Preparing an abstract and reading the opening of Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese

2 Março 2020, 14:00 • Cecília Maria Beecher Martins

Writing abstracts for research papers:

This should contain what (the thesis ideas) and the how (the approach you are going to use) and why. It should also indicate the limitations of your essay as this will be quite short 2,000 – 2,500. This is all done in the “Ben Taylor: A Canadian Hero” abstract presented above, but I will now give examples of a bad abstract and show how to improve this.

 

Bad Abstract: The Great Gatsby is inarguably the best-written novel of the last 100 years, leaving millions of readers with either a renewed or disenchanted view of the “American Dream.”

•       It does not establish the HOW (context) and WHY (reasoning) of the thesis.

•       You should specify the context  (American novels ?)

•       and refer to the main reasoning behind this assertion (Is it the strength of the thematic elements? The descriptive prose? The witty dialogue?).

It is also too sweeping to support in simply one essay.

This abstract improved: The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as one of the best 20th-century American novels. what In this essay I will examine the rich symbolism used to portray success, knowledge, corruption and alienation how from the perspective presented by Elizabeth Long in The American Dream and the Popular Novel (1985). Why I will examine how Fitzgerald produced a meaningful commentary on the notion of the American Dream’ through his bold exploration of these themes.

Long, Elizabeth. The American Dream and the Popular Novel. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985. 

We also looked at Canadian history from federation to early 20th century, especially comparing the settlement of the prairie provinces to the coast, in preparation for the reading of Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese. We began this reading.