Here is what my professor asks of us. I have to relate my topic to one of the readings that we did for class. The book that I choose was Jazz by Toni Morrison. She approved it by telling me this, “It might help to redirect the topic towards why you think Toni Morrison would put a character who is “mentally ill” (is she even mentally ill?) in the book? Is there something Morrison is trying to say about Violet’s identity by making her struggle mentally?” She also asks that the sources should be scholary sources. Here is another description of what she wants in detail: Assignment Write a clear, concise, and tightly focused research paper of 7-8 pages on one of the texts from this semester. You may write on any one of the novels or short stories, some of which we have yet to discuss. This means that you may want to skim some of those short stories to see if there is one you would be interested in. The only stipulation is that you cannot write your final paper on the same text you chose for your midterm. You can write on the same text youve written a short response on, but the final paper will require a lot of focus and in-depth expansion on one specific topic. As a part of the research process you will be using 3-4 outside sources to illuminate a particular aspect of your chosen text. For example, you might come up with a question about the role of religion and spirituality in The Veil by Marjane Satrapi. The goal is to investigate some of the major themes of the works and to integrate the sources along with interpretation to address questions that arise in your reading. The final paper should include all the elements of a strong research paper: in introductory paragraph in which you establish what the paper will be about, a thesis statement (within the introduction) that makes an argument about the significance of a certain aspect of the text, body paragraphs that support your thesis statement, evidence in the form of quotes from your main text and outside sources, a conclusion that wraps up your thoughts, proper in-text citations, and a works cited page properly formatted according to MLA guidelines.