. As in academic papers generally, your title should hint at your main idea, and your introduction should lead smoothly into the world of the text(s) you are interpreting (i.e., the short stories/novel/poems you are analyzing) and up to your thesis. Your thesis should make an interesting, specific, and persuasive claim about the texts you write about. The body of your paper should contain paragraphs with clear topic sentences that advance your claim 1) with well-chosen textual evidence and 2) with analysis of each text overall as well as of specific passages. There should be smooth connections and transitions between body paragraphs. You should have a Works Cited page with the correct MLA entry for all sources to which you refer, and you should employ correct use of parenthetical citation throughout. Be sure to use your terminology correctly, consulting as necessary either the Oxford English Dictionary, or the Webster’s and, for literary terms, a source such as The Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory or The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Finally, once your revisions are complete, be sure to spend at least half an hour proofreading the paper for stylistic, grammatical, and spelling mistakes before submitting and printing the final copy. Learning objectives – The students should be able to: • Develop an original thesis that reflects an objective position to the course theme. • Conduct library research using several research tools –academic databases, library catalogue. • Produce writing that prioritizes critical thinking and analysis over rote knowledge and subjective reflection. • Evaluate arguments within both non-fiction and literary sources and produce an essay that engages the course theme in an objective and original discourse. • Evidence clear understanding of MLA in-text and works cited citation standards • Demonstrate effective use of quotation of source words and paraphrase for source ideas in the synthesis of ideas with the essay’s internal argument(s) and discussion.
