The Proposal In a paper proposal, your job is to answer the what, how, and why of your essay topic so that your audience understands the basic parameters of your argument. For this proposal, you will write me (your professor) a letter that contains the following: 1) Capture the reader’s interest with your introduction, which should be a brief explanation of your topic as a whole. This is where you explain the exigency (show why this is a problem/idea worth considering and why?) 2) Write your working thesis statement. Formulate the question that will govern your research, and then answer it with a strong statement/claim that your paper intends to prove. 3) Supply background/context on your topic along with the purpose and relevance of your thesis. Explain what you hope to prove or uncover. Provide concrete examples of the issues you will be exploring, and explain why the research you will conduct is important. This is where you will branch away from the primary source (the novel) to explain why the theme or idea you are exploring is relevant beyond the page. 4) Discuss preliminary research on your topic while developing your proposal; explain how this research fits into your argument and plans for the paper. How are you going to use your sources? (make sure to include primary and secondary sources). Project Text: The Road In this project we will explore the post-apocalyptic genre and how texts of this genre reflect issues and anxieties coursing through everyday life. You will begin this Project by reading and analyzing Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. During this time, we will pay close attention to themes being built within the text that provide insight on “real-world” issues. You will then conduct research of your own (using the CSUN databases) in order to find evidence that supports your theme in that “real-world” context. The essay itself will be an argument made by you with an explicit thesis that is proven with evidence from our primary text: The Road, and at least three resources you have found on the CSUN databases. Basic Requirements: - 6 page minimum with Works Cited (not included in page count) - Standard MLA Format - A completed essay packet. - Essay needs to be posted to your Class Website AND turned in at the beginning of class. - Minimum of 3 secondary sources. You may use the articles I have provided for you, but these will not count towards the minimum requirement. - Proof of visit to the LRC. - Completion of all lead-up exercises. Exercise 1: The Review For this assignment, you will be required to write a scholarly review of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. In this review, you will be required to interpret The Road within a larger conversation (based on the themes you have been developing throughout the past few weeks). Your review will need to include supplemental information from two of our previous texts. 750 Word Minimum. Posted to your Class Websit ...

1. The Proposal
In a paper proposal, your job is to answer the what, how, and
why of your essay topic so that
your audience understands the basic parameters of your
argument.
For this proposal, you will write me (your professor) a letter
that contains the following:
1) Capture the reader’s interest with your introduction, which
should be a brief explanation
of your topic as a whole. This is where you explain the exigency
(show why this is a
problem/idea worth considering and why?)
2) Write your working thesis statement. Formulate the question
that will govern your
research, and then answer it with a strong statement/claim that
your paper intends to
prove.
3) Supply background/context on your topic along with the
purpose and relevance of your
thesis. Explain what you hope to prove or uncover. Provide
concrete examples of the
issues you will be exploring, and explain why the research you
will conduct is important.
This is where you will branch away from the primary source
(the novel) to explain why
the theme or idea you are exploring is relevant beyond the page.

2. 4) Discuss preliminary research on your topic while developing
your proposal; explain how
this research fits into your argument and plans for the paper.
How are you going to use
your sources? (make sure to include primary and secondary
sources).
Project Text: The Road
In this project we will explore the post-apocalyptic genre and
how texts of this genre reflect issues
and anxieties coursing through everyday life.
You will begin this Project by reading and analyzing Cormac
McCarthy’s The Road. During this
time, we will pay close attention to themes being built within
the text that provide insight on
“real-world” issues. You will then conduct research of your own
(using the CSUN databases) in
order to find evidence that supports your theme in that “real-
world” context.
The essay itself will be an argument made by you with an
explicit thesis that is proven with
evidence from our primary text: The Road, and at least three
resources you have found on the
CSUN databases.

3. Basic Requirements:
- 6 page minimum with Works Cited (not included in page
count)
- Standard MLA Format
- A completed essay packet.
- Essay needs to be posted to your Class Website AND turned in
at the beginning of class.
- Minimum of 3 secondary sources. You may use the articles I
have provided for you, but
these will not count towards the minimum requirement.
- Proof of visit to the LRC.
- Completion of all lead-up exercises.
Exercise 1: The Review
For this assignment, you will be required to write a scholarly
review of Cormac McCarthy’s The
Road. In this review, you will be required to interpret The Road
within a larger conversation (based
on the themes you have been developing throughout the past
few weeks). Your review will need
to include supplemental information from two of our previous
texts.
750 Word Minimum. Posted to your Class Website. Legible
font, images, sound, etc. strongly
recommended.
Exercise 2: The Annotated Bibliography
The Purpose:

4. An annotated bibliography provides specific information about
each source you are
(theoretically) using. As a researcher, you have become an
expert on your topic: you have the
ability to explain the content of your sources, assess their
usefulness, and share this information
with others who may be less familiar with them. Think of your
paper as part of a conversation
with people interested in the same things you are; the annotated
bibliography allows you to tell
readers what to check out, what might be worth checking out in
some situations, and what might
not be worth spending time on. You want to give your audience
enough information to
understand what each text is about so that 1) You’re credibility
as a researcher and scholar is
clear and 2) These fellow scholars can also dive into your
resources and explore on their own.
A good annotated bibliography:
- encourages you to think critically about the content of the
works you are using, their
place within a field of study, and their relation to your own
research and ideas.
- proves you have read and understood your sources.
- establishes your work as a valid source and you as a
competent researcher.
- situates your study and topic in a continuing professional
conversation.

