Paper Topics for Literature 201 online – Fall 2018

American Literature I

All the writing you will be doing in this course is reading-based. This means that every essay you write will be a response to and analysis of the reading arguing a point of view about the reading. If you write an essay that does not mention the reading or directly examine the reading, it will be considered off topic and will receive little to no credit. You will not be writing plot summaries. You will summarize parts of the reading to support your argument, but summary should not take over your paper. Each paragraph should serve to prove a clear and specific point and all paragraphs should work together to prove one unifying, thesis (opinion on the reading). For all papers, except the midterm and final exam, you will be creating your own argument about the assigned
reading so that you are writing from a place of interest rather than duty. You cannot pass this course if you fail to turn in one of the assigned papers.

Follow standard paper guidelines and know expectations as described in Chapter 3: Paper Topics: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/3Papertopics.htm

Paper topics come in all shapes and sizes, but in general for an English class, you can expect to find the following requirements:

· Meet stated page length requirements. Turning in papers that are under the required page length sends a message
that the assignment was not taken seriously and that a lack of time, effort, and consideration was put into the project.

· Adhere to due dates. Plan ahead and break down the project into manageable stages, so you don’t cause yourself
undue stress by doing things “last minute” or by hurting your grade through missing due dates and not being able to turn
in assignments.

· Use the stated paper formatting standards. In an English class, the most common paper formatting approach is MLA.
See Chapter 5 on MLA Conventions.

· Follow the assignment. It is essential that you follow the guidelines of the assignment or else you risk receiving little to
no credit for your work. English classes are also teaching students how to successfully complete college-level tasks, so
take some time in the beginning to ensure you are doing what was asked.

· Apply writing standards in your paper. This Rhetoric walks you through the fundamental essay components, so
apply these concepts to your writing. There is also an Essay Checklist in Chapter 4 that you can use to ensure you
have covered all the bases your instructor will be expecting in an academic paper:

· Seek opportunities for additional help. Writing can be an isolating experience but it does not have to be. Use campus
resources to help you formulate your writing plan and to get outside perspective and feedback on your writing. You can visit
your instructor during office hours at any stage in the writing process. You can also use the tutoring services offered in the
Learning Center: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/learningcenter/index.php. Getting feedback is one of the most effective ways
to focus and improve your writing.

Use the Essay Checklist to make sure you have all the necessary essay elements but here is also a quick guide of things not to forget:

· MLA formatting: on the first page, include your own title centered at the top, the course info (your name, the class, the instructor, the date)
in the top left corner and in the top right corner of each page, your last name next to the page number. Typed, double spaced throughout,
font 12, one-inch margins and be sure to meet the page minimum (Please note: 10 pts are removed for each page the paper is under the
required minimum length and 5 pts for half a page under. Don’t go solely by word count but by actual length).
MLA Conventions (Rhetoric 170-183): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/5MLA.htm

· Creative title: Creating a strong, clear, appealing title is an important part of any writing task. The title is the reader’s first introduction to
your piece of writing, and first impressions matter. Therefore, you want to create a title which pulls in your reader’s interest and makes him
or her want to keep reading. Make your essay stand out from the others and draw in your reader.
Creating Effective Titles (Rhetoric 153-154): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=153

· Integrating Sources: When writing about texts, you will want to include quotes and paraphrases and you want to make sure to smoothly
integrate and properly document all your sources. Connect all quote to phrases that introduce them (don’t drop quotes) and follow quotes
with the source information in parenthesis (usually the author’s last name and the page number). Also, follow quotes with your own analysis
explaining their significance.
Sources (Rhetoric 262-282): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/10IntegratingSources.htm

· Works Cited: when you are writing about a text, you will always include a Works Cited even if you are only citing the text you wrote about.
If you did research, include all your outside sources on the Works Cited page as well. List the sources alphabetically by author last name or
by title if there is no author.
Creating Works Cited pages (Rhetoric 177-182): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=177

· Revising and Editing: the best writing is rewriting so before turning in an essay for a grade, use the advice on revising (making larger global
changes) and editing (making sentence level corrections) to ensure that you have submitted your best work.
Revising (Rhetoric 143-152): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=143 & Editing (Rhetoric 155-161): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=155

· Grading standards: every student should be striving for the ‘A’ paper so know what criteria make an excellent paper by reviewing the
English department grading standards that your instructor will be using when assessing your essay. Use the criteria as the standard you are
using as you revise your essay.
Grading Standards (Rhetoric 197-198): http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/GradingMenu.htm

