Avoiding Plagiarism (YouTube video)

Length/Format: 5-10 pages; typed; double-spaced; MLA or Chicago (just be consistent).

Research: Your paper must include at least one of the articles you researched for your Annotated Bibliography.

Writing Prompt: Choosing two or more texts that we have studied this semester, compare and contrast those texts in terms of their cultural or historical impact and their reflection of universal human values or experiences.

Writing the Prompt  Paper: OWL Resource

Writing about World Literature: OWL Resource

Suggested Approaches to the Writing Prompt:

• A foil is a minor or secondary character that serves as a contrast to a major or primary character; think of a piece of foil, a shiny, metallic sheet, placed underneath a gemstone; the foil would reflect light upon the gem and magnify its brilliance. Foils can be friends or foes. A sidekick is a character who serves as a companion, servant, or assistant to a protagonist. Sometimes the role of the sidekick and the foil overlap. Explore the role of two or more of the foils we have read about this semester.
  Demonstrate how 2 of these foils highlight their gems. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1) What is the cultural or historical impact of these characters and their stories? 2) What universal human values or experiences do they portray?

  • Turnus (foil) and Aeneas (gem)

  • Fierefiz (foil) and Parzival (gem)

  • Hector (foil) and Achilles (gem)

  • Gunther (foil) and Siegfried (gem)

  • Enkidu (foil) and Gilgamesh (gem)
    
     

• Explore the function of dreams, visions, and ghostly visitations in these texts. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1) What is the cultural or historical impact of these texts? 2) What universal human values or experiences do they portray?

  • Gilgamesh

  • The Aeneid

  • The Nibelungenlied

• Many characters we have read about experienced a dream or a prophecy that foretold their or someone else’s future. Examine the function of destiny, fate, or prophecy by comparing and contrasting two or more of these texts. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1) What is the cultural or historical impact of these texts? 2)What universal human values or experiences do the portray?

  • Gilgamesh

  • The Iliad

  • The Aeneid

  • The Nibelungenlied

• Women have had a variety of roles in the texts we have read this semester. They have been prostitutes, sex slaves, wives, and queens. They have been wise and wicked, weak and strong. Compare and contrast at least two women from at least two different texts, exploring roles they played and the impact they had on the male characters in these epics. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1. What is the cultural or historical impact of these characters and their stories? 2. What universal human values or experiences do they portray?

  • Good choices from Gilgamesh

    • Shamhat

    • Siduri

    • Ishtar

    • Ninsun

  • Good choices from Ramayana

    • Sita

    • Kaikeyi

  • Good choices from Iliad

    • Hera

    • Andromache

    • Helen

  • Good choices from Aeneid

    • Dido

    • Venus

  • Good choices from Beowulf

    • Weltheow

    • Hygd

    • Grendel’s Mother

    • Hildeburh

    • Freawaru

    • Thrytho

  • Good choices from Parzival

    • Herzeloyde

    • Sigune

    • Condwiramurs

  • Good choices from Nibelungenlied

    • Brunhild

    • Kriemhild

• The Rules of Engagement, jus in bello, Roman virtus, and the Chivalric Code of the Middle Ages are examples of formal rules of behavior for men, especially warriors and leaders. Compare and contrast the honor codes of at least two of the texts we have read, exploring both what the code says about the culture it came from and how well the hero does or does not follow the code. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1. What is the cultural or historical impact of these honor systems? 2. What universal human values or experiences do the portray?

  • Texts to explore:

    • The Aeneid

    • Beowulf

    • Parzival

    • The Nibelungenlied

     

• Examine the evolution of hero in epics which have reluctant, foolish, or tyrannical heroes. Explain how a protagonist becomes a hero by comparing and contrasting the heroes from two or more of these texts. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1. What is the cultural or historical impact of these heroes? 2. What universal human values or experiences do the portray?

  • Gilgamesh

  • The Aeneid

  • Parzival

   

• Compare and contrast mythical or magical beasts from at least two of the epics. Remember that your paper should answer these two questions: 1. What is the cultural or historical impact of these creatures from these texts? 2. What universal human values or experiences do the portray?

  • Possible creatures:

    • The Demons in the Ramayana

    • Hanuman

    • Jatayus

    • Grendel and his mother

    • the dragons in Beowulf and Nibelungenlied

    • Humbaba

    • any other mythical creatures (not gods) that interested you