As globalism increases in importance in the 21st century, world literature is becoming more accessible and vital than ever. Readers around the world can learn much from other countries’ culture, values, narratives, and aesthetics to promote global harmony and expand their own horizons. To demonstrate the ways in which you are learning about the effects of world literature, you will write a brief essay that demonstrates a close reading of a particular World Literature text, making connections to other World Literature texts and thinking critically about how the work is relevant to 21st-century readers. A 4-5 page literary essay needs to be written in MLA format and a works cited page. Specific details are listed below.
Select a specific World Literature text to be the focus of your literary research paper (your primary source). Your choice.
Find at least one recent journal article about your chosen text, topic, and/or author, using our library databases. If you can’t find an article, you may try Google Scholar, Project MUSE, or other databases.
Gather at least three other sources to compare, interpret, analyze, or otherwise connect to your chosen World Literature text, and make Work Cited entries for all of the sources you’re planning to use, including the primary source. Thus, have at least five (5) sources on your paper’s Works Cited Page.
Guidelines to Follow
Here are some guidelines for structuring your research paper:
In your introductory paragraph, identify your chosen text and author(s), describe the culture, era, and place that produced the text, and otherwise give some background as if your reader does not know the work in question. End your first paragraph with a thesis that briefly alludes to (a) how you’ll connect the literary work to other works of world literature, and (b) why the work is still relevant to read in a 21st century classroom.
In your second paragraph, summarize the literary work in your own words. This should be no more than one paragraph; provide a shortened synopsis of the work that will be informative for the reader.
In your third paragraph, identify the article you found in step #2 and explain some current critical views of the literary work. What are other scholars saying about the literary work? Do you agree or disagree with them and why? You may include other secondary sources (writings about the literary work, its author or culture, etc.).
In your next set of body paragraphs, make connections to other specific works of world literature, history, pop culture, etc. Cite specifics from the texts, include quotations and citations, and try to forge compelling links between the literary work you chose and other texts, like we do in class. How does it fit into World Literature? What patterns do you notice that connect it to other eras, cultures, and events?
In your last set of body paragraphs, explain how and why the literary work is still relevant today. What current issues might it help today’s readers reflect upon? How does it reveal universal human themes? Why should 21st century classes continue to study the chosen text?
Include a Works Cited page in MLA style (8th) detailing your sources, all of which must be cited parenthetically and accurately incorporated within the body of the paper.
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