Literature Paper

Write a well-developed analysis/explication based on your interpretation of some aspect of a text we 

have read thus far. In your close reading, use our literary terminology deliberately, effectively, and 

appropriately. Furthermore, if you touch on a topic discussed in class, take it in a new, interesting 

direction. Please do not simply regurgitate class material. 

Integrate at least four secondary written sources (periodicals, books, or websites) for your argument; 

the recommended number of sources is more like five or six. Remember that sources need not only 

confirm your position. In fact, when we seek out only sources for confirmation, we limit the scope of 

ideas. In addition to confirming your position, sources may oppose your ideas, help to illustrate a 

particular supporting point, develop your counterarguments, or flesh out a comparison. 

Tips and Reminders: See guidelines for explication in our Eagle Online site and The Sophomore 

Literature Study Guide for suggestions regarding generating and exploring ideas for this project. 

Revise, revise, revise. 

Manuscript Guidelines: MLA format. See guidelines on my Learning Web Page, in Black Board, on the 

HCC Library site, in The Sophomore Literature Study Guide, and various MLA guidebooks. 

Grading Criteria: The final version of your term paper must be reader-friendly and well-structured. I will 

evaluate your essay, which should be 8-9 pages, according to the following criteria: 

 the scope, content, and quality of your analysis 

 effective use of evidence (evidence should both provide support and be analyzed/explained) 

 effective paper structure (if you know what a five-paragraph essay is, please note that such a 

structure is inadequate to meet the demands of this assignment) 

 clear and precise sentence-level rhetoric (grammar and style) 

 integration of sources and adherence to MLA guidelines for documentation and to manuscript 

guidelines (which are also MLA) 

Intellectual Honesty: 

All work you submit must be your own. If you consult any sources, whether oral or written, 

copyrighted or not, you must clearly distinguish between your words and ideas (or line of thought) and 

theirs at all times. 

Intellectual dishonesty is broadly defined as encompassing any act that a reasonable person would 

perceive as either an attempt to get credit for work that was done with unacknowledged assistance or 

an attempt to falsify the quality or quantity of work presented in fulfillment of a course requirement. 

Intellectual dishonesty includes—but is not limited to—cheating, collusion, or plagiarism. Collusion 

involves unauthorized collaboration with another person or persons in preparing written work offered 

for credit. Plagiarism involves the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged 

incorporation of that work into one’s own written work offered for credit. (Plagiarism, therefore, 

consists of such activities as submitting as one’s own work a paper entirely or partly written by someone 

else; submitting a paper in which one has included without acknowledgment the ideas/exact words of another, “revising” another’s work and turning it in as one’s own. Sparknotes, other study aids, and 

materials found on the Internet are considered somebody else’s work. Feel free to use them, but you 

must attribute and cite them.)