Crusader Connection - Library - How to Write a Research Paper

Library - How to Write a Research Paper

WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER ON A WORK OF LITERATURE

Marie Wall and Kate Hawke

We wish to express our appreciation to Brother Frederick Codair C.F.X. for his invaluable assistance.

SOURCES
Primary Text: the work(s) of literature to be analyzed
Secondary Sources: critical essays that will be used to support assertions about a work of literature. These essays may be found in SSC, CLC, TCLC, DLB, Critical Survey of Short Fiction, collections of critical essays such as those edited by Harold Bloom as well as those found on Infotrac and Ebsco. Do not use internet sources that are not from academic journals. Also useful are the Dictionary of Literary Terms, Dictionary of Symbols and other individual works of literary criticism.

MATERIALS
You will need a folder for handouts and a disk for storing all your work. It might be a good idea to have a back-up disk as they sometimes get misplaced. ALL YOUR WORK MUST BE STORED ON A DISK. TYPED COPIES OF YOUR MATERIAL WILL BE SUBMITTED FOR A GRADE AS YOU MOVE THROUGH THE PROCESS. YOU WILL RECEIVE A GRADE FOR THE PROCESS, A GRADE FOR THE DRAFT AND A GRADE FOR THE FINAL COPY.

PROCEDURE
This research paper should focus on work(s) by one author. Choose from the following options to narrow your topic.

STEP l - NARROWING THE TOPIC
The text that you will analyze in this research paper will be a novel, short story, poem, or play.

1. Since you will be working with it for an extended period, you should own a copy of the text.
2. Write a reaction paper (see sample below) to help you focus your thoughts on the text. Possible reactions may include
a. discussion of the plot
b. discussion of the ending
c. reaction to a character
d. reaction to the setting
e. explanation of the connection between the author's life and his work
f. examination of either historical, cultural, social, or political background of the text and its significance to the work
g. analysis of style - choice of words, allegory, symbolism, allusions, irony, etc.
3. If you plan to write your research paper on the topic of your reaction paper, check reference material before you write it to be sure you will have sufficient secondary sources.

Sample Reaction Paper

"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane is a short story rich in themes. There are many ways to approach this tale of four men in a lifeboat, hoping for rescue and eventually taking their fates into their own hands. Among the many themes, the one that I found the most interesting is the idea of bonding or brotherhood in the face of disaster. The men in the life boat would not have known each other under different circumstances. The correspondent is an outsider; the captain wouldn’t have socialized with the crew because he is their boss; even the cook and the oiler are specialists in different areas of the ship. However, because they are in trouble, they come to care genuinely about each other. I think that it is interesting that Crane is writing about men from different backgrounds, who are adrift in a puny lifeboat in a stormy sea, manage to put aside their differences and work together so that they will survive the ordeal.

STEP II ‑ WRITING A PLOT SUMMARY

Write a plot summary of the work(s) that you will analyze in your paper. Your purpose is to retell what happens in the story. No personal comments are allowed and the length should not exceed 15 sentences. This will force you to concentrate on the essential parts of the story. Be careful as you shave away the story to the bare minimum that you do not distort or misrepresent it. Use the simple present tense (ex: this happens). Quote sparingly from the work, but use your own words instead.

Sample Plot Summary of "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

"The Open Boat" is a short story by Stephen Crane. The story is about four shipwrecked men: a correspondent, a captain, a cook, and an oiler (named Billie) who are adrift in a ten foot dinghy off the coast of Florida. Their ship, the Commodore , has just sunk during a violent storm, forcing the men to battle the raging sea in a life-boat the size of a “ bathtub.” The oiler and the correspondent take turns rowing the tiny craft, using all their skill to keep it from being swamped by the monstrous waves. The cook sits in the bottom of the boat, bailing out the icy water while the injured captain lies in the bow of the boat commanding his weary but steadfast crew. While battling the wrath of the sea, the men head toward a small lighthouse in the distance hoping that someone will sight them. Upon nearing shore, they realize that the crashing breakers will destroy their tiny craft, and they must head back out to sea. Even though people on the beach see them and wave, no one comes to their rescue. This makes the shipwrecked men angry. Gradually, they also realize that after all their efforts nature also is indifferent to their plight. However, their struggle against nature's fury establishes an iron bound friendship among these four very different people. The dawn of the next day brings no rescue; so the oiler rows the boat as close to shore as possible. After a wave overturns the boat and tumbles the men into the sea, each man struggles to get to the shore. Three of the men survive, but the sea claims Billie, the strongest of the foursome.

STEP III ‑ WRITING A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR

Using DLB, Twentieth Century Authors, CLC SELECT (online) or biographies or autobiographies, write in your notebook a short biographical sketch of the author. If you plan to concentrate on the author's life as it relates to the work, you should take this opportunity to research the history of the time in which the story occurs (also geography where applicable). You may use an encyclopedia or history book for general information.

Sample Biographical Sketch of Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane, the last of fourteen children, was born in 1871 and died in 1900 at age twenty-eight. Crane was, for the most part, raised by an older sister since their father was an itinerant preacher and their mother often traveled with the father. Because he was a sickly child, Crane's formal schooling did not begin until age seven. When he was almost fourteen, Crane’s public schooling ended, and his mother enrolled him in Pennington Seminary in New Jersey, a boarding school that primarily trained young men for the ministry. At sixteen, because Crane wanted a military career, he went to Claverack College and Hudson River Institute in New York State where he first displayed his writing skill in articles for the school newspaper. In 1890, he enrolled in Lafayette College in Pennsylvania By the end of the first semester, he was advised to leave since he had no grades in three subjects and a zero in theme writing. Crane was capable of doing the work, but he chose not to. He later remarked "... The cut -and-dried curriculum of college did not appeal to me. Humanity was a more interesting study." His second college experience was at Syracuse University where he spent a year.

