Paper 1 guidelines: In our discussions, we have spent quite a bit of time talking about the way in which the minds of our main characters engage in existentialist discussions about faith, society, and the responsibilities and sufferings of the individual. For your first short reflective paper, I would like you to confront at least two pieces of literature. You may draw on both the philosophical and the literary texts we have discussed thus far (up to and including Feb. 14 readings)—regardless of whether or not we talked about them in class—as well as discuss cinematic adaptations as they relate to your understanding of the texts and/or existentialism. Develop a thesis that connects the texts that you have chosen—be it in theme, character, philosophical outlook, or whatever structural or stylistic device you detect and that most interested you and impacted your reading experience. Ultimately, I’d like you to examine how the author’s narrative technique illuminates meaning in the text and promotes a certain worldview. In your response, try to address questions like: What is that worldview; how do you know; what are the immediate cultural, historical, philosophical, religious, political circumstances that prompted this type of writing; how does narrative shape relate to message; how does nationhood impact both style and stance; etc.?

Format: Structurally, I need you to write a formal essay, complete with introduction, thesis statement, body, topic sentences, fully-developed paragraphs (paragraphs need to be 7-10 sentences long—no exceptions, no random half-statements, please), conclusion, and textual support. Especially the last part often gets overlooked, so let me emphasize this once more: go through your notes and the texts you have chosen and prove your analysis by making extensive use of textual evidence; in other words, cite the text wherever you can. Show that you are right and that you are making a valid point! Your paper should be no fewer than three and no more than five pages in length, double-spaced, and with a 1” margin all around; insert page numbers in top right hand corner. Also, do not forget to give your paper a title, and make sure, please, that the paper’s title stands in immediate relation to your thesis statement. This means that if you call your paper “Self-loathing and Despair in Notes from the Underground,” then your thesis (and thus your entire paper) has to circle around the problem of the UM’s “identity crises” (?) and his displeasure with himself and the world around him; if you call it “The Irony of Faith in The Grand Inquisitor ,” you had better talk about religious faith and its ironies in Ivan’s parable ; and if you call it “Men, Faith, and Society in Nineteenth-Century Europe,” you will have to talk about men, faith, and society in 19^th-ct. Europe. Ultimately, what I’m getting at here is that I need you to sustain your focus throughout the entire paper. Do your analysis and find your focus before you start writing. Take me for a ride but make me feel safe!

Grading: Each short reflective paper accounts for 10% of your overall grade for the course. Please consult “Grading Standards” at www.wsu.edu/~vtheile/grade.html for more details.

Help: I am available for questions via E-mail and during my office hours. For appointments outside my office hours, talk to me after class, please. I will gladly look over drafts with you as you develop your argument and will help in whichever way I can to make this paper an interesting and rewarding exploration for you. Call, e-mail, or look for me in my office: Robinson 202.

Conference Suggestions: Keep in mind, please, that your midterm presentations are scheduled for March 4 and that submissions for the Inland Empire Undergraduate English Conference are due the day before—one March 3 (see abstract parameters at: http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/ieuec/). This paper could very easily function as an abstract for the conference and/or a first draft for your midterm presentation. For those of you that already have a good paper at hand, I recommend a second call for papers—for NUCL, the Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature; the deadline for that is already today unfortunately. But the Rocky Mountain division of the Modern Language Association is another public venue for both the midterm presentation and your term paper for the course. Go to http://rmmla.wsu.edu/conferences/default.asp for a convention overview.  Note that I’ll be hosting an Undergraduate panel for RMMLA in Reno this year and would be happy to talk to you about the abstract and conference parameters for that conference and panel some more in class. Remember that conference presentations are an important asset on your curriculum vitae when you apply for graduate programs.