THE RESEARCH PAPER At some point in any course given in the

THE RESEARCH
PAPER
At some point in any course given in the department
English
you almost
paper.
Whether
certainly
your teacher
an "essay examination,"
~I~k
?B expects
led you to an understanding
facility
to the reader
unnecessary
grief if you recognize
importance.
is not enough
of your paper.
that you have the
your understanding
You will
save yourself
that all three requirements
To put it another way more bluntly,
to demonstrate
have something
that your reading has
to communicate
effectively
are of equal
second,
first of all, that
of it; and, third,
in the use of English
an "essay,"
at least three basic
you to demonstrate,
you have read a body of material;
of a
or a "research paper,!!
that will fulfill
rkl
ij€S'lQexpects
the writing
calls it a "critique,"
a "term paper,"
a pe~f~rmance
requirements.
will be assigned
of
it
that you have read: you must in turn
to say about what you have read, and you must be
able to say that IIsomething" at least clearly,
and hopefully
even
gracefully.
The research
for it requires
about.
It means
be researched
paper
is the most complex writing
you to find the materials
that you must
in the libraries
that you must keep a record
it means
record
further
available
rewards.
to you.
of the materials
that you must present
scholarship.
you will read and write
first decide on a topic that can
so that your reader may evaluate
This is basic
assignment,
It also means
that you found.
a selected
portion
your judgments
And
of that
accurately.
If you do well you will have certain
Of course you will earn a respectable
may turn out to be the smallest
grade, but that
of the gains from your effort.
Most rewarding
a difficult
should be the knowledge
task stronger
than you were when you went into it.
You will have judged yourself
But recognize
self-reliant.
at the outset
have told you about the research
paper
c
is not an assignment
;-J-a -J--,'-DN ~)
f09~tes
that you have come through
that much of what your friends
paper
is nonsense.
that calls for inordinate
C
-SE>v£V'"ce-S
spiced with Latin abbreviations:
\.,henthey are necessary
is the research
paper
tions, paraphrases,
of evidence
perhaps
most
enormous
to document
number
of books
skimmed:
but the topic and your approach
are appropriate
it is wrong
and which
of quotations:
Nor
quotaforms
that you make.
And,
paper is not the record of an
it does require
the use of sources,
to it will determine
sources
to turn useful
h f:lbMS!j,,';/rr£&
be,
are toAused
are--at best--useful
generalizations
the research
of
\.,hatmust be documented.
and plot summaries
important,
t
numbers
foot96tes
to be an accumulation
for supporting
A research
are necessary.
tools of inquiry
how many sources
The point
is that
into the dumb-show
of
pseudo-scholarship.
Wh?t,
the results
then, is a research
of an independent
paper?
It is the presentation
investigation
of a specific
The topic itself must be of a special kind if the paper
any significance
at all.
topic; no declaration,
will result
will
for a successful
the point quickly
Write your name on a slip of paper.
gest this to a friend as a possible
is to have
other than a question
research
and finally
topic.
will be a suitable
no form of communication
in the basis
recognize
No simple statement
of
project.
You
in one brief example.
Now think of how you might sugresearch
hiJ~~ur
n~~e will be of little use.
question
about it, or any of its elements:
topic.
Simply telling
You would have to devise some
"What is the origin of
---.--
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my last name?"
"What is the symbolism
did that symbolic
reference
then, that the research
accrue to it?"
1. Understanding
It is to a question,
in preparing
a research
paper are:
the assignment
the topic to be pursued
3. Recognizing
the questions
implied by the topic
4. Determining the kinds of materials
those questions
5. Gathering
needed
to answer
the materials
6. Abstracting notes on those portions
relevant to your topic
of the materials
7. Organizing the notes into a meaningful
pattern geared to answer the questions
topic
8. Writing
and how
paper must direct itself.
The stages involved
2. Defining
of my first name,
and relevant
implied by your
the paper
9. Revising the paper so that it clearly and effectively
communicates both the problem and its resolutJ.on
10. Proofreading and cgecking
format;f0!
/tvWfU
the Died
total
/Ci:~J.1~{ the S'l')(..I.YLeS
paper (text, footnot@s, and ~Qphy)
to insure
accuracy and completeness of presentation.
So a research
paper is not a series of diary-like
of the things you have thought,
nor a travelogue
have seen, nor a record of the library
Your professor's
cheating
purpose
or tripping
a necessary
over
assignment
in using the library,
and helpful notes,
in the writing
in assigning
I:.
