The topic is: write a four to five page comparative paper (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, title) on a selection of stories (at least 3) from the last two themes: dysfunctional families or very violent fairy tales.

 

The final project is where you get to focus on a topic that is of unique and special interest to you. Perhaps a topic has emerged through your interaction with the fairy tales we have read in class. Perhaps you have a favorite fairy tale author whose work you would like to compare and contrast with somebody else’s work.

 

The project will consist of three different parts. The first part will be an annotated bibliography.  If your topic means you will be working with many primary texts, please list an annotate them all briefly (i.e. say what they’re about) and then find (at least 5) secondary sources that will help you write your paper. It might happen that you don’t end up using all your secondary sources, but you should at least identify potentially interesting and helpful texts.

The next component of the project is a short entertaining and educative presentation on your topic and your findings. You will present your topic to the rest of the class in a ten minute presentation that may but does not have to include: a power point presentation, a webpage with links to pages relevant you your topic or a handout for the class. In your presentation you should try and convey why this topic was interesting to you and how you are going about completing it. The presentations done in the beginning will probably be more speculative, simply because they are further away from the due date.

I really want you all to find a topic that connects to our discussions concerning Fairy tales, either Grimm’s tales or others, but that is one you personally are passionate about.  As long as there is a connection to the vast realm of folk/fairy tales you can chose any topic you wish. Your final work should be at least 5 pages long.

 

One of the most important parts of the research paper is going to be the so-called “annotated bibliography” which will be due on Monday Nov. 29. For this you will find five secondary sources that are important for your topic. These sources can be books, articles and appropriate web sources. You should plan on making interlibrary loan requests or InMich requests very soon in order to have these resources arrive before Nov. 25. The annotated bibliography should include: 1) bibliographical information according to MLA style; 2) a brief summary of the work; 3) a description of how you think this work will contribute to your paper.

 

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