Crane was true to his word about studying humanity. While at Syracuse, he often spent time at the local police station watching the activity. Moreover, before writing Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Crane spent a summer traveling into the Bowery section of New York where he studied the lives of the poor immigrant families who lived there, as well as the lives of the street people. Maggie was Crane's first published work. The Red Badge of Courage came next and established his reputation as a writer.

Crane had a wanderlust spirit, perhaps inherited from his father. In 1897 Crane was shipwrecked off the coast of Florida. He wrote the newspaper account of the sinking of The Commodore and then wrote his interpretation of the event in "The Open Boat." Crane went to Greece to cover the Greco-Turkish War in 1897 and became a correspondent during the Spanish-American War in 1898. In 1899, he took up residence in England with Cora Taylor, the madam of a house of prostitution whom he had met in Florida. With Cora at his side, Crane died in Germany, a victim of tuberculosis, in 1900

Source for Biographical Sketch: Linda H. Davis. Badge of Courage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998.

STEP IV ‑ WRITING A CRITICAL ESSAY

Write a critical essay on the topic chosen for your research paper. This should flow from STEP l when you focused on one aspect of the work of literature. You will prove your thesis with examples and quotations from your primary source but NOT from any secondary sources. If you do this essay properly, you will be able use the critical paper and add to it material from your secondary sources to complete your research paper. A recommended way to start is to write a well‑thought out proposal indicating your ideas and plan to develop them. A proposal is the ONLY time you will use the first person (I) form.

Sample Proposal for a Critical Paper

In this paper I plan to focus on the theme of brotherhood that develops among the four men in “The Open Boat.” It seems that the men realize that they can't expect help from nature or from the men on the shore; all they can count on is each other. I will use details and quotations from the story to show how Crane reveals the need for support from other men if one is to survive an ordeal such as the one described on this short story

ONCE YOUR TEACHER HAS APPROVED THIS PROPOSAL, YOU MAY BEGIN WORK ON THE ESSAY.

Sample Outline for a Critical Paper

Thesis: In “The Open Boat” Stephen Crane suggests that because nature is indifferent to the plight of the shipwrecked men adrift in the ocean in a small boat, the men must rely on each other to make to through the ordeal, but when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival.

The men in the lifeboat gradually realize that nature is indifferent to their plight.
- The wind and the waves are both helpful and harmful.
- The presence of the gulls and a shark that follows the boat at night upsets the crew, making them realize that their comfort and safety lie in each other.
As the men become more aware of the indifference of nature, they become more like a family.
- The four men are an accidental group with no strong ties.
- In a short time, they become like family.
In spite of the strong spirit of cooperation, the oiler detaches from the group and perishes.
- While all four men share equally in the effort to survive, the oiler who is the strongest appears to be the one most likely to make it to shore.
- However, the man who has worked the hardest to bring the boat to shore, drowns when he goes it alone.

Sample Critical Essay on "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

To the sailor, wrecked
The sea was dead gray walls
Superlative in vacancy
Upon which nevertheless at fateful time,
Was written
The grim hatred of nature.
(“To the Maiden” by Stephen Crane)

She [nature]did not seem cruel to him then, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent. (TOB1575)

One of the most impressive aspects of Stephen Crane’s short story “The Open Boat” is the major theme that man’s only defense against the indifference of nature is to form a community of men . Crane effectively conveys this theme in the action of the story. “The Open Boat” is the story of four shipwrecked men, the captain of the sunken ship The Commodore, the cook, the oiler, and a correspondent who is on his way to Cuba to cover the insurgency against Spain for his newspaper. As they struggle to navigate their small boat in a storm off the coast of Florida, these four men ignore the hierarchy that would normally separate them on board the ship. The oiler and the correspondent take turns rowing the tiny craft, using all their skill to keep it from being swamped by huge waves. The cook, who huddles beneath the feet of the rowers, bails out the icy water while the injured captain, who lies in the bow of the boat, calmly commands his weary but steadfast crew. While battling the wrath of the sea, the men head toward a small lighthouse in the distance hoping that someone would see them. As they come within sight of the shore, the men realize that the crashing breakers would destroy the dinghy before they could get close enough to land to swim so they head back out to sea. The four men are even more discouraged after people on the beach wave to them, but no one comes to their rescue. On the second day, the men decide to row through the surf as far as they can and then swim the remaining distance, but a wave swamps the boat, “tumbling” them into the sea. Only the oiler, the strongest of the foursome attempts to swim to shore, but rescuers find him “face downward” in shallow water. (Thesis) In “The Open Boat” Crane suggests that because nature is indifferent to the plight of these men, they must rely on each other to make it through the ordeal of being adrift in the ocean in a small boat, but when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival.

