Your research paper is to be an eight- to ten-page research paper on a novel chosen from the list below.  The paper should use at least four sources (including the primary source), with at least one of them being a periodical article,  and follow the most recent MLA style sheet (heading rather than title page; parenthetical documentation; name and page number in upper-right corner).  You can find out more about MLA format and documentation from the organization's web page, www.mla.org, or from its Handbook (available in the bookstore).

Papers are due by 5pm CST on the date listed in the schedule. They may be sent as email attachments or placed in my departmental mailbox (131 Humanities). They should be double spaced (including the Works Cited page), in 12 pt. type, with one-inch margins. If sent as email attachements, papers must be in Word or WordPerfect (I can not open any other wordprocessing program).

Be sure your paper has a clear thesis (a focused argument which you can prove through a combination of primary and secondary sources) and that your sources are used to support your arguments, not make them in the first place. Quotations and paraphrases should be fully incorporated within the text (introduced and discussed),  and quotations longer than four-typed lines should be in block form (see MLA guide).  Finally, be sure to use (and document) both primary and secondary texts.

When you use a source or sources other than the primary texts, carefully cite all quotations, paraphrases, and borrowed ideas. Plagiarism (the direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary of someone else's writing, or use of someone else's ideas, concepts, or theories, presented without citation as if they were your own) will result in a grade of F for the course and suspension for the next semester.

Your research should not be superficial (a few references to sources whether or not they advance the argument). Your research should be thorough: the sources, both primary and secondary, should be thorough, appropriate, up to date, reflect current understanding as well as historical views. That is, as much as you can make it, your research should be definitive, referring to exactly those sources that other scholars would refer to as well. Our library now has three major resources that can supply full-text versions of literary articles: the MLA Bibliography, JSTOR, and ProQuest. I strongly recommend you take advantage of these resources (they are much more valuable than general websites about an author or text). Nevertheless, you may use Internet sources as well, but in so far as possible, all Internet sources, like primary quotations in a secondary source, should be traced back to their original print sources, should such sources exist. Please refer to the MLA web page, www.mla.org, or from its Handbook for the correct documentation style.

Strive for grammatical correctness and stylistic grace. As you draft and revise, you might want to visit the UTM Writing Center or follow the writing process and stylistic standards outlined in a basic English handbook for guides to proper form, grammar, and style. Please proofread your final copy, making corrections neatly in ink (if already printed).

The following list includes novels from the eighteenth century to today.  They were selected because they are suited to the course theme of identity (although your papers do not need to deal with this issue).  I will be happy to provide you with information about any of the novels.

Paper alternatives:
Achbe, Chinua.  Things Fall Apart.
Austen, Jane.  Persuasion.
Barnes, Julian.  England, England
Bronte, Charlotte.  Shirley.
Bronte, Emily.  Wuthering Heights.
Byatt, A.S.   Possession.
Burgess, Anthony.  A Clockwork Orange.
Defoe, Daniel.  Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles.  Great Expectations.
Edgeworth, Maria.  The Absentee.
Fielding, Henry.  Joseph Andrews.
Ford, Ford Maddox.  The Good Soldier.
Galt, John.  The Member.
Gaskell, Elizabeth.  North and South.
Gissing, George.  The Odd Women.
Greene, Graham.  The Heart of the Matter.
Hall, Radcliffe.  The Well of Loneliness.
Ishiguro, Kazuo.  The Remains of the Day.
Lawrence, D.H.  Sons and Lovers.
Lodge, David.  Nice Work.
Lowery, Malcolm.  Under the Volcano.
Ondaatje, Michael.  The English Patient.
Rhys, Jean.  Quartet.
Scott, Walter.  The Heart of Midlothian.
Stoker, Bram.  Dracula.
Swift, Graham.  Waterland.
Waugh, Evelyn.  Brideshead Revisited.
Wilde, Oscar.  The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Woolf, Virginia.  Mrs. Dalloway.