1) Your paper must engage in some significant way a primary text either written by a woman or written for and/or about women in the Middle Ages.For the purposes of this assignment, primary text is to be understood in these terms: texts written by medieval woman; medieval texts principally addressed to or written about women; postmedieval texts about medieval women (these include contemporary novels and films).Your paper must also engage, in some manner, the general issues and concerns that we will have considered over the course of the semester:i.e. genres of women’s writing, ideas of authorship, audiences, women’s contributions to literate culture, contexts of writing by and for medieval women, etc.
2) Your paper must incorporate research involving materials beyond the primary text that will be the basis for your investigation.For this paper you should consult a minimum of fiveadditional sources beyond your primary text. These can be primary and/or secondary sources. For example, let’s say you decide to write about Julian of Norwich’s short text of the Revelation of Love, exploring its connection to other spiritual and mystical writing of the period. You then decide to write about Julian’s text in relation to the fourteenth-century work known as The Cloud of Unknowing.This work would then count as one of the five additional sources you need to consult.I want to encourage you to look at other primary materials from the Middle Ages.You may wish, however, to concentrate on a single medieval text and therefore consult five secondary sources relevant to that text.Reliable, authorized internet resources can be included among these, but you must consult at least three sources in print. See section below on “Sources.”
These sources will be the focus of the annotated bibliography you will prepare to accompany this paper. We will review guidelines for preparing an annotated bibliography and appropriate formats for citing those sources.The body of your paper will cite necessary information about sources by using either footnotes or endnotes, or by citing sources parenthetically within your text.Both of these should be prepared following some accepted style format, e.g. MLA style, Chicago style, etc.Style guides are available through the designated library research page for our course: https://lib.guides.umd.edu/engl408B
I will go over citation formats and other issues related to writing in class.
3) Your paper must be principally directed to analysis and discussion of a primary text, even if that text is a modern literary work or film.As is the case with any literature-related paper, your paper should state and develop a thesis that you support with evidence from whatever sources you choose.
4) Papers should be approximately 1700-2500 words (or 7-10 pages at 250 words/page). While length alone is not in itself a virtue, ambition and extra effort will be taken into account in the evaluation of your work.
5) I am providing ample opportunity for you to do your best work on this paper, which counts for a significant portion of your grade (25 percent).You have a lot of time to think about, do preliminary research for, and write this paper. This timeline will benefit those who take advantage of it. On Monday April 29 and Monday May 6 we will devote class time to issues related to your papers. Drafts of your annotated bibliographies and papers will be the subject of group discussions on May 6.I will be available to read drafts of your papers through Wed. May 8.You can bring a hard copy of a draft and we can discuss it in my office hours (I will schedule some additional ones) and/or you can submit a draft electronically to me by Tuesday May 7.I will provide comments on all drafts submitted by that date and return them to you by Thursday May 9.
