Research
Paper FAQ
What is
the purpose of research? ^
Top
One of the hallmarks of a good college-level
student is whether they have made
themselves acquainted with a variety
of established scholarship about
an author, work of literature, literary
period, etc. This is part of the
mastery of the field English which
you should be working towards for
your major. Whether or not you have
acquired this knowledge should be
reflected in your grade.
What constitutes
research? How many sources do I
need? ^ Top
The answers to these questions depend
considerably on the subject matter.
For the average undergraduate essay,
you should have at least three good
secondary sources: books
or essays produced by scholars in
the field and published under peer
review. In some cases, you
will need primary sources other than
the main text you are writing about.
For instance, if Chaucer references
Boethian philosophy, you may wish
to quote a passage from Boethius’s Consolation
of Philosophy.
What are
good secondary sources? What is
peer review? ^
Top
Generally, scholars must send their
work to an editor, who forwards it
to other experts in the field (the
scholars’ “peers”)
for review. The editor will not publish
the work unless it is first approved
by the reviewers. This ensures quality
and honesty in the work. Most academic
journals and books published by university
presses or major publishers use peer
review. Most web sites, including
online encyclopedias like Wikipedia,
do not. Although, there is a growing
movement to put peer reviewed materials
on the web, we’re not there
yet. If you can find a web site with
an editorial policy that says the
work is peer reviewed (for example,
Medieval Forum), it’s OK to
use. But you’re rule of thumb
should be that secondary sources
available in print are the best secondary
sources.
What
are some essential sources for
Chaucer scholarship? ^
Top
You should also familiarise
yourself with the following Essential
Research Resources:
- The bibliography on
the course web site
- The New
Chaucer Society Bibliography
Online
- The
Essential Chaucer
- The Chaucer
Review Indexed Bibliography
(1997-1991)
- The two major journals devoted
to Chaucer: Studies in the
Age of Chaucer and Chaucer
Review (available online through
the library from 2000-present)
Can I use
Wikipedia or other online encyclopedias? ^
Top
If you can look up a Wikipedia entry
and cite it in your essay, congratulations!
You have acquired the skills to pass
the 8th grade. But, for God’s
sake, don’t cite Wikipedia
in a college-level essay. An encyclopedia
entry is a summation of scholarly
literature and rarely treats the
material in sufficient depth for
you to acquire a college-level understanding
of the subject. If you rely on Wikipedia
or the equivalent in your essay,
I will assume that you have not acquired
the appropriate depth of knowledge,
and this will be reflected in your
grade. However, that doesn’t
mean that you can’t use Wikipedia
as a starting place to locate further
sources. A good Wikipedia entry will
cite its sources and provide you
with directions to pursue in your
research. A bad Wikipedia entry will
not cite its sources and is next
to useless.
What about
articles in JSTOR or other online
article databases? ^
Top
Most of these services are simply
online reproductions of the print
journals. You may read these
articles online, but you should cite
them as if they were printed. In
other words, cite the journal volume
number, date, and page numbers, not
the internet address.
How do I
use my research? ^
Top
Research will be of two types:
getting to know the historical
context for your topic (e.g.
what views did medieval
people have about the significance
of dreams?) and getting to know
what previous scholars have argued
about the treatment of your topic
in the Canterbury
Tales. Both of these types
of research are important, but
the exact proportion will depend
on the topic you have selected.
Make sure that you don't simply
give a summary of your research.
You need to state only what is
relevant to your argument. Find
a balance between your use of
research and your close reading
of the Canterbury
Tales.
You need to make sure that you
support your argument based on
evidence in the text.
How should
I construct my argument? ^
Top
You need to generate a thesis--a
statement of your interpretation
of an aspect of the Canterbury
Tales. Then you need to support
this statement. You can take one
of several approaches, depending
on your topic. First, you can explore
the instances of a particular term,
phrase, image, or motif in one
or more of the tales (gentillesse,
for instance). In this case, you
should be sure to do more than
just demonstrate that the pattern
is there. You must state why it
is there. Is Chaucer saying the
same thing in different tales?
Is he showing different aspects
of, or solutions to, the same problem?
Another approach is to identify
a problem in the Canterbury
Tales (or an individual tale).
For instance, why does Chaucer
put an anti-semitic tale in the
mouth of the Prioress? (Note: this
is not why is anti-semiticism problematic;
that’s not an essay on Chaucer.)
In both cases, you need to find
something that you think is significant
in the text and state why it is
significant. That is your paper’s
thesis. You should keep in mind
that your research—particularly
you reading of published criticism—can
help you generate questions, which
you can then answer. You may even
find that you want to give your
own answer to the questions other
critics have raised. This is another
approach to writing the paper.
Summarise previously published
criticism, state whether you agree
or disagree with earlier critics,
or whether you have a new answer,
and why. Note that you must support
your case using some evidence from
the text other than the
evidence cited by previous critics
(though you may mention the evidence
that they cite, as long as you
attribute it to them).
Some really good advice is to try
several times to articulate your
thesis. Each time, ask yourself, “So
what? Why is this significant? How
does it help me gain a deeper understanding
of the Canterbury Tales?” If
you feel that you can answer these
questions satisfactorily, you probably
have a good thesis. In constructing
your argument, make sure that you
are aware of and account for the
relevant historical context. For
instance, if you are writing on the
Wife of Bath, you will want to research
actual women’s roles or views
on women in the fourteenth century,
rather than relying on modern stereotypes.
You will also want to signal your
awareness about past scholarship
on the topic you are discussing so
that you can orient your argument
relative to past ones.
For more advice on how to approach
the research paper, I recommend the
tutorials on the Chaucer Pedagogy
Page: http://www.kankedort.net/PED_tpaper-0.htm.
This site also provides useful information
on formatting your essay (but note
that where it says to underline titles,
you should italicise them, if possible).
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