In “The Open Boat, Crane’s fictional account of his “defining experience,” nature is neither malevolent nor benevolent. The waves especially are both helpful and harmful. When the story opens, the attention of all four men is riveted on the waves since “each froth-top was a problem in small-boat navigation.” The men struggle to keep the small craft afloat as the waves relentlessly cause it to prance and rear and plunge like a “bucking bronco.” Each man has a job to do. It is the combined efforts of the injured captain who solemnly commands and encourages his crew, the two weary rowers, the correspondent and the oiler who skillfully maneuver the dinghy, and the fat cook who doggedly bails the boat that give them the strength to fight the “barbarously abrupt and tall” waves. On the second day the men sight land, the oiler brings the boat as close to shore as possible so that the men can jump into the surf. However, before they can jump, a wave causes the men to tumble into the sea. After a deadly current catches the correspondent, who is clutching a life-jacket, he hears the captain encouraging him to swim to the overturned boat. Just at that moment, another wave gets him out of the small “deadly current,” and a large wave carries him over the capsized boat to shallow water.

Not only are the waves indifferent to the shipwrecked men, but the wind also challenges the men to work together if they hope to be saved. Even though they know that each wave could swamp the craft, the men also realize that they “wouldn’t have a show” if it weren’t for the on-shore wind. Using the wind to their advantage, they rig a makeshift sail with the captain’s overcoat. They work as a team. The narrator describes the scene: “So the cook and the correspondent hold the mast and spread wide the overcoat; the oiler steered; and the little boat made good way with her new rig” (1565). Then the wind dies and the dinghy is “no longer under way. " Abruptly, the wind changes direction bringing the lifeboat closer to shore, and again raising the hopes of the men that they will be saved. The narrator recalls: “The wind came again. It had veered from the north-east to the south-east” (1566). But night descends before they get close enough to shore to swim, and the cold wind adds to their discomfort making them shiver. However, it isn’t only the waves and wind that unsettle the men, but the creatures of the sea as well.

Even the presence of the gulls and a shark that follows the boat at night upsets the men enough for them to realize that their comfort and safety lie in each other. As they battle the elements, the men encounter the “ominous presence” of a flock of gulls, that in its serenity amidst the fury of the sea seems to mock the helplessness of the men. Crane describes the scene: “Canton-flannel gulls flew near and far. The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dinghy, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland” (1563). One gull particularly angers the men when it alights on top of the captain’s head and stares at the men. The oiler calls it an “ugly brute.” The cook and the correspondent swear at it, but the captain gently and carefully so as not to capsize the dinghy brushes the gull off his head. A second encounter with a creature of the sea occurs that night when the correspondent who is on watch, sees a shark that cuts the icy water “like a monstrous knife.” While watching “…an enormous fin speed like a shadow through the water" (1572), the correspondent wishes for “one of his companions to awake by chance and keep him company with it”(1577 ).

As the men become more aware of the indifference of nature so that they “shake their fists at the clouds,” they also become more like a family in their concern for each other. The narrator reveals: “It would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him… and they were friends, friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common” (1565). Although the men in the lifeboat would not have known each other under different circumstances, they do more than cooperate with each other in the face of mortal danger. Prior to the sinking of his ship, the captain did not socialize with the members of his crew because he is their boss. The correspondent is an outsider who was a passenger on the ship. Even the oiler and the cook are specialists in different areas of the ship. Shortly after being shipwrecked, as the dawn breaks the four individuals become aware of the precarious nature of their situation. Their first reaction is to argue about “the difference between a life-saving station and a house of refuge” (1562). However, they soon set aside their differences, and, united in the face of possible death, a family of brothers forms. For example, the captain, like a father, soothes the other men as if they were his children. He assures them that they would get to shore and advises them to save their strength so that they will be able to swim when they get closer to land. The cook, like a mother, asks the oiler, “Billie, what kind of pie do you like best?”(1570). The correspondent, rowing alone while the others are asleep, looks down on the two sleeping men: “The cook’s arm was around the oiler’s shoulders, and with their fragmentary clothing and haggard faces, they were the babes of the sea…”(1571).

In spite of this strong spirit of cooperation, the oiler detaches from the group and perishes. From the start, the oiler is set apart from the other three men because he is the only one distinguished by name. He is called Billie or Willie. Billie is also younger and stronger than the cook and the captain since he and the correspondent do all the rowing. The narrator describes them as, “Grey-faced and bowed forward, they mechanically, turn by turn, plied the leaden oars” (1570). In addition to his physical strength, Billie displays good humor, generosity and intelligence. The oiler is the first to deduce how desperate their position is, noting that “None of the other [life] boats could have got ashore to give word of the wreck… else the life-boat [from the life-saving station] would be out hunting us”(1566). While Billie is with his comrades on the boat, he is safe, but his life ends when he leaves the group and goes it alone as they all struggle to reach land after a wave capsizes the dinghy in the surf.

Although Crane shows that man’s strength against adversity lies in comradeship, he also demonstrates that when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival. This moment of crisis occurs when a wave overturns the boat, and the men “tumble” into the sea. The captain, cook and correspondent cling to a physical prop – the dinghy, a paddle, a piece of a lifejacket – to stay afloat. The captain clings “with his one good hand to the keel of the overturned dinghy.” The correspondent has a life-preserver under him that the uses to whirl “down the incline of a wave as if he were on a hand-sled.” The cook turns on his back and paddles with an oar “as if he were a canoe.” Both the cook and the correspondent also respond to the encouraging words of the captain. Ironically, the oiler, whose strength had been sapped by a double-watch in the engine room before the ship went down and by his rigorous rowing, lacks the endurance to reach the shore. When the correspondent spots him, the oiler is “ahead in the race” and is “swimming strongly and rapidly.” However, it is the oiler who drowns. For the men who survive, however, there is a positive message.

