Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Discipline: English
Type of service: Annotated Bibliography
Spacing: Double spacing
Paper format: MLA
Number of pages: 1 page
Number of sources: 6 sources
Paper details:
To prepare for the final project, you will be submitting a 0.5-page proposal that identifies the option you have chosen, gives a clear overview of your project, and proposes a thesis for your essay. You will also a list of the bibliographic information in either MLA or APA format for 5 possible secondary sources (e.g., a peer-reviewed journal article).
Research-based Literary Analysis: Write a 6-8-page literary analysis on a work of children’s literature HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE responding to one of the following writing prompts. 6 source minimum.
Gender Roles: Critical theorist Judith Butler compares gender roles to performing in a play. Day by day, the choices we make about how we talk, walk, and dress are part of how we live out these gender roles. Literature is an important space for children to see how to “do” gender. Choose one to two texts and analyze how these texts represent what it means to be a boy or a girl. Evaluate whether this text is providing children with positive models of gender identification for children.
Diversity: It is not only important to represent diversity in children’s literature but also to be culturally sensitive in these representations. Focusing on at least one representation from a primary text like Esperanza Rising, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, or Wonder, write an evaluation of the representation of ethnic, racial, religious, or other groups.
Magic: Explore and analyze the role of magic in a work of children’s literature. Questions to consider include: how is magic represented and what is attractive about this magical world, specifically to a child’s imagination? Does magic symbolize or relate to anything in a child’s actual experience as he or she grows up? Is getting lost in a magical world healthy or unhealthy for a child, and why or why not? Is it relevant that these fantasy stories, such as the Harry Potter series, often take place in schools with child protagonists?
Image and Story: In picture books, the role of the image is as important as the text for communicating meaning. Explore and analyze how images, layout, design, and text work together to create the meaning in one to three picture books. Are there moments in which differences between the images and the text create directed tension? How do the images affect our interpretation of the story?
Choose Your Own: You may have a particular research interest that does not fit within the above categories, and you are free to pursue it with your instructor’s approval and guidance.