Three major papers will be written for this class:
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Paper #1 (worth 15% of grade): 2-4 pages, 500-1000 words
Select ONE author and analyze the texts we read by him/her
Draft due 9/18, Revision due 9/25
MLA Title page and Works Cited required

Choose ONE of the following authors to analyze for your paper--in the paper you will be analyzing the assigned writings from that person not writing a biography or report about that person:

· James Mooney (1-4)

· Anne Bradstreet (7-17)

· Benjamin Franklin (18-39)

· Thomas Paine (61-67)

· Red Jacket (115-124)

· “Rip Van Winkle” (130-145) by Washington Irving

· “Self-Reliance” (265-287) by Ralph Waldo Emerson

· “William Wilson” (305-322) by Edgar Allen Poe

· “Civil Disobedience” (365-385) by Henry David Thoreau

A note on choosing and incorporating outside research:
An important persuasive tool is effectively selecting and integrating outside support to strengthen your own position and argument. This is the function of research. The idea of research is NOT to find information and ideas from “experts” to replace your own ideas. In your writing, you are the authority and central voice, so keep your argument as primary in the paper. You will use outside research to further support, clarify, or in some cases provide alternative viewpoints to show the weaknesses of a different position in order to reaffirm/strengthen your own argument (this is providing counter-argument). Think of the research you will select and integrate as evidence that will help YOU to strengthen YOUR argument, not to replace it with someone else’s ideas. Never let research “take over” your paper. Make your research work for you to further prove the argument that you want to make about the reading.

Your paper should be your own analysis of the reading. You are not summarizing the reading but rather arguing your point of view about its significance. See also the sample student papers modeling how to write literary analysis: http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/6ModelPapers.htm.

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Collaborative Research Paper #3 (worth 25% of grade): 4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words
Analyzing ONE of the following assigned texts
Draft due 12/4, Revision due 12/11
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of TWO outside sources

Choose ONE of the following texts to analyze for your paper--in the paper you will be analyzing the assigned writing from that person not writing a biography or report about that person:

· Chapters 7-8 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (498-526) by Harriet Beecher Stowe

· From Leaves of Grass (527-547) by Walt Whitman

· From Chapters 17-18, 20-21, 29-31, 40 in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (588-610) by Harriet A. Jacobs

· “First Debate with Senator Stephan A Douglas” (633-652) by Abraham Lincoln

Your paper should be your own analysis of the reading. You are not summarizing the reading but rather arguing your point of view about its significance. See also the sample student papers modeling how to write literary analysis: http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/6ModelPapers.htm.

What is a collaborative paper?
Students will select a partner (or we can assign partners in class) and write the paper together in teams of two. I've assigned this type of paper
in my classes for many years and consistently these are the strongest papers I get over the semester. Working with another person can show you
your strengths and weaknesses and help you produce an excellent paper. As you work with a partner, is it vital that you each work collaboratively
and equally. Also remember that you will be completing a Collaborative Paper Evaluation on your partner and on yourself. Also, on the essay you
turn in for a grade, you will indicate who wrote which part of the paper to ensure that the work was shared. If you have any difficulties with your
partner, let me know immediately and we can have you write the paper separately. I want this to be a positive experience for everyone.

Names on the Paper
You and your partner need to only upload one copy of the paper and it does not matter whose name you submit it under. Just be sure that both of
your names are on the paper. As this is a collaborative paper, you and your partner will write the paper together but you will indicate which body
paragraphs each was the principle writer for (each student must write a minimum of 2 pages each of the final paper). Indicate this information next
to your names on the first page. For example, the top left header will contain the following information:

                        John Ramirez (wrote paragraphs 1-4 & 7)
                        Jun Chan (wrote paragraphs 5-6 & 8-10)
                        English 100
                        21 May 2014

            And for the page numbers in the upper right corner of each page, you will hyphenate the last names of the authors, i.e. Ramirez-Chan 1

Uploading the Collaborative Partner Evaluation on 12/4 before midnight:
(1) Download the Collaborative Partner Evaluation:
      http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/ReaderWorkshoppingCollaborativeMenu.htm
      Complete both pages: assign both you and your partner a grade on the project and then answer the questions.
      If you did not have a partner, submit a written reflection on your experience in writing the paper to get credit.
(2) Log into Canvas, click where it says “SUMBIT Collaborative Partner Evaluation” and upload the completed file.