Research Essay DUE Next Week

 

Next week your research paper is due. You're submitting an ungraded draft on Tuesday (upload no later than noon) and a final version two days later on Thursday.

This assignment counts for 20 points, which is a fifth of your final grade for the class. Please remember that it's not something that you can easily do in an evening. This kind of writing requires time. 

Look carefully at all the blog posts about this assignment, and also the assorted resources (like the PowerPoint about MLA format below this post).

Make sure your argument isn't obvious. What are you bringing to your interpretation that a reader wouldn't automatically understand?

This is a more formal type of academic writing, so keep slang, profanity, and casual language out of it. You can use your "I" voice, but this should be kept to a minimum, probably just at the start and conclusion of your essay. The body of your essay should be a close examination of Poe's text that includes secondary sources. However, please remember that it's your voice and your ideas that are central to your paper.