Analyze The Theme Of A Doll’s House By Henrik Ibsen.

English 1302: Research Paper Assignment

The Assignment: Write on one of the topics below dealing with A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen:

1. Write a paper in which you analyze the character of Nora. In terms of your thesis, can you develop three aspects of Nora’s character? Think of what defines Nora as a person. What do the critics say about Nora?

2. Write a paper in which you analyze the character of Torvald. Does he love Nora? Is his behavior reasonable or not? What do the critics say about him? In terms of your thesis, can you develop three aspects of Torvald’s character? What defines Torvald as a person?

3. Write a paper in which you analyze the theme of A Doll’s House.

Format/Length: Your paper should be at least 1,000 words: double-spaced, 12-pt. font, MLA documentation. Save your file in Word (.docx or .doc) or as a .PDF file.

Sources: Use at least FOUR critical articles from the library as additional sources (the play will be a fifth source). The articles may come from professional journals, and they may be found at the HCCS Library Databases (ProQuest, JSTOR, Academic Search Complete). Remember that all quotations, paraphrases, and summaries MUST be cited in-text. The last page of your paper should be a works cited page.

Finding Articles:

• In the HCCS Library website, look at databases such as ProQuest, JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, and Wilson OmniFile. These are great databases in which to conduct a search for articles. Remember that you are looking for articles in .PDF files.

• In doing your search, type in these search terms: Henrik Ibsen AND A Doll’s House. When browsing through the articles, look at as many as possible. And don’t overlook articles that might seem, at first glance, too general; A Doll’s House might not be in the article title, yet the article might deal with the play significantly. Additionally, articles may be found in collections (bound in an edited collection as a book, with a title page that reveals each article by a different author).

• AVOID performance reviews, book reviews, magazine articles, versions of the play, or summaries of the play. Do NOT use encyclopedias or abstracts. You may NOT use sources such as encyclopedias, abstracts of articles, Cliff’s Notes, Monarch Notes, or series such as British Authors. Do NOT search for sources by using Yahoo or Google. (Needless to say, blogs and sites with student papers are TOTALLY unacceptable.)

• Articles should come from journals such as Modern Language Quarterly, The Explicator, Scandinavian Studies, The Theatre Journal, and College English.

• Points will be deducted if you have used unacceptable, unscholarly sources.

• Plagiarism Policy: Any plagiarism, any failure to document quotations, summaries, and paraphrases (MLA documentation) will result in a zero on the assignment.

Submission: Submit your file in the Assignment link in Eagle Online Canvas. Turnitin will provide a report as to the originality of the paper. You should be aware of the Honesty Policy stated on the Syllabus; it is expected that this paper is TOTALLY your own work of analysis and writing—do NOT consult information on the Internet in any fashion, and do NOT collaborate with friends/classmates.

Beginning the Writing Process:

• Once you have found your sources, take notes and highlight important passages. As you write your rough draft, include quotations, paraphrases, and summaries from the articles and from A Doll’s House—cite on a sentence-by-sentence basis as you write the rough draft. Remember that you need a thesis statement which lists the three major points you are going to develop in your paper.

• When citing quotes from A Doll’s House, cite the act number and the page parenthetically: (919; act 2).

• When quoting a brief passage from one character in the play, identify the speaker in your introduction to the quote. (Remember that long quotes should be blocked.)

• IF you quote conversation between two characters, that quote should be BLOCKED—and then character names would be in all caps before speeches (just as displayed in your text).

• If you quote stage directions, note that they should be in italics. • You may use ellipses to omit any part of a speech (or stage directions). • The last page of your final draft should consist of the required works cited page.

Editing:

• Make certain you proofread carefully! You will be graded on quality of sources, soundness of content, thoroughness of documentation, plus grammar, punctuation, and spelling.