How to Write a Literary Studies Term Paper or Thesis

The purpose of a research paper in literary criticism or literary theory …

is to convince your reader of your opinion on one or more particular texts, authors, movements, periods, theories etc. The opinion or argument that you prove in a research paper is called your thesis. This thesis is usually presented at the end of your introduction.

It should consist of a fairly specific and precise announcement. A statement like "In the speeches of John Winthrop and Jonathan Edwards there are many similarities but also differences" is too vague. A better thesis would be: "While John Winthrop's speeches use religious doctrines to defend a democratic social model, Jonathan Edwards employs Scripture primarily to promote a strongly religious behavior among his listeners."

Before you start writing the paper:

  1. Read the primary text(s). While you read the text(s), mark passages that you could later quote.
  2. Think of a thesis for your paper and make an outline for how you are going to prove that your thesis is true.
  3. Using bibliographies and other research tools, find secondary material on your topic. Do not use secondary sources as any kind of "ultimate" or "absolute" truth, though. Instead, evaluate them critically. In your research paper you may argue that a critic is right about a particular point or that he/she is wrong about a particular point. Be aware that internet sources are often limited in their accuracy or usefulness. ALWAYS CONSULT THE MLA INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY (available in electronic form at the library computer terminals under (Datenbanken). Materials not available at Bielefeld can be ordered through inter-library loan (Fernleihe).

Parts of a research paper:

Research papers generally consist of: - title page, - table of contents, - main text, - notes, - works cited.

  1. Title page.
    Other than the title of your paper, its first page should also contain the name of the university, the seminar title, the name of the professor or instructor, the semester, and your own name.
  2. Table of contents
    The title page is followed by a (detailed) table of contents. Use either the outline format A.I.1.a. or 1.1.1.1. For each section of your paper, the table of contents lists the page number on which that section starts. Title page and table of contents should not be counted in your page numbering..
  3. Main text.
    The three main parts of a research paper's main text are:
    1. Introduction (with the paper's thesis)
    2. Body (containing support or proof for the thesis) and
    3. Conclusion (summing up results, mentioning what aspects you were unable to address in more detail, or pointing the way for further research on this or a related topic)
    The body of your paper is by far the longest part.
  4. Notes.
    You may use footnotes or endnotes. If you use endnotes, start a "Notes" section on a new page after the conclusion of your paper. Use notes sparingly. The main purpose of notes is to give related information that would be distracting in the paper's main text. Notes are also often used to critically evaluate secondary sources.
  5. Works Cited.
    It is now common practice to give your reader not a bibliography of selected books and articles on the topic of your research paper but instead to list only those books and articles from which you quoted in your paper. The last section of your paper should therefore be entitled "Works Cited." Start a new page for the "Works Cited." Use a blank line in between citations.
    Here are some examples:
    citation of a book:
    • Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1980.
    • Klarer, Mario. An Introduction to Literary Studies. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
    • Kant, Immanuel. Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime. 1764. Trans. John T. Goldstein. Berkeley: U of California P, 1960.
    • Elliott, Emory, ed. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia UP, 1988.
    • Hagenbüchle, Roland, and Josef Raab, eds. Negotiations of America's National Identity. Tübingen Stauffenburg Verlag, 2000.
    citation of an article, chapter, story or poem in a book collection:
    • Cisneros, Sandra. "Woman Hollering Creek." Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. 1991. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. 43-56.
    • Hagenbüchle, Roland. "Sumptuous Destitution: The Function of Desire in Emily Dickinson's Poetry." Circumference and Center: Contemporary American Poetics. Ed. Hagenbüchle. Austin: U of Texas P, 1977. 151-89.
    • Hagenbüchle, Roland. "Sumptuous Destitution: The Function of Desire in Emily Dickinson's Poetry." Circumference and Center: Contemporary American Poetics. Ed. Jacqueline Ollier. Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag, 1987. 151-89.
    • Hagenbüchle, Roland. "Sumptuous Destitution: The Function of Desire in Emily Dickinson's Poetry." Circumference and Center: Contemporary American Poetics. Ed. Hagenbüchle, and Jacqueline Ollier. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1997. 151-89.
    citation of an article, story or poem in a journal:
    • Smith, Joseph. "Leftist Liberators: American Literary Criticism in the Thirties." Ilha do Desterro 23.1 (1990): 43-73.
    • Miller, Pete, and John Doe. "Excellent Article: All We Have to Say." Journal for Learned People 49.3 (1994): 32-40.
    citation of an internet source:
    Raab, Josef. "The Political Dimenion of Elizabeth Bishop." http://iberia.vassar.edu/bishop/Raab/html. (last visited on: 2008-05-03)

