Term Paper—English 1BH
Dr. Leiby Spring 2016
The Term Paper will present an analysis (close reading) of a literary text assigned during the
semester (your choice), and research is required. You must incorporate research into your essay
in a significant way and present an original literary interpretation of a text, approaching the text from
at least one literary critical perspective. You may also incorporate biographical information into your
essay, for example, to interpret certain images or symbolism in a literary work, arguing perhaps from
a psychoanalytic or feminist perspective that the symbolism relates to some significant event in the
author’s life. Historical, cultural, sociological, or political research might also be appropriate;
however, you must include literary criticism as well. Most research essays on literature incorporate
biographical information into at least the introduction of the essay, as well as several different
sources of literary criticism throughout the essay. DUE DATE: May 12.
Requirements:
1. The paper should present a clear thesis that makes an original interpretative argument about
a literary text and is developed through appropriate identification of literary elements. As
primary support for your thesis, throughout your paper you should include relevant
quotations from the literary text and detailed interpretation.
2. You should also research and use secondary scholarly sources as supplemental support. At
least two secondary sources such as biography, cultural and historical contexts, or
literary criticism should be used as supplemental support. In addition, at least one scholarly
source of literary criticism should be used for supplemental support; thus, you should cite
from at least three secondary sources, all of which should be reputable ones suitable for an
academic assignment, such as articles from an ECC library database, books, or credible
websites, appropriate for academic use. Your interpretation of the text should be based on this
independent scholarly research, which you must evaluate and synthesize in such a way that
you approach the text from at least one or more of the following literary critical perspectives:
New Historicist, Post-colonial, Poststructuralist, Feminist, Gender Studies, Reader Response,
and Psychoanalytic.
3. The paper will be approximately 7-8 pages in length (a minimum of 2000 words), not
including the Works Cited page, which is also required. The Works Cited page does NOT
count towards the length requirement.
4. You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and a Works Cited page,
following the specific MLA guidelines for the genre of literature cited.
5. You must smoothly integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis,
interpretation, or commentary.
6. You must sustain your interpretive argument, utilize transitions effectively, and use correct
grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
7. Your paper must be logically organized and focused.
8. You must submit the paper to Turnitin.com by the due date and also submit the final version
of the paper, as well as all rough drafts (e.g. peer review, Writing Center reviewed), in a twopocket folder (with your name and course title on the front cover of the folder). Also include
in the folder photocopies or printouts of pages of books and articles from which you quote
or paraphrase. Highlight or underline on these photocopies or printouts the title, author’s
name, and any quoted and/or paraphrased material that you use in your essay; organize them
alphabetically (in the same order as the Works Cited page), and staple each source separately.
Research Component:
The Term Paper counts for 25% of the overall course grade, and an additional 5% of your final grade
derives from the research component, which requires submission of an annotated bibliography and
other evidence of the research process you used to write the term paper.
You should search both the Internet (do a scholarly search, such as Google Scholar or an advanced
Google search limiting sources to .edu), as well as at least five of ECC’s computer databases (JSTOR
Arts and Sciences, Ebscohost’s MasterFILE and Academic Search Premier, Gale Literary Databases,
Literature Criticism Online, and the Literature Resource Center will be the most useful), plus the ECC
Library Online Catalog of books and ebooks (http://ecclib.elcamino.edu/), for literary criticism and
biographical information in articles and books by or about the author or work(s) of literature that you have
chosen. Print out the search list results from these seven different searches as evidence of your
research process and write the key words you used on each list. Feel free to use another library’s
resources as well. (ECC’s library has a reciprocity agreement with Cal State Dominguez Hills, for
example.) To fulfill the research component, you must submit the following with your essay:
**1) search lists of ALL materials that you have discovered in your search, including even titles of
books and articles that you ultimately choose not to cite in your essay. (Simply print out the seven lists
of your Internet, database, and book searches and write the key words used on these lists; the first full
page of each search list is sufficient).
**2) an annotated bibliography with a minimum of eight entries, including at least one book, articles
from the internet (valid academic sources), and articles from different ECC databases; at least three of
the eight entries should be on works of literary criticism. An annotated bibliography is a list of
citations, each having a paragraph (of at least 150 words) explaining the source’s main claim/idea and
support for it, as well as analysis of the potential usefulness of the source for your term/research paper.
The annotated bibliography should be approximately four pages (a minimum of 1250 words) and use
MLA format for the citations. The following online tutorial and other resources include helpful
information on writing annotated bibliographies:
http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/bibliography_tutorial.cfm
http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/AnnotatedBibliography.html
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/
Due Dates and Submission:
You need to complete most of your research for the term paper by April 28 and on that day bring on
flash drive a rough draft of the annotated bibliography (and your research materials in case you have
any questions about documenting sources). On May 10 bring the rough draft of the term paper on flash
drive for peer review. The Term Paper and Research Component (seven search lists and annotated
bibliography) are due May 12. Label the final version of the Term Paper appropriately, as well as all
rough drafts (e.g. peer review, Writing Center reviewed), and submit them together in a two-pocket
folder (with your name and course title on the front cover of the folder). Include in the folder
highlighted photocopies or printouts of all research materials from which you quote or paraphrase, each
stapled separately, and put in alphabetical order. Also include with the essay (preferably in a separate
folder) the Research Component: at least seven search lists of sources with key words used, and the
annotated bibliography. Submit your paper and the annotated bibliography to Turnitin.com.
2