– Need completed before 12:00 pm MDT (Canada)of Tuesday October 29th   – Must use “Medicine River” by Thomas King and…

– Need completed before 12:00 pm MDT (Canada)of Tuesday October 29th  

– Must use “Medicine River” by Thomas King and connect with a short story or two from EITHER Tales from Firozsha Baag by Thomas King, or Civil War Land in Bad Decline by George Saunders.

Four Pages – See attached document for details

English 201-07 Research Paper One

Due Date: Oct. 28 (at the beginning of class)

With reference to Medicine River and at least one other text we have discussed this term, write a 3-4 page paper addressing one of the following topics:

1. Discuss the use of storytelling in the text(s). A careful examination of storytelling in these texts will almost certainly address issues of speaker and audience.

1. Discuss boundaries, limits, and spaces in the texts. Are there important demarcations of space within the texts? Are bodies themselves “spaces” to be considered in this way? Are there rules to the shapes of these fictional worlds the authors attempt to teach us?

1. Discuss narrative strategies and narrators in the text(s). Does an understanding (or lack of understanding) of who or what the narrator is change the way the text is read? How is the narration framed? Are there complications of retelling or

Be sure that your thesis is not too narrow, or obvious. An example if such a thesis might be: “Storytelling is important in Medicine River and X.” Rather, explain in what ways storytelling is uniquely employed and suggest why. What effect is the author attempting through this telling? Why do they want us to care?

At the same time, be sure your thesis is focused enough that it can be supported in an essay. An example of a thesis whose scope is far too large would be: “Storytelling is important to human beings.” Well. Yes. It is. So what? You must focus on specific enough arguments so that your paper attempts to engage these specific texts and authors, rather than with the world at large.

Successful papers will supplement their own original argument (i.e. don’t simply parrot something someone else has said) with judicious, careful use of citations from legitimate sources such as book reviews, interviews with the author, scholarly articles or historical sources. (Wikipedia entries, blog posts, study notes and reading group guides are not considered legitimate sources for scholarly essays.)

Your quotations and your list of works cited must follow MLA 7th edition format. See

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

for examples.

Essays must be submitted in printed form, in class.