Assignment 4: Research Essay on Pride and Prejudice

Assignment 4: Research Essay on Pride and Prejudice (25%)
Introduction
This research essay of no less than 950 words and no more than 1,000 words contributes 25% toward your final grade for the course. Although you’re not required to follow the suggested schedule in the Course Guide, it’s a good idea to complete Assignment 4 around the end of week 12.

As noted in Module 7, this assignment requires you to use secondary sources. (Refer to Module 6 for the distinction between primary and secondary sources.) Please note your secondary sources may include the essays in the “Criticism” section of your Norton Critical edition.

You must include at least three secondary sources in your essay. Your secondary sources must include recognized Austen critics. Be sure that you include among your secondary sources at least two critical articles dealing with Pride and Prejudice.

Since you will be using quotations and paraphrases from both your primary source (Pride and Prejudice) and secondary sources (articles and books on Pride and Prejudice), you must include parenthetical in-text citations—after the quotation in the your essay, provide the page number(s) for print sources—and a Works Cited list. Also, remember to include the Norton Critical edition of Pride and Prejudice in your Works Cited list.

Consult Unit 7: Readings: “Documented essay: Dahlia Rodriguez, ‘Learning a new language: why is it so hard?’” (MLA documentation style section only) for specific instructions about citing particular kinds of sources. If, for example, you quote from one of the essays included in the “Criticism” section of your Norton edition of Pride and Prejudice, look for the instructions on citing articles or essays first published elsewhere.

Whether your research for Assignment 4 is extensive or narrowly focused, remember to avoid turning your essay into a patchwork of quotations from different articles and books. Your thesis should be the controlling feature of your essay.

Research Essay Topics
Choose just one of the following topics:

Discuss the function and importance of letters in Pride and Prejudice.

Does Pride and Prejudice reinforce or erode sexist stereotypes of women?

“Time and space are small in Pride and Prejudice.” Discuss the significance of critic Dorothy Van Ghent’s comment on the novel’s setting.

Instructions
Your essay should have three parts: an introductory paragraph, a body containing fully developed paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Following is a general guide for what to include in each section of your essay.

In your introductory paragraph:

Introduce Pride and Prejudice and its author.

Identify clearly your essay topic.

Include a strong thesis statement on the topic.

Forecast the main stages of your analysis.

In your analysis in the body of your essay:

Make effective use of topic sentences to identify the main ideas of your analysis.

Support your comments with evidence (paraphrase and direct quotations) from the novel.

Explain the significance of each piece of evidence you present as it relates to your thesis.

Identify the sources of all your quotations with parenthetical in-text citations.

Contribute to your reader’s understanding of the novel as a whole.

In your concluding paragraph:

Summarize the main stages of your analysis.

Restate your thesis in different words.

Note
Quotations count toward the word length, but Works Cited items listed at the end do not.

This is the end of Assignment 4. Refer to the following submission procedures.