In the final scene of “The Open Boat,” Stephen Crane suggests that the bond of brotherhood that made friends of these men is not limited to the men who go through the ordeal of being shipwrecked together. Crane’s final message is that compassion and pity for another human being in trouble is universal. The narrator describes the scene when the men reach the shoreline: “It seemed that instantly the beach was populated with men, with blankets, clothes and flasks, and women with coffee-pots and all the remedies sacred to their minds. The welcome of the land to the men from the sea was warm and generous….” (1577). However, before the reader can share in this empathy for these men shipwrecked off the coast of Florida, Crane makes the reader live their experience. Crane message to the reader is that nature may be indifferent to the pain it causes, but man cannot be indifferent to the suffering of others.

STEP V ‑ USING THE LIBRARY AND THE INTERNET TO FIND REFERENCE MATERIAL

Your next step in developing a research paper is finding secondary sources. Your school library should have a selection of literary criticism in the reference room as well as many collections (note collections edited by Harold Bloom) on the circulation shelves. Book reviews, magazines, microfilms, etc. may prove useful. In addition to these, you should also check the card catalogue with your author as the SUBJECT. Examine the books available, check the table of contents, chapter headings and the index to see if they contain material on your particular subject. Do a computerized search in your public library of materials on your subject. This will save you time. You might want to borrow books on Interlibrary loan. In order to have the minimum of 5 useful secondary sources, you may have to examine at least 10 sources. Skim the material. If it seems promising, use it in your preliminary bibliography.

STEP VI ‑ PREPARING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Your next task is to prepare a preliminary bibliography, a list of useful material available to you. Your teacher may ask you to prepare an annotated bibliography which is more detailed than a simple list of materials. Annotation consists of a written assessment of the information in the work. In your search for secondary source material, you should try to find material from different sources: a book of criticism on your text, a chapter(s) in a collection of critical essays, an essay(s) in reference books such as TCLC or SSC and INTERNET SOURCES such as Infotrac and Ebsco.

Your teacher will review with you the correct bibliography form for all your sources. In an English paper, you will use the MLA Guidelines. MLA Handbooks are available in most libraries or online. Here is an example of annotated bibliography. In addition, at the end of the research paper on "The Open Boat" that is in this booklet, there is a Works Cited page that you can use as a model.

Sample Annotated Reference

Schirmer, Gregory A. "Becoming Interpreters: The Importance of Tone in Crane's 'The Open Boat'." American Literary Realism: 1870‑1910 XV, No.2 (Autumn 1982):221‑31
This criticism deals with the theme that man is helpless and insignificant in an indifferent universe, and that men must bind together in the face of this indifference.

STEP VII ‑ TAKING NOTES

Before you begin to take notes, carefully read the article or the chapter in the book from which you plan to take notes. Read it to be sure you understand the critic's argument (his/her thesis) and to determine if it will support your topic. At this point you should have a general idea of your topic. For example: it might be Stephen Crane's attitude toward nature and human nature in his short fiction.

Some final instructions before notetaking:

1. Take few direct quotations. Use only when the author's style is as valuable as the meaning. If you quote, you must be exact. Every word and mark of punctuation must be replicated.

2. Try to paraphrase. Paraphrasing means summarizing: taking the essence of the source and incorporating it into your own flow of thought ‑that is, digesting it and expressing it in your own words, syntax and style. Always be certain to indicate the extent of a particular paraphrase. A good practice is to introduce such material by naming the critic from whom you are taking the material. The name indicates the start of paraphrased material and the parentheses citing the page number marks the end of the paraphrased material.

Sample Paraphrase:

Give the source first, then the paraphrase.

LaFrance, Martson.”The Open Boat.” in his Reading of Stephen Crane. Oxford UP, 1971.

Reprinted in Modern Critical Reviews of Stephen Crane. ed. by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.

The critic LaFrance believes that the death of the oiler is mere chance and that his death heightens the value of the brotherhood among the living men (62).

3. Leave space under each of your entries. This can be used for teacher comments or additional evidence from the primary source.

4. Put the following information above the notes that you take from a particular source: the name of the critic, the title of the book or article from which you took the notes and the type of notetaking technique that you used. The latter information is helpful to the teacher in assessing your ability to record information.

5. Take at least 2-3 pages of notes on your disk. Leave a space under each quoted passage or paraphrased material for both the teacher’s comments and your. Review the notes for their value in developing the paper. Continue taking notes until you have sufficient material to support your thesis.

6. Number the pages of notes.

7. Have at least 10 possible quotations from your primary source that could support the points of your thesis.

8. Remember that plagiarism, copying three consecutive words without attribution (without acknowledging the source), is a crime.

STEP VIII ‑ DEVELOPING THE THESIS

Before you develop your thesis, reread your critical essay and reread your notes. If you have found criticism that supports your analysis of the text in your critical essay, then you may further develop this subject for your research paper. Also, if your thesis in the critical essay does not have 3 points, try to expand it to a 3 point thesis. It is easier to organize a paper that has a three point thesis. (As you become a more sophisticated writer, you will be able to organize a paper that has a meaningful thesis without using three points.) Next write a proposal for your research paper that includes a thesis and at least 3 secondary sources that you plan to use. Put your thesis in the form of an assertion (a statement in your own words). Use a verb in the assertion that will clearly indicate what you intend to do, such as analyze, compare and contrast, describe, discuss, explain, show, etc. REMEMBER THAT THE THESIS IS THE BLUEPRINT OR THE MAP THAT THE READER OF YOUR PAPER WILL USE TO FOLLOW YOUR ARGUMENT.

