ENS 329 Research Essay A research paper 1600-1800 words long (approximately 6-8

ENS 329 Research Essay
A research paper 1600-1800 words long (approximately 6-8 pages if using 12-point Times New Roman double-spaced, with 2.54 cm margins). Due on December 3rd, 2021 on Canvas.
Assignment:
You will apply one theoretical framework studied in the course to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Your goal is to show an understanding of the principles of your selected theoretical framework and to demonstrate its applicability to the text of the play.
It is an argumentative paper, which means that it should feature an argument (thesis about the play) that is supported by evidence drawn from the text of the play and your secondary sources.
You will be required to use two sources for this essay. One should deal with your chosen theory (e.g. a handbook or guide to critical theory, although you can use peer-reviewed studies as well). The other source should be a scholarly secondary publication relevant to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare, or the period. These sources will help you sustain your argument.
Major steps:
Select a literary theory that you want to use for this essay.
Re-read the play to determine what evidence you will use in your paper.
Example: If you are interested in applying Marxism to the text of the play, your two main tasks are identifying the evidence that you will use in your essay and locating the relevant secondary sources for your project. For evidence, you can look at the lives of the rude mechanicals and the socioeconomic relationships in which they are implicated. What is their attitude to labour? What kind of work do they do? Who else works in the play? What conflicts determine the relationship between characters? You can also consider the operations of ideology in their attempt to produce a play. Why would the rude mechanicals want to please the Duke who clearly oppresses them? Do they not see that they are exploited and alienated from their labour? And why do the nobles of the play agree to watch the completely inept performance? Another approach is to see if we can apply some of the Marxist critical vocabulary–class, alienation, reification, commodification, ideological struggle–to the text of the play. There is new single recipe for writing such an essay; perhaps you can articulate other research questions informed by Marxism.
Most likely, upon first reading you will mark quite a few passages in the text of the play. You do not have to use all that evidence in your essay. While providing quotations from the text is important, your evidence also needs to be analyzed properly. Do not turn your essay into a string of quotations. Make sure that all your evidence supports your ideas and is properly discussed. Once you have identified the key passages, characters, scenes, or issues in the play, you can focus more closely on your evidence.
Do bibliographical research to identify the sources you will use. Use the library’s website to see what resources are available online and on the shelves.
Example: Any handbook or guide to critical and literary theory will provide you with a good explanation of Marxist theory. Alternatively, you can use one of the books fully dedicated to the study of Marxism. Terry Eagleton’s Marxism and Literary Criticism is a good place to start, as are Barbara Foley’s Marxist Literary Criticism Today, Dave Laing’s The Marxist Theory of Art: An Introductory Survey, Mayra Haslett, Marxist Literary and Cultural Theories and others. Note that such sources as blogs, websites, popular articles etc. do not satisfy this requirement, even though they still have a place in your research and even your essay, as long as they are not your only sources.
You should not have any trouble finding sources on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and/or Shakespeare. There are vast numbers of articles, essays, collections, and books on Shakespeare and his individual works. You can do a search through the library website, use Google books, or just do abroad search online. Remember that it must be a peer-reviewed, scholarly publication. Dodgy journals or blogs do not count as such. You can use articles that focus on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, such as Hugh Grady’s “Shakespeare and Impure Aesthetics: The Case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 59, 2008, pp. 274-302. Gabriel Egan’s Shakespeare and Marx and the essay collection Marxist Shakespeares are also very good. However, remember that your secondary source does not have to be an example of Marxist criticism. It can be a study of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, of Shakespearean comedy in general, of Shakespeare, of early modern drama etc. The possibilities are endless; just make sure it is a peer-reviewed source relevant to your argument.
Formulate your research question.
Example: Your research question (“e.g. Why does XYZ happen in the text…?”) will drive your research and argument. It does not have to be very specific; it can be a broad question about the text that will help you identify the evidence and do bibliographic research. For example, you might want to be interested in the following: “How does the issue of class determine the Athenian artisans’ choice of the play?” Based on this research question, you will consider the issue of class in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and look for sources to support your argument.
Devise a thesis.
An effective thesis sentence states your main argument, provides the reasons for your position (your main supporting arguments), provides a sense of an outline of your paper, and often suggests that you have discovered something new, a new angle or way of reading this literary text. Do not confuse a thesis with a purpose sentence (“In this essay, I am going to consider…”). In formulating your thesis, avoid generalizations, banalities (statements that everyone is likely to agree with), vague language, and repetition (e.g. “Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a masterpiece”). Measure the scope of your thesis carefully; a thesis which is too broad cannot be supported in a short paper; a narrow thesis will make it impossible for you to write a strong essay. Use clear and concise language. Following your research question, your preliminary thesis could be something along the lines of, “The Athenian artisans’ play is an example of ideological class struggle because its aristocratic characters are subjected to working-class violence.” As you continue reading and writing, your original thesis is likely to undergo some modifications. It is always a good idea to revisit your thesis from time to time but certainly before you submit your final version, to make sure that the thesis does match your argument.
Draft your essay.
Write a strong introductory paragraph, which includes your thesis and a road map (an outline for the body paragraphs or, in other words, the structure of your argument).
Make sure each of your paragraphs supports one idea, and they all relate to your thesis and your road map sentence through key words. Paragraphs should be of appropriate length. Focus on your thesis throughout the paper and don’t go off-track.
Make sure all of your claims are supported by evidence.
Include a conclusion that summarizes main points and describes the implications of the argument/research question explored in the paper.
Carefully document your sources and acknowledge all instances of quotation, paraphrase etc. in order to avoid committing an academic offense.
Prepare a Works Cited list; format it according to the MLA. You can find the information on using MLA here (Tenglar á ytra svæði.).
Format your paper. No title page required. Double-space your text, use one-inch margins, 12-point Times font (or comparable), and a Works Cited page (listing all texts discussed, paraphrased, and/or quoted in your essay). Quotations longer than four lines (prose) and three lines (poetry) must be offset as block quotations. Indent each paragraph. Leave no space between each paragraph. Use in-text parenthetical quotations (not quotes!); no comma between the author’s name and page number. The titles of longer works are underlines while the titles of poems and short stories are placed in quotations marks.
Proof-read your essay.
Submit.