Admin Sign In 
 Library Home  »  Cornell University Library Guides Home  »  ENGL 4480: Charles Dickens (Spring 2009)

ENGL 4480: Charles Dickens (Spring 2009)  Tags: linguistics_language_literature dickens charles_dickens english_literature  

A guide to research strategies, information resources, and library services in the Cornell University Library.
Last update: Apr 13th, 2009 URL: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/dickens  Print Guide  RSS Updates

Home             Print Page
  
 

Charles Dickens

"The work of Charles Dickens, the most successful novelist of the mid-Victorian period, is a unique source for the understanding of Victorian literary and social concerns. This course will include an in-depth study of Dickens's major novels, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as well as some of his best short fiction, to include A Christmas Carol, and journalism. Concerns and contexts to be considered include: the demands of serial publication; sexuality and gender roles; capitalism and empire; the modern police; sentimentality and the child; and the emergence of the urban world. Attention will be given to Dickens as a humorist and Victorian social critic as we recognize how his work can be seen as a precursor of the problems of our own age."

This library guide will provide you with a selection of recommended resources and strategies for finding information efficiently and effectively as you work on your research assignments.

Ask your questions.

 

Research Assignment

Dickens Research Paper

Length:  10-12 typed, double-spaced pages (not including works cited, etc.)

Style:  MLA format with works cited; footnotes if needed; more than 3 illustrations should be made into an appendix; see mla.org for guidelines and proper citations

Research:  works cited that includes at least 8-10 varied, secondary sources

Due Dates:                  

3/25            Rare Dickens holdings (meet at Kroch)

                    Bring potential topic(s) to class

4/1              Library Research Session (meet at Uris)

4/8              Bring working prospectus to class

4/10            Final Prospectus via Email          

4/17            Potential Source List Via Email

5/8              Final Draft

 

**Email assignments are due by 5P. Send as a .doc (not .docx) attachment

 

Subject:  The research paper will cover a Dickens topic of your choice. Be sure to choose a focused topic that interests you. This is an analytical argument (not a report). Carefully research your topic so that you understand what critical conversation you are stepping into. (You may want to include a few important critics/studies that influenced your paper). The topic can involve various media, such as illustrations, films, etc. The aim is to contribute and say something new about the topic. You can certainly write on Oliver Twist, but the topic cannot be an extension of Paper 1.

Broad examples (your topic will be narrow and complex):

--colonial commentary in Great Expectations            --surveillance and Bleak House

--opium and Dickens                                                 --illustration history of Great Expectations

--Shakespeare and Dickens                                       --child-women in Dickens

--deathbed scenes                                                       --sanitation and Bleak House

--Victorian child labor laws                                       --gambling; rhetoric of chance

--sexuality                                                                   --class conflicts

--burial reform laws Bleak House                               --charity

--Dickens as actor                                                      --Dickens as publisher

--sentimentality                                                          --Gothic Dickens

--homosociality                                                           --marriage, family or parents

--Dickens on film                                                        --Dickens on stage (theater adaptations)

--Dickens’s London                                                    --mystery and detective work          

--capital punishment                                                 --the Jewish question

Approval: all topics must be approved through the proposal process. I recommend that you do some preliminary investigation to see if there are enough sources for the project. At some stage you may want to see a subject-specialist librarian to help you with source locating. After your prospectus is turned in, I will email you with an approval or request for revision.

 

4/10     Final Prospectus Due

You will turn in a typed, two-paragraph explanation of your overarching position. You will clearly state the working thesis, possible supporting arguments and ideas, questions you are asking of the topic, and your critical intention.

 

4/17     Potential Source List

This will be an MLA-formatted working list (at least 20 items) of a variety of potential secondary resources for your project (sources should consist of books, book reviews, essays from collections/anthologies, essays from peer-reviewed journals, online academic sites, etc). It should demonstrate your accurate and detailed source-finding skills.

 

Research Conferences

You are responsible for meeting with me (during my office hrs or by appt.) to discuss your research project. This time will be used to answer questions you may have regarding your project and to get feedback from me regarding the direction of your argument.  

 

The paper will be assessed on the following criteria:

--the extent to which the argument “says something new” and contributes to the topic

--the quality and variety of sources used and how they are integrated in the paper

--cohesiveness and organization

--your own voice is the major presence (the research should not overtake your own argument)   

--a clear, persuasive, and confident rhetorical voice is consistently present

--proper set-up of the argument

--control over the primary source(s); appropriate textual support, evidence, and analysis

--acknowledgement of counter views in important places (you may have to concede some points)

--a conclusion that clearly and fully shows the significance of your investigation and the impact of your findings

 

 

 
Description

  Loading content... please wait