5. - provides a way for others to decide whether a source will be
helpful to their research if
they read it.
What should be included:
- Bibliography according to the appropriate citation style—
MLA in our case.
- Explanation of main points and/or purpose of the work—
basically, its thesis—which
shows among other things that you have read and thoroughly
understand the source.
- Verification or critique of the authority or qualifications of the
author.
- Comments on the worth, effectiveness, and usefulness of the
work in terms of both the
topic being researched and/or your own research project.
- The point of view or perspective from which the work was
written. For instance, you may
note whether the author seemed to have particular biases or was
trying to reach a
particular audience.
- Relevant links to other work done in the area, like related
sources, possibly including a
comparison with some of those already on your list. You may
want to establish
connections to other aspects of the same argument or opposing
views.
Title your annotated bibliography “Annotated Bibliography”
Following MLA format, use a

6. hanging indent for your bibliographic information. This means
the first line is not indented and
all the other lines are indented four spaces or “tabbed” over.
Begin your annotation immediately after the bibliographic
information of the source ends; don’t
skip a line down.
Example entries for a paper:
Butler, Judith. The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in
Subjection. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
1997. Print. Butler presents her theories on the psychic imprint
subjection takes on the
human psyche, and how that plays a seminal role on the
individual’s identity formation.
Further, she discusses the idea that it is the ideologies and
entities that hold power over
the individual at key moments in their development, which form
the individual’s
conception of self, thereby become the very thing that the
individual relies on for identity.
Her theory hinges on the idea that the psyche itself is in some
ways a fabrication, and as
such control and power are housed within as much as without.
This text will be critical
for me as I explore the ways in which Jackson’s protagonist,
Eleanor, suffers in part
because she has internalized her own domination, making it
nearly impossible for her to
break away from her ideological entrapment.

7. Lootens, Tricia. “‘Whose Hand Was I Holding?’ Familial and
Sexual Politics in Shirley Jackson’s
The Haunting of Hill House.” Haunting the House of Fiction:
Feminist Perspectives on Ghost
Stories by American Women. (1991): 166-192. Web. 28 April
2013. Lootens’ rather
formidable article examines the progression of Jackson’s text
from first draft to final draft
in an attempt to decipher at what point the theme of “domestic
terror” became the
prominent one. She carefully tracks the development of the two
female characters in
particular, demonstrating that the two characters seem to have
been born out of one
character, Mary Vance. Lastly she discusses the outcome, what
she called the Eleanor
draft, analyzing Jackson’s notes as well as the changes made
within scenes in an attempt
to demonstrate how Hill House transformed from ghost story to
a story of the terrible
sacrifice women make as a result of pressures of domesticity.
Much of Lootens’ rhetorical
moves are fascinating and compelling. However, I do feel she
might lean to heavily on
authorial intent, and indeed, her own careful cataloguing of
Jackson’s notes and edits
serves to undermine her emphasis on authorial intent, by making
it clear that despite an
author’s plan, stories tend to take on lives of their own during
the writing process. I do
feel she identifies key scenes of import in regard to the conflict
between Eleanor and
Theodora, especially in regard to their lifestyle choices, and she

8. also highlights the sexual
tension between the two, which will prove useful in my own
paper.
Newman, Judie. “Shirley Jackson and the Reproduction of
Mothering; The Haunting of Hill
House.” American Horror Fiction; from Brockden Brown to
Stephen King. New York: St. Martin’s
Press. 1990. 120-134. Print. Newman’s essay is a thorough
psychoanalytic reading on
Jackson’s text, with a focus on the two female characters. She
asserts that Eleanor Vance
is “mother-dominated,” and as such, the haunted, “engulfing
mother” figure that is Hill
House is able to assert itself upon the identity-challenged
Eleanor. She then builds a
contrast between Theo and Eleanor, arguing that because Theo
has agency prior to her
arrival at Hill House, she is able to resist the psychological trap
it presents in a way that
Eleanor is not. Newman’s read of Jackson’s text is complex and
well supported. I am
particularly interested in picking up where her argument leaves
off in regard to her idea
that for Eleanor identity is “both desired and rejected.” She
makes this claim but does not
explain why or how. I would like to build upon this idea and
explore Eleanor’s complex
relationship with autonomous selfhood more fully.
Exercise 3: The Proposal

9. In a paper proposal, your job is to answer the what, how, and
why of your essay topic so that
your audience understands the basic parameters of your
argument.
For this proposal, you will write me (your professor) a letter
that contains the following:
1. Capture reader interest with your introduction, which should
be a brief explanation of your
topic as a whole. This is where you explain the exigency (show
this a problem/idea worth
considering and why) and give the reader the necessary
framework for your paper. What are you
exploring and why?
2. Write your working thesis statement. Formulate the question
that will govern your research,
and then answer it with a strong statement/claim that your paper
intends to prove.
3. Supply background / context on your topic along with the
purpose and relevance of your
thesis. Explain what you hope to prove or uncover. Provide
concrete examples of the issues you
will be exploring, and explain why the research you will
conduct is important. This is where you
branch away from the primary sources (novel and film) to
explain why the theme or idea you are
exploring is relevant beyond the page and screen.
4. Discuss preliminary research on your topic while developing
your proposal; explain how it fits
into your plans. How are you going to USE your sources? (make

10. sure to include primary and
secondary.)