Topic Proposal

Instructions: The proposal should identify your chosen inspiration text and propose a specific, arguable thesis statement about its meaning. In addition to establishing a strong position on your topic, your proposal should detail what you hope to accomplish in your paper and outline the major points you want to address. Imagine that you are proposing this topic to the people who are putting together the conference you’re writing this paper for.

Literature Review

Instructions: Your literature review should consist of at least 3 secondary sources that you have deemed relevant to your topic and/or proposed thesis statement. First, read them carefully, and then:

• Write a brief paper of 2-3 pages describing the thesis or “point” of each text, how effective you believe the text is, and how it will relate to your own paper. Try to tie the articles together in some way (maybe they all come together to create a common argument, maybe there is a more specific facet of the topic they all focus on, maybe they all have similar rhetoric).

• Also try to avoid using the first sources that you find and use the ones that will be the most useful to your paper as a whole.

• Cite each source at the end of the paper in MLA format (this will make your final paper easier to write!).