English 401: Chaucer
Professor Melissa D. Aaron
Criticism paper. Due November 27th
For this paper, you will select one work by Chaucer and get an overview of criticism
on the piece. I recommend picking one of the Canterbury Tales, but you may select
something else as long as all the criticism is on the same specific work. You
will then select five articles—preferably articles from journals, as opposed
to books, and preferably not from web sites unless you are downloading an actual
article from a refereed journal. Each article must be from a different decade.
You will then write a paper with an introduction, summarize each article and
discuss an overview of what you found. How has Chaucer criticism changed over
the years? Do you think these articles are representative of their age? There
is no page limit, but 6-7 pp. should be about right. Be as thorough as possible.
Places to start: Look at the library databases: the MLA database, JSTOR, and
Project Muse. Try keywords on the library catalog. Glance through the library’s
holding of journals that might contain articles on Chaucer. Look at the notes
in the Riverside; usually they contain some references to well-known articles
and items of criticism; you may use these as well (though you must actually
find and read the article.)