Note anything that seems odd, that invites comparison to some other text, that challenges a received paradigm, that requires you to consult a reference work, that puzzles you, that challenges your sense of what early modern literature or London is all about. Sometimes an inarticulate marginal “?!?” is all I can muster when I read, but at least I know there’s something I want to revisit at this point in the text. Or we might hurry over them because we feel uncomfortable with our own bewilderment. Sometimes we forget those questions because we don’t make a note of them. So how do you find your questions? We have questions all the time as we read. You may even have one of those glorious “Aha!” moments in the library, when you find the very source that opens up a new aspect of your question and leads you to answer your question in a wholly surprising way. You won’t be blown off course by articles and sources that look interesting but don’t help you answer your question (although “reading” and “hearing” – taking the time to understand fully someone else’s point of view or argument – are also important aspects of scholarly work). If you begin with a question rather than a topic, you will find that your research is both more pointed and, ultimately, more exciting. In Johnson’s statement, the business of inquiring precedes the business of answering inquiries. But we cannot formulate a thesis statement until we have worked out our answer to our research question. Of course, there may be many answers to one research question, depending upon the sources we look at, the critical approach we take, the theory we apply, and the ineffable factors of the scholar’s individual inclinations and background. If you do a good job of formulating your research question, the answer will be the natural product of your research. We need to approach our subject with genuine curiosity and open-mindedness, rather than with an agenda or a preformulated argument. I believe that our first responsibility as scholars is “to inquire” – to ask the questions to which we and our fellow scholars want answers. But a thesis statement is ultimately no more than an answer to a research question (or a guiding question). Samuel Johnson wrote that “To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries is the business of a scholar.” We spend a great deal of time talking about formulating a thesis statement in response to a topic. Annotate three of the critical sources with summary-style annotations.Format your citations in MLA style, Chicago style, OR MoEML’s style (which is a modified version of MLA). Provide a working bibliography in which you list at least one primary source and at least five critical sources.The claim (i.e., thesis) will likely change as you do more research and begin writing, but it’s useful to have a tentative thesis early in the research process. Indicate your methodology and your answering claim (however tentative they may be at this point). Write one paragraph in which you set out the problem you wish to explore, the question(s) you wish to answer, and/or the historical and/or critical oversight you wish to address.Come talk to me about your project! Discussion is a crucial first step.To learn to write annotations that may become part of your critical overview and/or endnotes in your final project.To obtain and respond to feedback (as you will have to do in thesis proposals, grant proposals, book proposals, reviewers’ reports, and other exercises in your future).To test your research question against the critical field and determine if it is an as-yet-unanswered question that will make an original contribution to the field.To have some experience of articulating and justifying a research question (or guiding question) or cluster of questions.Writing annotations helps you organize the criticism meaningfully and helps you summarize it in preparation for writing “state of the art” footnotes. Hint: I more frequently encounter research questions that are too broadly framed than questions that are too narrowly framed. I’m looking mainly for evidence of a concerted effort to pose a viable question whose answering claim may (with some revisions) make an original contribution to the study of early modern London’s literature and culture. Having you submit your question and bibliography before the final paper/project is due gives me an opportunity to help you refine or redirect your question(s) if/as necessary and to point you towards other useful sources. The Research Question exercise requires you to articulate your guiding questions for that project and begin to put them in the context of the critical field. Your major paper/project is your opportunity to work through a question or set of questions, a historical problem, or a critical or textual puzzle.
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