Proposal for a Research Paper on a Work of Literature

In this paper I plan to focus on the theme of brotherhood that develops among the four men in "The Open Boat". It seems that the men realize that they can't expect help from nature or from the men on the shore; all they can count on is each other. I will use details and quotations from the story to show how Crane reveals the need for support from other men if one is to survive an ordeal such as the one described on this short story.

I will divide the thesis into three parts. The men in the tiny lifeboat realize that they must bond for survival because the waves and the wind both help and hinder them, and they view the presence of the gulls and the shark as ominous. So the men develop a family-like atmosphere in the small dinghy, but Crane challenges the brotherhood when in the final moments of their attempt to reach shore, the oiler goes it alone. My thesis will read: In “The Open Boat” Stephen Crane suggests that because nature is indifferent to the plight of the shipwrecked men adrift in the ocean in a small boat, the men must rely on each other to make to through the ordeal, but when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival.

In addition to the details and quotations from the primary text that will support this assertion, I will use critical material by Lytle and Kissane found in SSC, Vol. 7, an essay on “TOB” from Ebsco, a recent biography of Stephen Crane and three essays from Short Stories for Students.

STEP IX ‑ DEVELOPING THE TITLE

It is possible also to develop a suitable title at this time. The title should be specific and suggest the topic clearly. Since the title is the first impression the reader receives, devise an appropriate title to catch the reader's attention, perhaps one with a flash of wit or spark of genius. Merely using the title of the work you are using is not sufficient. The title or subtitle must have the name of the literary work that is the subject of your paper and the name of the author of the text.

Sample Titles

The Theme of Brotherhood in "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Four Men in a Tub: Adrift in a Lifeboat, Four Shipwrecked Men find Courage and Comradeship in “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane

STEP X ‑ WRITING THE OUTLINE AND INSERTING SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

If the thesis breaks down into 3 parts, for example 3 symbols in 1 book, 1 symbol or type of imagery in 3 short stories, or the same theme in 3 poems, the outline will be easier to construct.

1. Develop the main divisions of your outline (I. II. III.). Be sure that you mention the central idea in each main division of your outline and one of the ways that you will prove your point. This should be one sentence, and you will use this sentence in your paper as a topic sentence. ( See outline that precedes sample research paper).

2. In the subdivisions of your outline (A. B.) make a statement in your own words about something that happens in the story that will prove your point. These sentences also should be in your paper.

3. Use a sentence outline. Topic outlines are too difficult to develop accurately since they require parallel form. Also in a topic outline it is much easier for you to stray from the subject matter in the main division. You will also benefit from a sentence outline since you can use the same sentences in your papers. Usually they work in nicely as transitional sentences and give the paper coherence.

4. Revise your outline until it shows a logical, coherent development of the topic. Place the thesis above the outline.

5. After completing the main divisions and the subdivisions of your outline, put under each point the supporting evidence from both the primary and the secondary sources that you will use to prove this point. These should not be marked as divisions of your outline. Once you have this completed, your paper is organized and you are ready to write the draft. This organization should cut down considerably on the time that you take to write the paper.

STEP XI ‑ WRITING THE INTRODUCTION, CONCLUSION AND WORKS CITED PAGE

1. Introduction ‑ Begin with an appropriate quotation from either the primary text or one of your secondary sources or both. Place the quotation above the introductory paragraph. (See critical paper and research paper in this booklet.) The quoted material gives the reader a hint about your topic. Use the structure of Topic, Restriction, Illustration to build your introduction. (Topic sentence should give the title of the literary work, the author and a hint at the subject matter of the paper.) Follow this with a bridging sentence. Restriction contains the plot summary of the story. Follow this with a bridging sentence. Then build to the thesis which is most effective when placed at the end of the introduction. (Illustration or Thesis – This is the assertion that contains a central idea and three ways by which you will develop the central idea.) The thesis gives the structure of the paper ( a blueprint or map) and helps the reader to more easily make the transition to the body of the paper. Also, it might be necessary to include a definition of a literary term in the introduction or in the second paragraph. It could be put in a footnote.

2. Conclusion ‑ The writing of a conclusion can be done before the paper is written. It will give you a psychological edge because then you will feel there is a "blessed" end to all this work. Write conclusions that not only pull together the strands of the paper, but that also take the paper one step further, leaving the reader curious about another aspect of the topic that builds on what was said in the paper.

3. Works Cited Page ‑ Prepare using MLA Style Guidelines for the correct form of parenthetical citation and the entries on the works cited page.

STEP XII ‑ WRITING YOUR FIRST POINT

Go over the sample paper on "The Open Boat." Note how the student author used her outline to write the paper. Remember that all your work goes on a disk. This should make it easier to evaluate your work before you continue.

STEP XIII ‑ WRITING THE ROUGH COPY

Write the complete draft of your paper. Double space and leave some extra room on the left side for the teacher’s comments. The paper should be at least 4 typewritten pages. If you are given a checklist before beginning this project, submit with the draft. Plan to have a tutorial session with your teacher. This is a key step in the writing process. You may have to write a second draft, but chances are that if you followed the steps in the process, your paper will be ready for the final copy.

