Literature

For this paper you will need to read one of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories about Sherlock Holmes that we have not covered in class.  I have provided a list of the stories I would like you to choose from under the Announcements on Blackboard. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the story and how it connects to the other stories and novel we have already read.  It will be roughly three pages long, and it is due to Turnitin on Monday, June 21.

Your paper should be organized along these lines:

An introduction where you explain what story you will be discussing, when it was published and what book it appeared in (some very basic research will get you that information).  Generally, you want to explain that you are evaluating the story and how it connects to the first two chapters of A Study in Scarlet, the other stories, and what you have learned about the characters so far.

A section where you relate what happens in the story.  You want to identify the main characters, the main storyline, what the mystery is, how it is solved, and what the result is.  I want to know you read the story carefully and that you didnt just use a wikipedia summary or online notes, so include specific details only someone who read it would know.

A section where you talk about how this story connects to the others you have previously read.  How are the main characters (Sherlock, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, a detective) the same or very different from the other stories you have read?  How was the main mystery similar or different from the other stories?  Were any of the themes we have discussed in class touched on?  Justice being served, Fate stepping in to punish the murderer/criminal, Victorian values in how men and women are portrayed, etc.

Finally, you want a concluding paragraph where you give an overall assessment of the quality of the story in your viewpoint. In this conclusion you can be a little more personal and discuss whether you thought it was as good as the other ones read in class, better, or worse.

I want you to quote from the story a couple of times at least, using our online textbook page numbers for parenthetical citations (Doyle 472).  You dont have to have a Works Cited page, since we are all using the same online book.

The paper should be roughly two to three pages in MLA format and double-spaced.