This essay will be the result of your research and proposal (and the comments I made about them) at the end of our first term. Your quest is to explain what makes a book special in the context of the history of the book.

Please note that this is a formal essay, not a personal response paper. It must contain serious academic analysis, not impressions, feelings, musings or editorial comments. The use of “I” is allowed, but is usually unnecessary and a distraction for the reader. Focus on the content of your findings.

It will be 7-8 pages (not including the bibliography), in MLA format,  and should be submitted in both electronic form (emailed) and paper copy.

To give clarity and authority to your points, you will use both primary quotes and secondary quotes. Look here for more on quoting.

Advice

Do review the questions pondered in Phase I.

While the history of the book is not interested in literary analysis as an end point, you do need to look at what content, style, message, etc. make your book special in order to then look at how it has made its appearance, how it was received, etc., and why this particular book matters to our society.

Do not tell me how great this book is and what a great success it has had. It wouldn’t be on the list if it wasn’t part of the Western Canon.

Do not tell me about TV or film adaptations. Focus on the book.

Beware of biographies:
The use of biographical information must be justified. Information about where the author went to school, his family (parents, lovers, children, etc.) are generally unimportant (and a blatant page-filler), unless you point out why they are relevant to this paper.
Biographical information should not have a section of its own, as each item should be incorporated wherever it is relevant.
Sources for biographical information should be scholarly, not some neutral entry on the net, even from a “reliable source” such as an institutional site.

Avoid looking at film/video/clip versions of your book as it is a re-interpretation (more or less faithful) of the text.

Long quotes are always suspect, as they are either padding or are not being examined and unpacked properly, which would necessitate breaking them down. Since they are not your words, you don’t get any points for them. Integrate short quotes in your own text to support your points. Look here for more on quoting.

To avoid accidental plagiarism, always write with all your sources closed. Open them to insert your in-text citations as soon as your text is written. Don’t wait and go back to it later.

The introductory paragraph is a contract with the reader and sets up the entire paper. It must contain the topic in space and time (where? when?), some notions of where the paper is going to go, as well as what it is going to argue, how, why, etc. You can’t know that when you begin to write, so write it last, when you do know what you are going to argue.

Start early, even if you have to put it aside for a while. You cannot go on an intellectual quest without giving your mind time to grasp the text and its life, to grow with it, and articulate worthwhile thoughts.

This essay is due on January 10
When in doubt, email me at domino@yorku.ca