STEP XIV ‑ MANUSCRIPT FORM

1. All papers should be typed, double‑spaced, on standard 81/2 x 11 inch paper. Number all pages (begin with 2) in sequential Arabic numerals in the upper right hand quarter. Leave 1 ‑ 1 1/2 inch margins on all sides. Indent 5 spaces for paragraphs.

2. Title page ‑ Please include a separate title page with a centered title. Place your name, the course title, and the date in the lower right corner.

3. Repeat the title at the top of the first page where your first line of typing will appear on subsequent pages. Begin the first paragraph about 1/2 inch below the title.

4. Quotation Format ‑ Long and short prose quotations: A long quotation is defined as more than four complete lines.

Short prose quotations: They are incorporated into the text of your paper without interruption and should be placed in quotation marks. If the passage you are quoting contains a quotation within it, that section must be placed within single quotation marks. The period follows the attribution in parentheses.

Long prose quotations: Longer quotations are not placed in quotation marks. They are indented 10 spaces on the left hand side. Double space the indented material. The period goes before the attribution. Source information is placed in parentheses after the quotation.

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STEP XIV ‑ GRADING THE RESEARCH PAPER

Evaluation of your paper will include an assessment (a grade) for your process (following these steps in a conscientious and timely manner) as well as an assessment of your draft and your final paper.

FINAL CHECKLIST

REACTION PAPER
PRECIS
BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR
PROPOSAL FOR A CRITICAL PAPER
CRITICAL PAPER
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTES (Both secondary and primary source material)
THESIS / TITLE
SENTENCE OUTLINE
OUTLINE WITH SECONDARY AND PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL
INTRODUCTION / CONCLUSION / WORKS CITED PAGE
POINT 1 WITH CITATIONS
ROUGH COPY
COMPLETED PAPER

Sample Research Paper

The Theme of Brotherhood in

"The Open Boat " by Stephen Crane

OUTLINE

The men in the lifeboat gradually realize that nature is indifferent to their plight..
- The wind and the waves are both helpful and harmful.
- The presence of the gulls and a shark that follows the boat at night upsets the crew, making them realize that their comfort and safety lie in each other.

As the men become more aware of the indifference of nature, they become more like a family.
- The four men are an accidental group with no strong ties.
- In a short time, they become like family.

In spite of the strong spirit of cooperation, the oiler detaches from the group and perishes.
- While all four men share equally in the effort to survive, the oiler who is the strongest appears to be the one most likely to make it to shore.
- However, the man who has worked the hardest to bring the boat to shore, drowns when he goes it alone.

To the sailor, wrecked,
The sea was dead grey walls
Superlative in vacancy
Upon which nevertheless at fateful time,
Was written
The grim hatred of nature.
(“To the Maiden” by Stephen Crane)

She [nature] did not seem cruel to him then, nor beneficent, nor treacherous, nor wise. But she was indifferent, flatly indifferent.”(TOB 1575)

In a perfect metaphor of the forces of nature versus the struggles of man,
Crane makes the men on the boat a symbol of the heroism of simple
human endurance against an indifferent universe (Elliot 206).

“The Open Boat” is the fictional account of a real life experience that happened in January 1897 off the coast of Florida. It is the story of four men, the captain of the sunken ship The Commodore, the cook, the oiler, and a correspondent who is on his way to Cuba to cover the insurgency against Spain for his newspaper. As they struggle to navigate their small boat in a storm, these four men ignore the hierarchy that would normally separate them on board a ship. The oiler and the correspondent take turns rowing the tiny craft, using all their skill to keep it from being swamped by the huge waves. The cook, who huddles beneath the feet of the rowers, bails out the icy water while the injured captain, who lies in the bow of the boat, calmly commands his weary but steadfast crew. While battling the wrath of the sea, the men head toward a small lighthouse in the distance hoping that someone will see them. As they come within sight of the shore, the men realize that the crashing breakers would destroy the dinghy before they could get close enough to land to swim so they head back out to sea. The four men are even more discouraged after people on the beach wave to them, but no one comes to their rescue. On the second day, the men decide to row through the surf as far as they can and then swim the remaining distance, but a wave swamps the boat, upsetting their plan by “tumbling” them into the sea. The captain, the cook and the correspondent grab something that will help them to stay afloat. The oiler, the strongest of the foursome, attempts to swim to shore, but rescuers find him “face downward” in the shallow water. (Thesis) In “The Open Boat” Stephen Crane suggests that because nature is indifferent to the plight of the shipwrecked men adrift in the ocean in a small boat, the men must rely on each other to make to through the ordeal, but when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival.

The authenticity of “The Open Boat” is enhanced by knowing that it is based on an experience that Crane had in 1897 when he signed on to a ship that was bringing guns to Cuba to aid rebels who were trying to overthrow Spanish rule. Crane signed on as a seaman, but his purpose was to write about the insurgency. He had a more compelling story as it turned out when he recounted the events of the shipwreck and the ordeal of the four men in the open boat. Crane first wrote it as a newspaper article and later wrote his interpretation of the event in his famous short story “The Open Boat.” As Linda Davis notes in her biography of Crane, entitled The Badge of Courage: “Stephen emerged from ‘the best experience of his life’ with his reputation enhanced…Both of his surviving comrades from the dinghy praised him publicly”(187). Patrick K. Dooley in his article “The Humanism of Stephen Crane” supports Davis’s view of the impact of this experience on Crane by calling it “the defining experience of his [Crane’s] life.” Dooley goes on to say that the ordeal in a lifeboat “…confirmed for Crane the value of human effort and the importance of human solidarity in an indifferent universe.”

