Prof. J. Werner - ENG 102H - Fall 2025: Home

What's in this guide?

The resources on these pages will help you:

• Choosing ideas for your research,
• Identifying and using search terms,
• Choosing the BEST library databases,
• Creating your Annotated Bibliography,
• Evaluating sources and information,
• Citing sources effectively,
• Finding additional help.

Blocking the Assignment: Research Essay

1. Technical/mechanical requirements
   1. MLA (9^th edition) style and citation
      1. Running header
      2. Annotated bibliography and Works Cited
      3. Parenthetical [in-text] citation
   2. Required components
      1. Research Proposal
      2. Annotated Bibliography
      3. Final Essay > Approximately 10 pages
   3. 3 “reliable and relevant scholarly articles [found through library ] databases
   4. Evaluate sources for “currency, reliability, accuracy, and objectivity” > rhetorical triangle [author’s purpose, intent, message]
   5. Synthesis of ideas
2. Content
   1. Current social, cultural, or political topic substantially addressed in [literary text]
      1. Connections between literary text and researched ideas/information
      2. “Current status of issue today”
   2. Literary elements
      1. Analysis of “writer’s use of literary elements to support a claim about the text’s meaning”
      2. Choose 3 literary elements: character, conflict, setting, style, figurative language, voice, symbolism, narrative point of view
   3. “Personal/reflective” connections to “your own experiences and how one work of literature has shaped your own perspective”