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Topic Story is : “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut

This is an argumentative research essay

Using the method outlined in the “Topic Development” document in this week's Online Learning Resources, show what you plan to write about. Make sure to include:

a) Topic and Literary Theory (the author[s] and works you plan on writing about, and the theory you plan to apply to the literature you've chosen)

b) Research Question (the basic question that interests you about this topic, or the question your thesis intends to answer or address)

c) Working Thesis Statement (the one-sentence, declarative statement that announces the purpose of your eventual research paper)

Topic Development

First, it's important to remember that your research paper should be an argumentative essay that makes a specific claim about the literature on which you're writing. To help prove your claim, you should apply a specific literary theory to your chosen text(s).

Note: Keep in mind that this isn't an informative research paper, it's an argumentative one, meaning that you will be presenting persuasive evidence to your reader in order to support a stance you've taken on your chosen topic.

One way to break down this task is to pick your texts/topic and consider something that interests you about that topic. Developing a question you can research and argue will give you a place to go as you develop your thesis. From there, you will find what literary theory works best to help you reach some conclusions about your question, which should lead you to your thesis. Below are two examples of a topic, a research question, a literary theory, and a thesis that developed out of them:

Example #1

Topic: Star Wars

Literary Theory: Historical

Research Question: Is Star Wars merely camp, or was it an important contribution to cinema?

Thesis: Star Wars is the most important film of the 20th century.

Example #2

Topic: Hamlet

Literary Theory: Psychological

Research Question: Why is Hamlet so tormented?

Thesis: Hamlet experiences internal conflict because he is in love with his mother.

***Keep in mind (for Example #2):

You would not want to make an argument of this sort: “Shakespeare's Hamlet is a play about a young man who seeks revenge.” That doesn't say anything-it's basically just a summary and is hardly debatable.

Remember, an analytical research paper isn't about what happens in a story- it's about explaining why something happens, its causes, its significance. Analyze, don't summarize.

The Hamlet thesis is debatable, controversial even. The rest of a paper with this argument as its thesis would be an attempt to show, using specific examples from the text and evidence from scholars, (1) how Hamlet is in love with his mother, (2) why he's in love with her, and (3) what implications there are for reading the play in this manner.

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