Stylistic aspects of a research paper:

  1. Write primarily in the present tense. This may look unfamiliar at first because if you say, "Anne Bradstreet writes that ..." one might assume that Bradstreet is still alive. Nonetheless, her text is still present, and so we use present tense to talk about her and her work.
  2. In the body of your paper, do not give (only) general impressions but be specific. For example, don't only write "Edwards scares his audience," but tell your reader what means he uses to scare them. For example: "Edwards scares his audience through a variety of plastic images. One of these is the image of God holding people over the fiery pit of hell the way one might hold a spider over a flame."
  3. Avoid very short paragraphs. Paragraphs of one or two sentences are frequent in journalistic writing but not in literary criticism. Avoid sentence fragments. Avoid colloquialisms. Vary your sentence structure, e.g. don't start every sentence with "She writes ...," or "He observes ...," or "She notices ..." Use the passive voice rarely, if at all. Statements in the active voice are much clearer and stylistically more elegant.
  4. A paper that contains numerous grammar and spelling errors just doesn't make a good impression. Corrections in handwriting on your final typed paper are much better than no corrections at all.

Formal aspects of a research paper:

  1. Use a one-and-a-half line spacing when you type your paper. On a computer, use a 12-point font.
  2. In your text as well as in your "Works Cited" list and notes, underline book titles like Othello or put them in italics (Othello). Titles of stories, poems, essays, articles, and book chapters are indicated by quotation marks.

Quotations:

General.

Use quotations from primary and secondary sources to illustrate your statements or to give additional support for your argument. But do not overuse quotations. Quotations should not constitute more than twenty per cent of your paper. Especially when you use longer quotations, it is not enough to just give the quotation; you also need to explain to your reader how that quotation illustrates a point you are trying to make.

Indicating the source of a quotation.

Always give the page number of your quotation. This is done in brackets after closing the quotation marks. When the source of your quotation is apparent from your text, only indicate the page number; otherwise indicate both the source and the page number.

Block quotations.

If your quotation is longer than three lines, set it off from the rest of the text by indenting it five spaces and omit the quotations marks.

Omissions.

If you leave one or more words out from your quotation, indicate this through three periods with one space in between each period.

Example: Thoreau complains that "this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. . . . The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished" (714).

Additions.

If you add anything to your quotation, indicate this by putting the words which you are adding and which are not in the original text inside square brackets.

Example: Thoreau complains that "this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. . . . [Not the government but only] The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished" (714).

Poetry quotations.

If you quote from a poem, indicate the end of a line in the original through a slash (i.e. /) in your quotation.

Example: Phillis Wheatley writes that "'T'was mercy brought me from my pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand / That there's a God" (325).

Further information: If you have any questions about formal aspects of research papers, consult

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association, 1999.

or take a look at any article in a recent issue of the journal Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (PMLA) and follow the format it uses. The Modern Language Association (MLA) format is the standard format for research papers in English or American literary or cultural studies. Other disciplines prefer other formats, however.

Your audience:

Assume that your reader has read the primary text(s) about which you are writing. Plot summaries are therefore unnecessary. Some students of literary studies tend to give biographical introductions to the primary authors about whom they are writing. This should only be done if that biographical information is directly relevant for your thesis.


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