LA
.~~~
designed
it is not to catch students
It is a legitimate
to give you practical
material,
and in efficiently
of a long paper.
of the books you
shelves you have visited.
format.
in gathering
entries
experience
in taking systematic
organizing
Ideally,
and
your judgments
you can demonstrate
..
-4-
simultaneously
your knowledge
ject and the writing
will be a research
paper:
your chosen subject,
mation
process.
and understanding
of both your sub-
If all goes well, what you have done
it will present
the answers
the questions
to those questions
on which you have based your answer.
implied by
and the infor-
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ENC 1102
Professor
Courtney
10 October
Ruffner
1999
Gretel:
In the beginning
through
the German
them as Kinderund
and Household
later,
of the 1800's, the Grimm Brothers
countryside,
Hausmarchen,
Tales
the Grimm Brothers
to comprehend
fears vividly
far ahead
Encyclopedia
incorporating
However,
of
form.
were ahead of their time;
fairy tales.
reader-can
patriarchal
Ambitious
plainly
and portrayed
To
they
those
they were not so
equally
in society.
women are witches,
are quiet, domestic,
have no middle
figures
portrayed
are generally
they are depicted
see in these tales the
bias of a male-oriented
Fairy tale characters
as evil.
tal ka ti ve woman meant
explain
a number
years
to Hall in her book Anne Sexton:
A mature
women
Many
them into poetry
that they placed men and women
According
to Children's
204) .
re-wrote
the fears of childhood
in their
traveled
fairy tales and issued
which translates,
1970's, Anne Sexton
those same fairy tales,
seemed
collected
(Storytelling
in the early
some degree,
Meek or Mighty?
ugly and scheming.
Good
and submissive. (92)
ground; principal
as diffident
(Bottigheimer
female
and soft-spoken
"In the world of Wilhelm
trouble"
why many of Grimm's
social view.
125) .
good female characters
or
Grimm a
This may
are quiet and
Detota
/
, have less dialogue
Transformations
than their male counterpoints.
uses extensive
at the Grimm Brother's
imagery
old-fashioned
and sarcasm
sexist ways.
Sexton's
to poke
fun
In Sexton's
-----------------------------------------
rendition
of "Hansel
subservient
and Gretel"
girl in a male dominated
the Grimm Brother's
version,
and black humor elevates
authority
she portrays
Gretel
as a
world, but in contrast
Sexton's
use of metaphor,
the female character
to
sarcasm
and projects
her
over men.
Throughout
the first part of Grimm's "Hansel
Gretel
is portrayed
hope.
She "wept bitter
distressed
as weak, without
and hopeless
and Gretel",
having ideas and holding
no
tears" on pages 87 and 92, and felt
enough to cry again on pages
88 and 89:
Ah, how the poor little sister did lament when she had
to fetch the water,
her cheeks!
and how her tears did flow down
"Dear God, do help us," she cried.
(Sexton
92)
The Grimm Brothers
version
of the tale.
illustrates
brother,
makes
mention
behavior
(her crying)
is a feeble female who looks to her
for emotional
only one mention
crying five times in their
This repetitive
that Gretel
Hansel,
Gretel's
support.
of Gretel's
In comparison,
crying:
Gretel
who had said nothing
nodded
so far
her head and wept.
(Sexton 90-92)
Sexton
2
Detota
By
placing
Gretel's
Gretel's
importance
hinting
at Gretel's
prominence
dropped
name alone on a line, Sexton elevates
continues
pebbles
Sexton infers
in the story and provides
foreshadowing
upcoming
Gretel's
with Sexton's
or bread
the sibling's
contrast
Hansel,
Gretel's
and she was waiting
the silblings
stepmother's
Gretel,
of doing
on the other
protector
will "wait
working on solutions
to put her plan into action.
incapable
a little,
the way' out of the big,
more delectable
Gretel
be a
as the leader and
tale. Hansel alone interacts
He comforts
Gretel from the
Gretel by assuring
dark woods
(Grimm 88) .
and the witch chooses
Hansel
is only worthy of a servant's
her poem with a lengthy
(presumably
Hansel)
with the wicked
is also
status
(92).
The
for Hansel and poor Gretel was only allowed
crab shells after her full day of labor.
begins
her they
to fatten him
and is forced to "do what the wicked wi tch commanded"
best food was cooked
with
the moon has risen", and then "find
than Gretel
up for her feast.
who seemed to merely
sheltering
until
for the right
This is a distinct
hand, is depicted
stepmother,
to
her own thinking.
in Grimm's
evil ways.
