Huckleberry Finn
The Analytical Research Paper Portfolio
Dellatte 11 Honors
Due Date: _______________________________
**Plagiarized papers will not be accepted. If there is a question, be safe and cite your
source. However, if a fact is commonly known, a source doesn’t have to be cited.
Requirements:
 Must be a minimum of six pages, no more than ten pages
 Must be in MLA format
 Must have at least five sources documented in the paper
 Must have at least two different types of sources (books, magazines, newspapers,
scholarly journals, Internet, etc.)
 Must have…
o Outline
o Body of Paper
o Works Cited Page
o Correct Research Paper Format (margins, spacing, name placement,
numbered pages, etc.)
o MLA Documentation Required (otherwise it will be considered
plagiarized, and you’ll earn a 0)
1. What is a research paper?
“A research paper is,” according to Gibaldi and Achtert, “first and foremost, a
form of written communication. Like other forms of nonfiction writing…it
should present information and ideas clearly and effectively” (1). A paper created
with research is necessary when the writer needs more concrete accurate evidence
to help support his/her argument or to lend credibility to what the author is saying
in the piece. All people have opinions on different matters, yet it is usually the
ones who can prove themselves correct who wins the argument. Research (hence
documentation of outside sources) helps to give proof to what is being said.
2. How do you go about writing a research paper?
a. Select a topic that interests you
b. Determine your purpose in writing
c. Develop a thesis statement expressing your main argument
d. Gather your ideas and information in a rough list
e. Arrange your findings in an order that is appropriate to your needs
f. Make an outline to be a guide for your writing
g. Write a rough draft (make sure to include documentation for borrowed
information)
h. Read and revise
i. Create a final draft that includes all the required components
3. What is a source?
A source can be about anything from an observation to interviewing people in
the know. Books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, interviews,
dictionaries, biographies, dissertations, scholarly journals, and sources from the
Internet (credible sources) are several of the resources you may use to find the
information you are looking for to lend support to your argument.
4.
What does it mean to document a paper?
Documenting a paper is necessary when you use the words or ideas of someone
else to support your purposes. It is absolutely necessary to give credit where
credit is due; otherwise, you have committed plagiarism. Throughout your
paper, if another reference is used, you MUST provide the appropriate
parenthetical documentation for the borrowed material. The last page of your
research paper will be the Works Cited Page, which contains all the necessary
information about the source from which your borrowed information came.
Choose a topic:
From the list of topics below, choose one that you have strong feelings about.
The start of a strong, argumentative paper is one in which the writer has a strong opinion
towards the topic. The arguments that you have in defense of a topic will guide you as
you search for outside sources that will help you defend your point. Remember, your
paper must include the use of literary criticism from either the Marxist or the New
Historicist School.
Topic 1: Is or isn’t Huck Finn racist? Does reading Huckleberry Finn help or harm race
relations? Choose one side or the other to present as your argument.
Topic 2: Who is the most important character? Jim or Huck? Many critics have asserted
that it is Jim. If you agree with this, defend your position.
Topic 3: Should this novel be taught in schools? Make an argument in defense of
teaching the novel or banning it from the educational setting. The race factor will play a
role in this argument – if it is or isn’t racist.
Topic 4: Whom do you feel more sorry for in the novel – Huckleberry or Jim? Defend
your position with the conflicts each faces.
Topic 5: At the end of the novel, we find out that Tom has known that Jim has been a
free man for two months. He was set free in Miss Watson’s will. Is Tom inexcusably
cruel? Or is he just being a normal thirteen year-old boy? How does Tom’s behavior
comment on society in some larger way?
Topic 6: Discuss Huck’s struggle with his conscience and how or if he qualifies as a
heroic figure.
Topic 7: What is the role of the Mississippi River in the novel? Your argument
would focus on the river’s symbolic significance for Huck and/or Jim.
Topic 8: Is Huck Finn a Christ-like figure in the novel? Or is Jim a Christ-like
figure? If you see either as such, your argument would focus on proving how that
character is so.
Topic 9: Focus on the role of women in the novel (The Widow Douglas, Miss
Watson, Aunt Sally, etc.). Do they represent morality, enhance the hypocrisy of the
situation…? You must decide. What do you think their role is? Your argument
would be based around proving what you decide that role is.
Topic 10: If you have a topic in mind, pass it by me. If it is doable, then you are
welcome to it. Again, the stronger you feel about what you choose, the easier the
paper will be to write.
Whichever topic you choose, I strongly suggest that you start finding relevant
passages in the book that will help represent/support what you have to s ay. You
want to find sources that deal with your topic. Sometimes the sources that are not in
agreement with you can still help you say what you want to say.
For searches, depend primarily on GoogleScholar at http://www.scholar.google.com
Credible sources will generally have the “.edu” or “.org. Remember, anyone can
create a webpage, so there are lots of opinions out there that mean nothing.
Try this: Type “Huck Finn + ___(topic)___” (many helpful sites should pop up)
http://www.ipl.org.ar/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?ti=adv-38
Provides criticisms on the work, focusing on a few of the above topics
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/09.28/huckfinn.html
Focuses on the battle of teaching it in public schools
http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol1/issue1/huckfinn.htm
Focus on Jim and the times
http://www.ipl.org.ar/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?au=twa-62#crit
List of criticism sites dealing with Twain and some of his material
http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books/0167.htm
Argument about this work being a dangerous book
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/elements/symbols_river.html
Discussion of Mississippi River as a symbol