War and Peace

Assignment Instructions:

The interdisciplinary research paper represents the culmination of the reading and studying in the course and should demonstrate the student’s ability to pursue the MA in Humanities, as evidenced by graduate level critical and analytical thinking, and the writing ability to express such thinking clearly and effectively. The research paper should be a minimum of 4,500 words in length (14 pages in length), excluding (NOT COUNTING) the Works Cited page(s). Use MLA format ONLY. Use Adler and Van Doren (How to read a book) as your guide, while writing about Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace as well (pdf below).

Once you have a solid grasp of the primary text (War and Peace ), then you are ready to start asking some questions of your book in order to create your topic. A writer usually sets out to do a research project in order to answer one or more questions about the text. These questions will help you formulate a working hypothesis; that is, what you think may be the answer to your research question. Framing a research question is a way of focusing the main direction of your research. It states what you want to find out. Next you will start reading critical scholarly materials (secondary sources) that have been written about your “War and Peace”. It is particularly important to read more recent critical responses so that your own thesis expands on current discussion rather than re-iterates what has already been written. You will be asked to submit a working bibliography of sources you plan to consult or may have already reviewed in preparation for your paper. The bibliography will prove to be a very useful tool in your research (see below as well–attachment). A successful working thesis should identify the topic the paper will explore, state the writer’s opinion or label the writer’s point of view on the topic, and be flexible enough to change in response to information and ideas gleaned from the various sources consulted.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The paper should argue, from the multiplicity of themes covered in the novel War and Peace, that love resides in the central place, having effect on many aspects of society, from people’s attitude to war to their intimate relationships. Nonetheless, despite its universality, love in Leo Tolstoy’s novel has many layers and “faces,” which makes it so interesting to investigate how each of these faces affects the story.” The method: “The paper employs the methodology of literature review to synthesize important critical findings of professionals in the field to support the thesis and demonstrate the many faces of love in the novel. No participants are involved in the study, except of the literary critics whose works are analyzed. By demonstrating how Tolstoy deals with the theme of love (including his unconventional approaches in the times of traditional romanticism), the paper stimulates further discussion on the topic and offers valuable implication for further research in the field.”

http://crap.sceleris.net/HowtoReadABook.pdf

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