For this assignment, you will be writing a paper that is informative in nature. You will choose a
human or anthropomorphized sea-related character, fictional or non-fictional, and develop an as
complete a biography of the person/character as possible. You may invent a new character that lives
within lore already, or choose someone who already exists. For example, if you want to do a
biography over mermaid, you may choose Ariel or Creature from the Black Lagoon, or create an
individual and give them an identity, such as a merman named Mermando. Whomever you choose
MUST come from existing lore.
ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
1. Select a character. Your person/character must be human or an anthropomorphized searelated entity from within the maritime realm. If youre interested in a legend, mystery, or
myth, you may create a character from that lore and explain their biography. You may choose
someone who has a lot of information gathered about them already, or you can choose
someone who is completely fictional, in other words, you can create a person that fits within
a myth, mystery, or legend. The lore must already exist, but you are giving the lore an
identity (if it doesnt already have one).
2. Your paper should include the following:
a) Who is it? describe their identity, personal/character traits, birth and death dates
b) Describe their early life, where were they before their lore? what influences happened to
create their lore
c) Where does this character exist? Include information about their folk group
d) Describe their fame/lore, why did their folk group create them? What benefit did they
provide? Are they a moral/superstition/creation myth/fable/fairytale/monster? What
is their role in their folk community? Why were they implemented into their folk group?
e) Fun facts, give individual attributes about your character that will make them
memorable. Create fun facts or build upon existing ones.
f) Identify its relationship to existing folklore scholarship. How does your biography relate
to theories and research other folklorists have done?
g) If there are multiple variants in exiting lore about your character or type of character
(there will be over long periods of time, but you might not uncover all of them within
your research), how do the variations differ, what remained the same? Did their
meaning shift/did they have a different purpose in their infancy/origin than they does
today (if they exist today)? How did they evolve as the folk group evolved?
TECHNICAL GUIDELINES
Your paper should be 3-5 pages of original composition, Times New Roman, 12pt. double-spaced,
one inch margins all the way around. Include a cover page and a reference page (cover and reference
page are NOT included in the page count). You do not need to include an abstract for your papers.
Failure to do this will result in an automatic 15 point deduction
You must include in-text citations from at least 3 different sources from your readings and outside
sources within the paper, following university guidelines, and a list of sources consulted at the end
of the paper. Failure to do this will result in an automatic 15 points deduction.
You will be assessed based on:
Completeness, clarity, and brevity of your story telling
and fulfilling the assignment guidelines
70
Aptness of your supplemental context and examples 50
Understanding of Course Material 40
Composition and grammar 40
Total 200 points
