1) Research Proposal
The proposal should be (around) 300-400 words. It should introduce the text you plan to discuss
while outlining a clear and disputable (if still tentative) thesis. It should, in short, function as the
introduction to an essay you’d like to write. Your thesis should also be articulated as a response to
scholarship on the work you’ve decided to focus upon; this scholarship will be further outlined in
your annotated bibliography.
2) Annotated Bibliography
Your proposal must be accompanied by TWO annotated citations. An annotation is a brief
description of the text cited; it describes the text (its plot or argument), and it indicates why and how
the text is appropriate for (or necessary to) your project. For this project, you need to cite and
annotate TWO scholarly articles. These articles must be focused on the text or author/creator
you’ve decided to discuss in your proposal; and each of your annotations must be 250-300 words.
You must also cite A THIRD ARTICLE. You do not need to annotate this article (fully), but you
do need to explain why this third article is not as useful as the other two—why, that is, you
might not use it in a full-length paper. All your citations must follow MLA style.
*THERE IS A SAMPLE PROPOSAL AND ANNOTATED CITATION ON BLACKBOARD*
TOPIC:
Select one of the texts on the syllabus. Do some research on that text—i.e., read at least three fulllength scholarly articles and/or book chapters related to the text and/or author/creator you’ve selected…
The more articles you look at, the better (and more appropriate) the two you annotate will be.
To find articles on literature and/or literary “problems,” go to one of the following databases: MLA
International Bibliography, JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, or Project Muse. To find these
databases, go to the library portal and click the “FIND DATABASES” link; then, scroll down the list of
databases until you find the “MLA INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY” (or any of the other
databases listed above). Once in a database, you can perform an “ADVANCED SEARCH.” This will
allow you to limit your search in numerous ways. For instance, you might search for articles that have
“Kurt Vonnegut” and “postmodernism” under “TITLE.” Or you might search for articles with
“postmodernism” and “Vonnegut” under “SUBJECT”—or under “KEYWORDS.” Or, you might search for
“Vonnegut” and “World War II.” Etc. Different search parameters will yield different results; so play
around with your terms. (Build searches based on class discussion and your interests.) And try more
than one database. You can then further limit the search by indicating that you only want to see articles
that were published after, say, 1990. Once you’ve found a selection of articles that look useful, you will
need to begin the process of finding them—that is, checking to see if our library “holds” them (online or
in print or both). Finally, you will need to begin “weeding through” all that you have found—holding on
to (and reading closely) only what seems most essential. These “essential” works of criticism will be
your SECONDARY sources.
Once you have selected your sources… Determine the following:
1) What do these critics/scholars say about the work in question?
2) Do you agree or disagree?
Using the sources you have read as a baseline, decide (for yourself) what your PRIMARY text is trying
to say—about issues such as racial relations, gender identity, coping with trauma, the nature of sin, the
sublimity of nature, justice and/or the function of violence, etc. Once you have decided what the work is
about, begin thinking about how its most overt narrative characteristics (e.g., its medium, its narrative
perspective, its length, its unity of effect, its use of metafiction or realism, etc.) exemplify the message in
question. Then, begin drafting your proposal.
Think of your proposal as a concise introduction, or “roadmap,” for a potential full-length paper.
On a certain level, your proposal should work like a metonymic scene analysis.
Now, though, the entire work is the focus; and the criticism you have found is the context for your thesis
about that work.
Your proposal should, therefore, accomplish the following tasks: 1) it should introduce readers to the
text you’ve selected (it’s author, historical context, and central concerns/plot); 2) it should make clear
what you think the text is about, or what it is trying to say (or show us); 3) it should contextualize your
position on the work as a whole within the context of the scholarship you detail in your annotated
bibliography.
NOTES:
1) Your annotated bibliography must include FOUR (4) SOURCES: 1) your primary text (with no
annotation); 2 & 3) the two secondary sources you would use in a future paper (both annotated); and
4) a final secondary source that you would not use, or that is not as “useful” as the other two (with a
brief note explaining why).
2) All of your secondary sources must be listed on one of the databases named above; they must have
“published” page numbers (i.e., they cannot be html documents); and they must be AT LEAST 12
PAGES (in print)
3) Over the course of your proposal and annotated bibliography, you must quote directly from your
primary text and your two annotated secondary sources at least twice. These quotes should be
well-selected, relatively brief, and properly integrated or introduced.
4) Finally, your entire assignment must follow MLA style.