From my syllabus:
You are to write a paper on a literary topic related to your novel in some way. You should do some background/preliminary research to learn something about the novel and/or the author. That should give you information that will be helpful as you consider your topic. You may use the Wagner book on Hemingway criticism for your research.
You may choose to address standard fiction elements such as theme, characterization, symbolism, allegory, irony, realism, the author’s use of settings. History papers and biographical papers are not acceptable for this assignment.
The alternate paper will follow MLA format using in-text citations outlined in The St. Martin’s Handbook. Begin planning your literary paper now. This is an ongoing project that you will work on while you do other lessons in this course.
The body of the paper will be five (5) to seven (7) pages in length. The paper must also have title page, outline, and works cited pages.
You will find a sample title page, a sample outline, and a sample works cited page in The St. Martin’s Handbook. The order of pages in the paper is title page, outline, body of paper, works cited. These are all to be saved as one document.
These additional resources will be derived from appropriate books, periodicals, etc., to denote variety of sources used. Access to the Internet is not required. However, if you do have access, no more than two (2) online source citations will be accepted. Cliffs Notes, Masterplots, Monarch are not appropriate sources. Each of the sources used on the works cited must be used at least once (1) in the paper.
You are to follow MLA format and documentation as described in your handbook.
Use direct quotations sparingly (no more than 25% of the paper).
Be sure topic is sufficiently limited.
All words should be spelled correctly and errors in sentence structure eliminated.
The level of diction should be formal (no slang, contractions, jargon, or technical terms without definition).
The paper should be well written and scholarly.
All borrowed information must be noted whether quoted or not.
