Climate Change in Parable of The Sower and in Marrow Thieves

Your research paper will be on a topic of your choosing. You must research and write about at least one primary source read for this course (a novel, short story, play, poem, or essay), and include a minimum of two secondary sources, at least one of which must be scholarly. The other secondary source/s can be reviews, interviews, magazine articles, and so on. You are welcome to write about more than one primary source. While secondary sources are required, the main job of the assignment is to put forward your own argument about the primary source, supported by your research.

You must write on a different topic than the one you chose for your short paper. If you choose to write on the same text as your short paper, please make sure your topic is significantly different for your research paper. You may write on texts that you have already written on in your close readings.

It's up to you to choose the text/s and topic of your paper. Below are some suggested directions you could take.

• Theme: How does a particular theme articulate itself in one or more works? You may discuss how two works treat the same theme differently, or you may wish to explore thematic similarities between seemingly disparate works. You can also discuss theme within a single work. For example, you could examine kinship in Butler's Parable of The Sower and/or Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves and/or Vowel's "A Lodge Within Her Mind"; betrayal or resilience in Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and/or The Marrow Thieves; technology in "A Lodge Within Her Mind" and/or "Kitaskinaw 2350"; storytelling in The Marrow Thieves and/or Washburn's Mr. Burns

• Style and technique: Themes can emerge not only through the content of a work but through its style. Discuss a stylist element or technique in one or two works, and how it contributes to the work's meaning. For example, you could discuss biblical allusions in The Handmaid's Tale and/or Parable of the Sower, or nonlinear narrative in The Marrow Thieves and/or The Handmaid's Tale. You could also discuss metaphor, symbolism, imagery, and/or figurative language in any of the works we've read, making sure you connect your observations on style to theme and meaning.

• Social context: How does a particular work reflect the concerns and anxieties of the author's time and place? How is reading it now different than it may have been to reading it at the time it was written? For example, you could examine Joanna Russ's "When It Changed" and its exploration of a single-gender society in the context of 1970s concepts of gender, versus how the story resonates today. Or you could discuss The Marrow Thieves or "Kitaskinaw 2350" as emblematic of Indigenous resurgence in contemporary society

• Another topic of interest to you. The sky's the limit, as long as it incorporates at least one text read for this course, and involves an element of literary analysis. 

Part 1: Research paper proposal

200-250 words Due March 7th 

Write a proposal for your research paper. Your proposal should include:

• A working title

• Your primary source or sources

• The topic you want to write on

• A tentative thesis

• A list of four potential secondary sources, at least two of which must be scholarly books or articles

Begin by stating your working title and the text or texts you want to write on. Then, in three or four sentences, explain your topic and the research areas you will cover. What questions do you have about your topic, and what will you need to research in order to answer those questions? End with your proposed thesis. Finally, list your four potential secondary sources in MLA format. The list of secondary sources is not included in your word count.

Note that for the proposal you are not required to have read the entirety of your four secondary sources. You are simply asked to propose four potential sources that you think may be relevant to your research topic. 

Your title, thesis, and secondary sources may change from the proposal as you write your paper. This is a normal and acceptable part of research and writing. If you wish to change your prinary source and your topic after the proposal has been submitted and approved, please talk to me about it first.