Research Based on Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

The Portfolio Project is designed to require you to expand your understanding of Things Fall Apart by combining knowledge and application of content with your own interpretation and judgment. For the Portfolio Project, you will write a research paper about Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, supplementing your own interpretation with information from three to five other sources. Your interpretation of this novel should reflect an international perspective. Information about planning your research paper and conducting your research can be found in the lecture material for Module 5. The Portfolio Project is due in Week 8.

Essay Formatting Requirements:

5-7 pages (not including title or reference page)
Minimum of three sources (excluding the novel)—must be credible, authored sources; anonymous websites or sites like Wikipedia are not acceptable as one of your three main sources.
Double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font.
Title Page: for an explanation of how to formulate a title page in APA, see The Purdue OWL (scroll down to “Title Page”), or use the APA template provided in the CSU-Global Library.
Insert page numbers in the top right hand corner.
Include a reference page.
Use CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA for correct APA formatting in the paper and on the reference page.
Your final paper will be graded not only based on content but also on the quality of your writing, syntax, and grammar. Please be sure to pay special attention to the quality of your written work. It is highly recommended that you closely proofread your assignment prior to submission. In addition, you are again expected to provide support for your arguments based upon both the required and recommended readings for the course, your research, and any relevant points culled from the discussion boards. Review the Portfolio Rubric, located in the Module 8 folder.
Finally, you will take the particular research question that you are developing as the thesis of your Portfolio Project and contextualize it in such a way as to convey an international or multicultural understanding of the novel. For example, if you are developing a cultural analysis of the novel, you will need to answer, as a part of your research thesis, how one culture develops in direct competition against the emergence of another foreign culture. Or, if you are developing a feminist analysis, you will need to answer, as a part of your research question, how one culture’s treatment of women changes when confronted by another culture’s differing attitude toward women. Or, if you are doing a direct compare/contrast analysis, you will need to directly compare specific aspects of one culture against another culture.
In other words, any critical perspective from which you frame your thesis and overall paper needs to convey a sharper international or multicultural understanding of the novel and should be reflected in your outline and reference list.

Solution Preview

Cultural Issues in Things Fall Apart

Literature primarily involves expression of personal ideas, some of which could be related to actual events in the author’s society. Chinua Achebe has received several accolades for his publications, primarily due to the inclusion of some African cultural concepts within the material. The contemporary society primarily learns about the historical African society through history publications, much of which is delivered within the school curriculums. However, Achebe’s publications provide the publication’s audience with the opportunity to understand the content of the society at the time. Things Fall Apart primarily presents an environment in which traditional and modern cultures clashed, to the extent of influencing the lives of the individuals within the society. Ultimately, the book highlights that in as much as modernity may be a necessity for a society’s progress, there will always be challenges in causing the change since the traditional activities are often related to the culture that defines the society affected.

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