Instructions: This final project will require you to gather research material, analyze it, evaluate it, and bring it together to act as support for your essay thesis. All options require strong critical engagement with both the primary text(s) and with the required peer reviewed secondary sources.
General Requirements for the Project:
All submissions must:
Use 3 peer reviewed sources in addition to whatever primary texts they discuss (and these sources must be used and cited in the essay, not just listed in the Works Cited at the end)
Be 4-5 pages long excluding the Works Cited page
Must be original to this class and assignment (no submissions from other courses and or previous forums are allowed)
Be in MLA format and use MLA style citations (see The APUS Library MLA Guide for MLA formatting models; most of you sources will probably need to use the “Journal Articles” model)
BE CAREFUL that you do not create a cut and paste essay of information from your various sources; your ideas are to be the focus of the essay, and the research should only supplement and support your ideas. Also, take great care not to plagiarize; if in doubt, cite the source. See the sample essay for an example of an MLA formatted essay.
These projects will be graded using the Research Project Essay rubric .
DISCLAIMER: Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.
Topic Choices for the Research Project
Choose one of the following prompts to guide your project.
Gender Issues in Pygmalion and The Importance of Being Earnest: Describe Eliza in Shaw’s play, and discuss how Eliza is treated by others within the play. Does she appear to be marginalized? What about the portrayal of the female characters in Wilde’s play? Do these plays reflect issues that women may have faced during this time period? To answer this question, you may use one or both of the plays assigned during week five.
Writing Format: All essays should be written in Times New Roman 12 point plain font. Essays are double spaced, include indented paragraphs with no extra space between paragraphs, and 1 inch margins on all (4) sides. Essays should be MLA formatted and submitted as MS Word documents/attachments. Write in the third person objective voice, and prove/illustrate points with quotes and paraphrases from your primary source, followed by the corresponding in-text and Works Cited citation. Avoid the first and second person I and you subjective voice in academic writing.
Secondary Sources: Use only scholarly articles and books found through databases in the APUS and other research libraries. As a rule, keep quotes to 2-3 lines maximum in these relatively short papers, and no more than 10-15% of the total paper. Focus first on your primary source(s) to prove your thesis and related points, and never allow a secondary source to make your argument for you. Avoid using introductory, encyclopedic, and editorial material as a source.
Technical Errors: Late papers will be penalized, as will papers with technical errors, superficial and/or careless grammatical or content errors. Technical errors (e.g., typographical mistakes, misspellings, sloppiness, sentence fragments, etc.) will result in grade penalties that become more severe as their frequency increases.
