EN 103: Fairy Tales

Research Paper Assignment

The research paper will be due on Tuesday, December 11 .

The essay should be approximately 10-12 pages long. In it, you should choose a fairy tale that we have not studied in class. You should locate two versions of this fairy tale; ideally, at least one of them should be a classic or folk version. The paper should be divided into two parts:

Part 1) Explain the history and development of the tale or tale-type that you have chosen, and the origins and contexts of the two versions that you are focusing on;

Part 2) Analyze the meaning and significance of the tale in terms of the similarities and differences of the two versions you are focusing on, using critical sources.

You will be doing several types of research for this paper, and using several types of sources. But you must locate and apply to your argument at least three secondary, critical sources. These should be scholarly sources, not popular sources or reference works; ideally, they should have been published in peer-reviewed journals or in books from academic presses. One of your critical sources may be one of those included in Maria Tatar's Classic Fairy Tales.

For a research guide, designed by Fairfield librarians, on fairy tales, click here and select "EN 12 - Epstein - Fairy Tales".