(2015 midterm assignment)

Sample Student Midterm Answers 2015

#4: Research Proposals

LITR 4328
American Renaissance
 

 

Karin Cooper

Research Project Proposal: Two Research Adventures

The Rest of The Native American Story and The Friendship Between Literature and Art in the American Renaissance

            For my research project I thought the two smaller web reviews looked really interesting, and I wanted to head in that direction. I wanted it focus on the French and Indian war possibly. I was also interested in looking more into the websites branching from the casino website that is run by the Mohegans. I am interested in heading into this direction because although I have enough Native American in me to actually be affiliated with a tribe I never have been, and my parents did not really tell me about that part of my family. This is the reason I have taken an interest in researching more of what happened to the Mohegans specifically after The Last of the Mohicans time period. I might come up with a different question as my research leads me.

            The second web research I wanted to do was looking more into the art of at the time of the American Renaissance. I have not formed a specific question yet, but maybe finding out if certain artist were influenced by writers of that time, or vice versa. These two projects would not be connected to each other, and if I find the first one to lead me in a different more lengthy direction than I expected I might discard the second idea all together, but as of right now this is my plan for the research project.

 

Tanner McLean

Research Topic

            I think I would really enjoy doing my research project somehow over Poe as an author and influence in the American Renaissance, and more specifically over his gothic style and ultimately possibly as the perpetual Byronic hero of the Romantic authors.  I believe this topic would be general enough to cover the length of the essay, yet specific enough to be concise in my writing.  I also believe it would be easy to find solid research to back my view here.

            I believe option 1 would probably be my best option seeing as it will most likely be an analytical type essay.

Cyndi Perkins

Research Proposal

            Since taking a course on African-American female authors, I have yearned to understand more about the early American writers that were actually either freed slaves or still slaves when they produced literature. I learned that some of these texts were not discovered and published until later in the twentieth century, but since then there have been many manuscripts found, verified and published. I have chosen option 3 because I would like to expand my knowledge of this subject and not be limited to only what would be pertinent to a thesis in a research paper. The first post I plan to write will deal primarily with the history of African-American writers beginning with texts written during slavery. From there, I would like to trace the promotion of these writers by the abolitionists, many of which I already know were writers themselves. I would like to learn how the African-American writers created works during the Romantic period and how, if at all, it furthered their endeavor to be free.

            My second post will develop from my findings. Since I will be looking specifically for how these writers used elements of Romanticism, such as the sublime, gothic, romance and transcendentalism, I am hoping that I can trace what influenced them to how they influenced future American writers. Slavery, to say the least, is a massive problem for a country that claims to believe in the unadulterated freedom of the individual. I am very interested to see how past generations sought to work this problem out through literature and how present generations are continuing to treat the classism, racism and sexism stemming from this era that is still present in our society today. Beyond literature, I will be extending my research into the areas of the history of the abolitionist and the pro-slavery movements including any information on the cultural beliefs and values of both sides.