I do have a question, that will probably be addressed in class, but what if your style of writing isn't doing an outline? Like I know that I can't write even a term paper by doing an outline, its not my style of writing. Not trying to be difficult or anything, just asking something thats of concern to me.

What exactly is this paper supposed to be about?

Lou, while you won't have to stick to the outline that you turn in for this assignment, it's a generallly accepted principle of writing instruction that students do better on major writing assignments when they take the time to plan what they are going to write.

You can always ditch the outline and try something else when it comes time to produce the actual term paper, but the thesis paragraph and the direct quotations you plan to use will give us both a good idea of the direction you might end up taking.

Ashley, a literary term paper asks you to do academic research to support a non-obvious claim that arises from the reading we have done in this course. You can choose an issue raised by any text we have studied (except for The Tempest), do academic (peer-reviewed) research, and start putting together an argument.

I have found exactly one peer-reviewed article on my topic and one book from the library that is currently checked out. This might be a pre-presubmission until I can find more sources.

What's your topic? You'll find something on almost everything in the Oxford Companion reference books (There's one on American lit, there's one on poetry, etc.... I don't know exactly which ones Seton Hill has, but they're bound to have something.) Put a recall on that book now, or request it through interl-library loan. I've been known to do research at Barnes & Noble, scanning through books and then putting them back on the shelf.

Anyway, this is exactly what a presubmission is for -- to help you narrow your topic (or broaden it, if need be).