Ms. Miller/English 9 Honors
Mini-Literary Research Paper-Theme Analysis
Over the course of the next week, we are going to explore the subject of guilt in literature, with a focus on
Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex. Guilt is a universal theme in many works of literature as authors explore human
nature in their characters.
The ‘knowledge of good and evil’ is unique to human beings. It informs the individual’s conscience and
determines the moral systems on which societies are based. The violation of moral codes can induce the
experience of guilt, while the lack of any sense of guilt can be considered to be psychopathic, abnormal or
unbalanced.
The emotion of guilt can cause internal and external conflicts of varying intensity, so along with guilt come
thematic ideas of “the quest for redemption, the alleviation of guilt and despair – through atonement,
forgiveness or denial.
Your task is to analyze the play as you read, as well as literary criticism that explores experiences of guilt and
redemption as a human dilemma in the context of Oedipus Rex.
The following are ideas that you might consider in your search.
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Personal and/or collective guilt
Guilt or lack of guilt in relation to hubris
Cruelty
Violation of rights (people, animals, society)
Responsibility
Conventions, codes and morals of society
Burden
Silence
Fear
Duty
Shame
Justice
Truth/integrity
Homework:
Bring in a Research Binder to keep your
all of your finding and notes in. You will
also use this for your major research
project this year. 
Read Oedipus Rex
Stasimon Three, Episode Four and
Stasimon Four.
Take notes either on post-its or in
your notebooks.
While you are reading and collecting information, you will begin to formulate your own working thesis/claim
about guilt.
In your research, remember the motives, behaviors and consequences that drive human beings, hence literary
characters.
Guidelines for Paper: (Final paper is due Tuesday before the holiday)
2-3 pages
All MLA criteria are mandatory
Well-organized.
Due dates of annotations of articles and outline of paper TBA next week.
Ms. Miller/English 9 Honors
Mini-Literary Research Paper-Theme Analysis – More guidelines
The organization of the paper must reflect the following guidelines: a broad-to-narrow introduction, body
paragraphs that develop and validate your thesis/claim, and an insightful conclusion that does more than
summarize. You know how to do this well, already. 
You must cite a minimum of three different sources in your research essay:
1.)
2.)
Oedipus Rex, the play
2-3 critical resources
The mini- research essay MUST contain a minimum of four parenthetical citations. You must include one
direct quote from the play for each subtopic, and you must have at least one direct quote from critical
resources to support your assertions.
More is good; however, do not over-quote. Your entire essay should include no more than 10% direct quotes.
Process:
Wednesday and Thursday:
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7.)
Find articles, save them in NoodleTools and googledocs
Print them out, read and annotate them.
Take notes in your notebook and on the articles.
Look for connections and put information into categories that make sense.
Think about which path you want to go down for your claim.
What aspects about guilt do you want to prove?
Creating your own thesis/claim is challenging and takes much searching, reading, thinking, and
organizing. It is a back and forth process. The first article(s) you find may not contain material that
you will ultimately use.
Suggestion: Begin a word document in googledocs for your pre-paper notes and outline.
Homework tonight: Spend time on this at home.
Due tomorrow: A working thesis/claim for your essay. Pre-essay notes ( a working copy from your reading
and annotating)
Due Friday: A formal outline for your essay.
TAKING NOTES
Your mini-research paper will be based on your reading from different sources, so your notes must be
sufficiently complete to be meaningful after the source has been read. Since you have to document (in-text
citations) your paper, your notes must contain adequate resource information. Mrs. Kliphuis and I will guide
you through this process using NoodleTools, a convenient and flexible way to organize your research.
When you come to outline and to organize your paper, you will be able to sort your notes in any way you
please--by subtopic for example--and to arrange them in any order you please. You may even find that you want
to recategorize some of your notes. NoodleTools makes this possible.
In taking the note itself, paraphrase or quote your source or do both; but do only one at a time. Paraphrases and
quotations require special care. Anything between paraphrase and quotation is not acceptable: you either
paraphrase or quote, but do nothing in between. To paraphrase a source (or part of a source) is to reproduce it in
words and word orders substantially different from the original. When you paraphrase well, you keep the sense
of the original but change the language, retaining some key words, of course, but otherwise using your own
words and your own sentence patterns. As a rough guide, if you copy more than three words in a row from a
source, these words should be in quotation marks.
To quote a source (or part of a source) is to reproduce it exactly. When you quote well, you keep both the sense
and language of the original, retaining its punctuation, its capitalization, its type face (roman or italic), and its
spelling (indeed, even its misspelling).
English 9 Research Paper Checklist
Once you have chosen a question as the basis of your research, you must complete the following steps in the
research process:
1. Brainstorm possible answers to the research question and come up with preliminary divisions for your thesis
statement.
2. You will be given critical essays written by experts who comment on literary elements of the play. You
must read all of the articles and highlight possible evidence that you may use for the preliminary divisions of
your thesis.
3. Write and submit a final thesis statement with clear topic, direction and two divisions to be graded.
4. Complete bibliography cards for each article using the proper MLA format.
5. Select subtopics for each division of the thesis and complete a topic sentence worksheet in the proper format.
6. Complete note cards using the proper MLA format. You must have three note cards per subtopic (twelve
total).
7. Construct a two body paragraph rough draft that includes the thesis, a minimum of six citations (must come
from 3 different sources including the book), and submit the draft for peer editing.
8. Complete a broad-to-narrow introduction and insightful conclusion following the notes and models provided
in class.
9. Create a Works Cited page using the proper MLA format that lists all of the sources used in your essay.
Upon completion you will turn in ALL completed worksheets, highlighted articles, bibliography and note cards,
edited rough draft, typed-copy of your final draft in MLA format, works cited page and rubric. Please do not
lose any of your materials throughout the research process, or you will receive a deduction of points!
Rough Draft due on :
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Final Draft due on: ________________