A Sample Outline

(Note: This is an outline for the Sample Research Paper found in this manual. You can also see a Graphic Organizer for this paper.)

Research Question: What role does language play in Shakespeare's Hamlet?

Thesis: Hamlet’s inner turmoil is conveyed to us not only through voice and gesture, but more importantly, also through word choice, wordplay, and unusual choices in syntax.

I.                    Wordplay - Life as fiction

                                                               a.      Claudius

                                                                b.      Gertrude

                                                                c.      Hamlet

II.                 Syntax - Soliloquies illustrate Hamlet's inner emotions

                                                               a.      Examination of first soliloquy

                                                               b.      Hamlet’s response to his father’s ghost

III.               Word Choice - Shakespeare's introduction of new words to the English lexicon

                                                               a.      "To be or not to be" soliloquy – use of the word "quietus"

                                                               b.      Hamlet’s choice of words in communicating with Gertrude

                                                              c.      The graveyard scene

                                                             d.      Hamlet’s final words

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