Preparing for the Paper
1. Choose a text that you would like to write about—specifically, one you would like to research and write
a 6-8-page paper about.
2. Find 3 sources from the library databases. These sources should be scholarly (published in peerreviewed publications). These sources should discuss the text you are writing about, the author of the
text, or the context of your given text (they can be the ones you used for your annotated bibliography).
3. Decide how you will incorporate your sources into your discussion of the text—how do certain sources
help illuminate or support your ideas? Synthesize these sources and decide how you will use them in
your paper
4. Create an outline for your argument (you will upload this to moodle on 11/13). Your thesis should be an
interpretive claim about the text that you support with evidence from the text and with evidence from
your scholarly sources.
5. Incorporate feedback from your peers into a complete draft—the final draft is due 11/23.
Requirements:
 This paper should have a strong, clear, argumentative thesis that you develop and defend throughout the
course of your paper.
 Incorporate your secondary source in an effective manner—particularly, as a way of enriching your own
argument and as an avenue for dialogue about the text.
 Use specific evidence from the text to support your argument. This means bringing in quotations and
examining these quotations carefully as you develop your argument.
 Your paper should be well-organized, with well-developed and cohesive paragraphs that employ
effective topic sentences.
 Use MLA formatting for your paper, including in-text citations and an accurate Works Cited at the end
of your paper. See the Purdue OWL (linked on Moodle) for guidelines and examples.
 Finally, you must upload your paper to Moodle/Turnitin by Monday, 11/23 at 11:59pm.
Length: 6-8 pages, double spaced (this does not include the Works Cited page)