Choose a literary text that we have read this semester and focus on a particular issue within that text that has sparked significant critical attention. State YOUR interpretation of the topic using specific evidence from the text to support your ideas.

Dante’s The Divine Comedy

Argumentative Literature Review

Dr. Kaine Ezell

Your literature research assignment for the semester will be an argumentative literature review on a topic of your choosing. You will need to choose a literary text that we have read this semester and focus on a particular issue within that text that has sparked significant critical attention. First and foremost, you should state YOUR interpretation of the topic using specific evidence from the text to support your ideas. Then, conduct research in which you will find at least FIVE secondary articles that address your chosen work in a significant way. Next, write an analysis in which you synthesize the various points that critics have made about your chosen text. Finally, you should state YOUR interpretation of the topic using specific evidence from the text and the secondary evidence you have found to support your ideas. As you work on your literature review, you will want to keep the following guidelines in mind:

–For beginners, you need to establish clearly the various topics that the secondary criticism explores. For example, what topics do critics typically address when discussing your chosen work? What are the various opinions on these topics? If you are writing your synthesis of critical interpretations of The Aeneid, for example, you might find that many critics interpret the function of the gods in the story differently, OR you might observe many different interpretations on the fate of Aeneas and Dido in Book IV. Which interpretation is most persuasive to you? What is your argument on the chosen passage? Ultimately, these are the kinds of issues that you will want to address for this assignment.

–In doing the research for this paper, you must use at least 5 different secondary sources. For upper-level research papers, general textbooks are not acceptable sources. Do not use your textbook (Perry) for this course at all. Encyclopedias such as the Britannica, Americana, or Encarta are not acceptable under any circumstances. Obviously, Wikipedia is also not an acceptable source.

–Although there is now much material available through the internet, much of it is not appropriate for use in a college-level research paper. The only internet sources which are acceptable for this paper are those which you find through EBSCOHOST, MLA International Bibliography, Literary Reference, and JSTOR, online services available through the OBU Library Online Catalog. You should also use the Civ Course Reserves in the library, which are listed in the back of your Ancilla.

Also be sure to focus your research. Try to find articles that address the same topic(s). Do not just choose the first five articles or books you find. Take the time to comb through the sources. Make sure you also include sources beyond the recommended search engines, which includes numerous sources in OBU’s library.

–While writing this assignment, be alert to the possibility of plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs when one uses the ideas of another without giving appropriate credit in a citation and/or failure to use quotation marks when called for. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! CITE EVERY INSTANCE OF USING AN OUTSIDE SOURCE! If you are not sure, cite or footnote. It is better to cite too much than too little. Plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for this assignment. Also, in keeping with University policy, any cases of plagiarism will be reported to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs.

–As this is a literary research paper, you will be interacting in your paper with the primary texts we’ve been reading and discussing. My expectation extends to the notion that you will quote from and analyze your chosen text in conjunction with your research. You should document the text as carefully as you do your outside sources. The primary class text does NOT count toward your required research total of five outside sources.

–To ensure sufficient progress, you will submit a topic proposal/annotated bibliography on the date indicated on your syllabus. A topic proposal should include a paragraph in which you state the work you will be addressing, the critical essays that you found most persuasive, and how you plan to support your assertion. An annotated bibliography should be a list of your sources (in MLA “Works Cited” format) with a paragraph that states the article’s thesis and explains how you plan to use the article in your review.