In “The Open Boat,” Crane’s fictional account of his “defining experience,” nature is neither malevolent nor benevolent. The waves especially are both helpful and harmful to the men in the open boat. In the beginning of the story, the four men are struggling to keep a small craft afloat as the waves relentlessly cause it to prance and rear and plunge like a “bucking bronco.” The attention of all four men is riveted on the waves. Each man knows that he has a job to do. It is the combined efforts of the injured captain who solemnly commands and encourages his crew, the two weary rowers, the correspondent and the oiler who skillfully maneuver the dinghy, and the fat cook who doggedly bails the boat give them the strength to fight the “barbarously abrupt and tall” waves. Crane account of the shipwreck is so realistic that one critic suggests that “[t]he salt spray and the deafening roar of the waves pounding against the dinghy can almost be tasted and heard…”(Knapp 210). On the second day the men sight land, and the oiler brings the boat as close to shore as possible so that the men can jump into the surf. However, before they can jump, a wave overturns the dinghy, tumbling the men into the sea.. After a deadly current catches the correspondent who is clutching a life-jacket, he hears the captain encouraging him to swim to the boat. Just at that moment, another wave gets him out of the “deadly current,” and then a large wave carries him over the boat to shallow water and safety.

Not only are the waves indifferent to the shipwrecked men, but the wind also alternates between being a help or a hindrance, challenging the men to work together if they hope to be saved. Even though they know that each wind-driven wave could swamp their small craft, the men also realize that they “wouldn’t have a show” if it weren’t for the onshore wind. The cook reminds them of how lucky they are to have a favorable wind. He tells the men: “Bully good thing it’s an on-shore wind. If not, where would we be? (1563). However, the oiler brings the men back to the reality by reminding them that the on-shore wind may not hold. Before that can happen, the men use the favorable wind to their advantage by rigging a makeshift sail with the captain’s overcoat. They work as a team. The narrator describes the scene: “So the cook and the correspondent hold the mast and spread wide the overcoat; the oiler steered; and the little boat made good way with her new rig”(1565). As one critic so aptly put it: “Nature is toying with them” (Hagemann 130) for soon the wind dies, and the dinghy is “no longer under way.” Abruptly the wind changes direction again, this time bringing the lifeboat closer to shore, and raising the hopes of the men that they will be saved. The narrator recalls: “The wind came again. It had veered from the north-east to the south-east” (1566). However, night descends before they get close enough to shore to swim, and the cold wind adds to their discomfort making them shiver. It isn’t only the waves and the wind that unsettle the men, but the creatures of the sea as well.

Even the presence of the gulls and a shark that follows the boat at night upsets the men enough for them to realize that they must depend on each other for survival. As they battle the elements, the men encounter the “ominous presence” of a flock of gulls, that in its serenity amidst the fury of the sea seems to mock the helplessness of the men. The narrator describes the scene: “Canton-flannel gulls flew near and far. [They] sat comfortably in groups and they were envied by some in the dinghy, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland”(1563). One gull particularly angers the men when it alights on the top of the captain’s head and stares at the men. This action of the seabird “strikes them somehow as ‘gruesome and ominous’”(Hagemann 130). The oiler calls it an “ugly brute.” The cook and correspondent swear at it, but the captain gently and carefully so as not to capsize the dinghy brushes the gull off his head.

The second encounter with a creature of the sea occurs that night when the correspondent who is on watch, sees a shark that cuts the icy water “like a monstrous knife.” While watching “… an enormous fin speed like a shadow through the water” (1572), the correspondent wishes for “…one of his companions to awake by chance and keep him company with it”(1572). The correspondent’s desire for companionship in this scene reinforces his view that “nature really does not care” (Kissane 119) and strengthens the need for a band of brothers to alleviate their helplessness.

As the men become more aware of the indifference of nature so that they “shake their fists at the clouds,” they also become more like a family in their concern for each other. The narrator reveals: “But no one said that it [the brotherhood] was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him. They were a captain, an oiler, a cook, and a correspondent, and they were friends – friends in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common” (1565). Although the men in the lifeboat would not have known each other under different circumstances, they do more than cooperate with each other in the face of mortal danger. Prior to the sinking of his ship, the captain did not socialize with the members of his crew because he is their boss. The correspondent is an outsider who was a passenger on the ship. Even the oiler and the cook are specialists in different areas of the ship. Shortly after being shipwrecked, as the dawn breaks the four individuals become aware of the precarious nature of their situation. Their first reaction is to argue about “the difference between a life-saving station and a house of refuge” (1562). However, when “they grow accustomed to life in the boat and less stunned by nature’s insult to themselves as individuals, they can begin to direct attention away from themselves and the problems of navigation (Bergon 91). They soon set aside their differences, and, united in the face of possible death, a family of brothers forms.

