HUSL 6372:  American Ethnic Literature

Notes on Final Paper

(cribbed from a hand-out for undergrads, so forgive some of the obvious stuff)

This is a 20 (or so)- page paper that demonstrates your mastery of course concepts and methods and your ability to apply them to your original research.  In this paper, you ought to be attentive to your particular text ("readings" of particular passages, language, etc.) and also situate that reading in a larger conversation about ethnic literature or immigration history/experiences.  Your goal is to demonstrate that you have mastered the secondary sources related to the topic and have an original contribution to make to the field.  This is a synthesis exercise, an opportunity to pull together the tools the class has given you and use them to study a topic related to race, ethnicity, literacy/literature, and/or canon formation that is of particular interest to you.

1.  Look over your reading and class notes to get a sense of which genres/issues/questions interest you most.  Frame some questions you'd like to investigate further.  This will probably be a specific "case study" of a particular book (or kind of book), but you may want to write more theoretically about issues related to ethnicity, literature, and canon formation.  I am way more excited about these questions and issues than it is socially acceptable to be (and have such an impressive bibliography it is a shame to waste it), so please feel free to visit, call, or e-mail me about this.

2.  Make a research plan.  What sort of research does answering the question call for?  What sort of secondary sources will you need to consult?  Do you need to get reviews of a book?  Research education or literacy levels?  Research a particular historical period or set of readers?  Read some immigration history or immigrant autobiography?  Watch some films and/or read reviews of films based on the text? 

3.  Research -- This will give you a set of ideas to respond to, question, challenge, or extend, and help you focus your topic.  MLA bibliography will be most useful to most of you, although historical indexes might help as well.  MELUS (Journal of Multi-Ethnic Literature in the United States) will be a good resource for some. 

4.  Formulate a thesis, an argument or position that requires defense or support (i.e. a reasonable person could disagree with you on this). 

5.  Go through your text(s) and the articles you found useful and pull out the items/ideas/passages relevant to your argument.  This may support your thesis, or may make you realize you want to change the argument you initially wished to make in some way. 

6.  Write the paper in which you present your argument/position, support it, and attempt to address the questions or counter-arguments someone else might raise about your position.

CHECK -- the purpose of most academic papers is two-fold.  They (1) demonstrate you know what has been said about this topic in the past and understand it; (2) show that you have an original intervention or contribution to make.

 Paper due Thursday 26 April in my office by 4 p.m.

 3-page prospectus and bibliography – Due Thurs. 22 March at start of class

 Will:

(1)   explain your topic

(2)   establish the general contours of the scholarship on your topic

(3)   explain your original intervention or argument about the topic

(4)   take up a few key issues or debates you will need to address to make your argument. 

Purpose:  forces you to start the project, gives me something concrete with which to raise questions, steer you toward other sources, or push your argument in certain directions. 

What is a prospectus?

The prospectus (a.k.a. proposal or abstract) serves at least two purposes.  First, it is likely your clearest formulation thus far of the overall argument you intend to make and its significance, context, and approach—as such it can serve as a mini-draft that will help keep you focused on the big picture if you get bogged down in the details of drafting.  Second, it is to some extent a promotional document, intended to explain not only what you are doing but why some audience ought to be interested in it.  This is often precisely what you need to submit as an “abstract” for a conference paper (often for a paper you have not yet completed).

The prospectus should include (order of items may vary, or use the order given, though of course in paragraph form with appropriate transitions, etc.):

1)      A clear statement of the problem, question, or issue your essay is intended to address.

2)      An explanation of the context for and significance of this issue—Why is this a debatable or important question?  For whom?  Is this a matter of confusion, heated debate, or something people haven’t even thought to ask?

3)      Your working thesis, preferably highlight by words such as “I argue” or “It is my contention that”—or if you really hate the first person, “This essay suggests…”  (Also, note that in general you want to use the present rather than the future tense, thus suggesting that the essay is already written or at least that you know what it will argue.)

4)      A brief description of your approach, methods, and/or primary texts, foregrounding what makes your essay a unique contribution to this issue.  (this may come before your thesis or after it)

5)      A brief overview of the structure of your argument.  This should not be an outline of your topics or sections but rather an outline of your major supporting points.

In the past. some students have recommended Wayne Booth et al, The Craft of Research as a useful guide to the writing process.  There is no section on prospectuses, but much of what he says about a good introduction is also true of a good prospectus.