March 6, 2008 Archives

Finish the book.

Paper 1 is a research paper (6-8 pages) that uses evidence from our assigned readings and outside scholarship (including peer-reviewed academic articles, but optionally also including essays, fiction, and other intellectually significant material) to defend a non-obvious claim about the history of the book, as seen through oral and/or manuscript culture.

Update:

Due today:

1. Topic
2. Thesis statement (with topic, a precise but non-obvious opinion, and a blueprint for the paper)
3. Quotations supporting your thesis
4. Quotations supporting alternate or opposing arguments
5. Preliminary conclusion
6. MLA-style Works Cited list
   

I can give very useful feedback on about 3 pages.

Please don't write out the whole paper first, then "look for quotes" to support the opinion you reached before you did any research. 

At this stage, you should still have an open mind about your research question, and you should be willing to change your thesis based on the information you find.

So, rather than setting out to prove Socrates wrong, try thinking about what social forces in the era of Socrates may have prepared Socrates to hold a particular opinion, and what social forces that emerged after Socrates have emerged that work against claims or arguments that, in the era of Socrates, may have seemed sound.

Upload to Turnitin.com.