Research Prompt Critical Thinking
Your task (aka The Prompt): In a carefully considered, argumentative, publication-quality research paper, conduct an in-depth, comprehensive critical analysis featuringnote that there is a difference between featuring and aboutBenjamins The Task of the Translator and Ngugis Decolonising the Mind. Your analysis must be grounded in a specific, identified literary/critical theory, viz. post-structuralism, post-colonialism/Orientalism, reader-response theory, green theory, New Historicism, or countless other schools of thought.
Research Proposal Format
Create a proposal for a piece of original and meaningful research based upon the preceding research prompt (above). The proposal should include the following 3 sections:
1. The proposal: The proposal section should be a 500+ word description of your proposed research topic, including your thesis statement (or more appropriately a research question/hypothesis). Why is your research important? How does it expand/extend current research? What do you suspect the outcome of your research to be?
2. Methodology: This section will be brief, likely one page only, and will detail your approach to this topic. What types of sources will you seek? Why is your approach the most appropriate way to go about your research? Be creative and comprehensive here.
3. Annotated works cited: This will be a list of potential sources for your proposed research. The list should be at least 15 sources long (this includes the required texts). For each entry, you should include a brief paragraph summarizing the source and another paragraph explaining how you expect the source to be useful to your research.
This alternative assignment definitely entails a good deal of work, but I believe you will find it fun as well as a nice break from the usual drudgery of writing papers (although I enjoy writing papers).
