Remember that a one-page (or so) topic proposal for your final paper is due next Monday, 11/19.

The main goal of these proposals is to ensure that you’ve engaged in some preliminary thinking about your papers.  Your proposals will also give me chance to supply whatever feedback that I can about your chosen topics, in the form of questions to think about, useful references to track down, etc.

In particular, there is no requirement that you have a “complete” understanding of your chosen topic, nor that your final paper even address the exact issues that you identify in your proposal.  Rather, you should use this proposal as a chance to identify the general area that you would like to investigate further, as well as some initial thoughts about the specific course that these investigations might take.