(Sexton 93-94)
Gretel had been quiet to this point
was vigorously
predicament,
from Grimm's
follower,
next lines "She who neither
/ bided her time"
that although
in the story, her mind
opportunity
accomplishment.
by
description
is. The mother
witch
because
Comparatively,
of how edible
Sexton
the son
could easily be interchanged
of their similar cannibalistic
3
Detota
ways.
Sexton's
bite, chew,
mother
can hardly resist her son and wants
and eat him up, "little
(Sexton 101). She continues
stating
that Hansel
Sexton
proceeds
is planning
nubkin / sweet as fudge"
later, in the body of the poem, by
was "smarter",
with a stately
to fatten
to
"bigger"
and "juicier"
simile to describe
(103)
how the witch
Hansel:
Each day she fed him goose liver
so that he would
fatten
so that he would be as larded
as a plump
coachman
that knight
What lurks beneath
that contrasts
of the whip.
the surface
Hansel's
delicacy
Gretel
consumed
royalty.
Gretel
lass",
Gretel's
Sexton's
is not second
In Grimm's
enables
servant
underlying
poor
and witty way
status with Hansel's
meaning,
of course,
status of
is that
rate at all.
Hansel,
and himself.
them to return
is continually
a failed
attempt
Clearly,
was the dominant
coming up with
He drops the pebbles,
home the first time.
of breadcrumbs,
Hansel
a
Sexton goes on to describe
This is an entertaining
rendition,
ideas to save Gretel
in a barn as a prisoner,
good enough only to be an "hors
(Sexton 104) .
to contrast
poem, is a dark humor
up on goose liver, considered
by the rich.
as a "saucy
d' oeuvre"
of Sexton's
confinement
with that of his filling
(73-77)
which
He leaves the trail
at their second homecoming.
of the siblings.
Gretel
had to
4
Detota
behave
like a "silly
goose"
had the opportunity
(Grimm 93) .
"Hansel,
praise
and act dumb when she realized
to trap and burn the witch in the oven
She then ran immediately
we are saved!"
for rescuing
(93).
their way back home
for the right
"Gretel
spoke at last" alerts
following,
Sexton
that they "must be off" and on
Gretel as a quiet girl
time to pounce. 'Sexton's
the reader
to happen
any
takes the dominate
Sexton depicts
waiting
is about
of giving Gretel
instantly
Gretel
(93).
to Hansel and cried
Instead
him, Hansel
role back by instructing
important
she
concise
line
that something
Immediately
(Sexton 104).
states:
Gretel
seeing
her moment
in history
shut fast the oven
locked
fast the door
fast as Houdini
and turned
In speaking
implies
of Gretel's
that Gretel
many as she alludes
imbalance.
"fast",
receives
t
the oven on to bake.
Sexton
Gretel
throughout
in histor~'
will have few moments
to Grimm's
ironically
that Gretel's
any credit
"moment
Sexton
sarcastically
compared
with Hansel's
sexism by pointing
indicates,
one moment
passes
for her extraordinary
fits the classic
(107-112)
out this
by repeating
so quickly
the word
she hardly
feat.
Grimm character;
she bows to Hansel
the story and is timid and quiet. Even during
her one
5
Detota
moment
of glory
"personal
stamp"
using her unique
she has very little dialogue.
on "Hansel
observations,
she has been given
(Hall 98).
happy little
••
credit
When Hansel
their father,
and Gretel"
and transforms
into a more powerful
for in the Grimm Brothers
and Gretel
finally return
one can only guess what might
home.
Sexton
Go Gretel,
go!
change
puts her
Gretel,
figure
version
safely
to
in their
than
6
Detota
Works Cited
Bottigheimer,
Ruth B. "Silenced
Fit Between
Context.U
"Grimm Brothers.u
Cultural
around
Fairy Tales and Society
Fairy Tales
Bottigheimer.
Women in the Grimm'
and Society.
University
Storytelling
and Multiethnic
the World.
Tales:
The
in their Historical
Ed. Ruth B.
of PA Press, 1989. 125.
Encyclopedia,
Approaches
Ed. David Adams.
HistoL"ical,
to Oral Traditions
Phoenix,
AZ: Oryx Press,
1997. 204.
Grimm,
Jacob, and Wilhelm
Complete
Grimm's
Grimm. "Hansel
and Gretel.u
Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon
The
Books,
1944. 86-94.
Hall, Caroline
King Barnhard.
Anne Sexton. New York: Twayne,
1989.
Sexton, Anne. "Hansel
Houghton
Mifflin,
and Gretel.u
Transformations.
1971. 101-105.
Boston:
7