Crane demonstrates the “subtle brotherhood” that the shipwrecked men feel in several ways. As the men become more aware of the indifference of nature so that they “shake their fists at the clouds,” they also become more like a family in their concern for and support of each other. For example, the captain, like a father, soothes the men as if they were his children by assuring them that they would get to shore and by advising them to save their strength so that they will be able to swim when they get closer to land. The cook, who appears to be the most optimistic of the men, acts like a mother when he asks the oiler, “Billie, what kind of pie do you like best?”(1570). The correspondent when rowing alone while the others are asleep, looks down on the two sleeping men: “The cook’s arm was around the oiler’s shoulders, and with their fragmentary clothing and haggard faces, they were the babes of the sea…”(1571). Even the correspondent “ who was thought to be cynical of men …knows… that the fellowship with the other men in the boat would be the best experience of his life” (Lytle 122). This fellowship is the result not only of their selfless cooperation but also of an unexpressed understanding not to say anything that would suggest the hopelessness of their predicament.

In spite of this strong spirit of cooperation, the oiler detaches from the group and perishes. From the start, the oiler is set apart from the other three men because he is the only one distinguished by name. He is called “Billie” or “Willie.” Billie is also younger and stronger than the cook and the captain since he and the correspondent do all the rowing. The narrator describes them as, “Grey-faced and bowed forward, they mechanically, turn by turn, plied the leaden oars” (1570). In addition to his physical strength, Billie displays good humor, generosity and intelligence. The oiler is the first to deduce how desperate their position is, noting that “None of the other [life] boats could have got ashore to give word of the wreck… else the life-boat [from the life-saving station] would be out hunting us”(1566). However all four men are alike and as the critic David Halliburton observes, “The fraternal solidarity uniting the men in the boat is an attribute of those who on an elemental level, are essentially equal, each being as susceptible to dying as any other” (246). While Billie is with his comrades on the boat, he is safe, but his life ends when he leaves the group and goes it alone as they all struggle to reach land after a wave capsizes the dinghy in the surf.

Although Crane shows that man’s strength against adversity lies in comradeship, he also demonstrates that when man goes it alone, there is less chance of survival. This moment of crisis occurs when a wave overturns the boat, and the men “tumble” into the sea. . The captain, cook and correspondent cling to a physical prop – the dinghy, a paddle, a piece of a lifejacket – to stay afloat. The captain clings “with his one good hand to the keel of the overturned dinghy.” The correspondent has a life-preserver under him that he uses to whirl “down the incline of a wave as if he were on a hand-sled.” The cook turns on his back and paddles with an oar “as if he were a canoe.” Both the cook and the correspondent also respond to the encouraging words of the captain. Ironically, the oiler, whose strength had been sapped by a double-watch in the engine room before the ship went down and by his rigorous rowing, lacks the endurance to reach the shore. When the correspondent spots him, the oiler is “ahead in the race” and is “swimming strongly and rapidly.” Ironically, it is the oiler who drowns. Eric Solomon suggests that “The oiler dies because he did not retain the lesson of the sea that he learned while in the boat – the value of group action - and because, obeying his own hubris, he deserted the group at the end” (174). For the men who survive, however, there is a positive message: “The three men left alive have learned that the world is indifferent and that men must supply their own needs. But they have also learned that brotherhood and courage make life endurable” (Meyers 132).

In the final scene of “The Open Boat,” Stephen Crane suggests that the bond of brotherhood that made friends of these men “…in a more curiously iron-bound degree than may be common” (1565) is not limited to the men who go through the ordeal of being shipwrecked together. Crane’s final message is that compassion and pity for another human being in trouble is universal. The narrator describes the scene when the men reach the shoreline: It seemed that instantly the beach was populated with men, with blankets, clothes and flasks, and women with coffee-pots and all the remedies sacred to their minds. The welcome of the land to the men from the sea was warm and generous…. (1577). However, before the reader can share in this empathy for these men shipwrecked off the coast of Florida, men, Crane makes the reader live their experience, reminding the reader that nature may be indifferent to the pain it causes, but man cannot be indifferent to suffering humanity.

WORKS CITED

PRIMARY SOURCE

Crane, Stephen. “The Open Boat.” in Concise Anthology of American Literature.Fourth Edition. Ed by George Mc Michael et. al. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Bergon, Frank. Stephen Crane’s Artistry. New York: Columbia UP, 1975. Davis, Linda H. Badge of Courage. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998.

Dooley, Patrick K. “The Humanism of Stephen Crane.” Humanist. Jan/Feb 96, Vol. 56 Issue 1: 14+. EBSCOHOST: MasterFILE. O’Rourke Library. Bishop Fenwick High School, Peabody, MA. 7 August 2000.

Elliot, Mark. “ ‘Interpreting’ the Uninterpretable: Unreasoning Nature and Heroic Endurance in Crane’s ‘The Open Boat’.” In Short Stories for Students. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale Research, 205-209.

Hagemann, E.R. “’The Open Boat’ Is a Study of Man Against Nature.” In Readings on Stephen Crane. Ed. By Bruno Leone et al. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998.

Halliburton, David. The Color of the Sky: A Study of Stephen Crane. Cambridge,Eng: Cambridge UP, 1989.

Kissane, Leedice. “Interpretations through Language: A Study of Metaphors in Stephen Crane’s ‘The Open Boat’”. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 7. ed by Thomas Votteler. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991, 120-125.

Knapp, Bettina L. “Tales of Adventure.” Rpt. in Short Stories for Students. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale Research, 209-210.

Lytle, Andrew. “’The Open Boat’: A Pagan Tale.” Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 7. ed. By Thomas Votteler. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991, 120-125.

Meyers, Robert. “ Crane’s ‘The Open Boat’.” Rpt. in Readings on Stephen Crane. Ed. by Bruno Leone et al. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998.

Solomon, Eric. Stephen Crane: From Parody to Realism. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1967.