Monday, May 2, 2016

Research Paper: Guidelines, Expectations, Possible Topics

Due: Friday, June 3.
Submission guidelines: Submit by email before midnight (kevin.curran@unil.ch). The essay should be in Word format and the file title should be your last name (i.e. Johnson.doc). I will return graded essays to you by email with comments inserted using the Word comments feature.
Length: 2,000 (approx.)

The major assignment of the course, the Research Paper should demonstrate: 

(1) that you have read the relevant play or plays you're writing on closely.
(2) that you know how to advance a focused, clear argument and support it with evidence.
(3) that you know how to position that argument in relation to the ideas of other critics. (Please engage with at least one piece of criticism)
(4) that you know how to analyze literary texts in a way that is responsive to cultural and historical context. 
(5) that you know how to document sources and quotations properly. (Please follow the MLA Handbook for matters of documentation and style.)
Also, of course:
(6) your research paper is expected to be free from basic problems of grammar and spelling.

You may choose to write on any topic that relates to our course his semester. If you don't already have something in mind, below are some (very broad) areas of inquiry to help you start thinking.

Any play (or plays) in relation to a specific acting company

Any play (or plays) in relation to a specific theater

Drama and print

The material conditions of performance

Spectatorhip

Drama and politics (best to focus on a specific context or event)

Gender and sexuality (including either, or both, femininity and masculinity)

Drama and the Global Renaissance (Tamburlaine?)

Drama and urban experience 

The city and/as the stage

The the development of tragedy

The ethics of tragedy        

Sources and analogues (native, continental, classical, Biblical)

Drama and the history of emotions

Drama and the senses 

No comments:

Post a Comment