Outline

You are writing an Outline for Research paper that shows how you plan to write the paper. For the final paper, you will analyze and draw conclusions from an ancient myth called King Midas and his golden touch (YOU ALREADY DID A PROPOSAL FOR THIS PAPER FOR ME, I ATTACHED IT SO YOU CAN REVIEW IT). There are no specific guidelines how to structure your outline. IF YOU WANT TO USE SOURCES FOR THE OUTLINE, PLEASE, USE THE SAME ONES YOU USED FOR THE PROPOSAL. But here are the general guidelines for the Research paper:

Your paper should have three general sections: 1. Retelling of the Story and Culture; 2. Analysis; and 3. Conclusions.

In the first section, you should retell the story, summarizing major characters and plot points. This should take no more than one page. If you are referencing a written work, you may include citations or quotes from that work.

Next, describe the culture that produced this work. Where do these people live? What language do they speak? What is their recent history? What are the cultures values, norms and taboos? Take a page to make us familiar with the assumed authors and audience of your myth. Again this will take about a page.

In the Analysis section, you must choose a method to break down the story. The approach you take is completely up to you, although you may find that following the lead of writers you find in your research to be helpful. You may want to try Structuralism, as in Propps examination of episodes, function and sequence, or Levi-Strausss functional oppositions. Post-Structuralism may also be useful to you–analyze the connections between history and knowledge in the culture and the content of the story. Finally, you may find a narrativist approach useful. Is there a master narrative present? How does the audience interact with the story and what does the story do or provide for them?

Depending on your approach, the analysis section could take between 1 and 3 pages.

Finally, based on your analysis, what conclusions can you draw? What new understandings do you have about the story or culture? Again, this may vary, but will probably take 1-2 pages.