Engl. 433: Bibliographic Projects

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Purpose: The primary purpose of the bibliographic projects is to afford you the opportunity to do the research required for your final scholarly essay, and to do so with the support of classroom instruction, library workshops, and feedback from me. As you engage in this research, you will become familiar with the Modern Language Association Bibliography, the McConnell Library electronic catalog, and other library catalogs like World Cat. You will also master MLA documentation format in preparation for your scholarly essay.

Be sure you begin thinking about a topic for your project immediately. I have included a list of possible research essay topics in the description of that activity. You can click onto Requirements and then click Scholarly Essay for the description of the scholarly essay and the list of possible topics.

You will complete two bibliographic projects. The grades on these will be averaged together as one grade, which will constitute 33% of the final grade.

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Format--Each Bibliographic Project will consist of:

1) A working bibliography. This will include at least five items, typed in proper MLA format, including the author, title, and publication information for each source. Consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (available in the bookstore). Select the choices for your working bibliography after doing an MLA search to determine what has been written that might be useful in your examination of your topic.

2) Three 1-2 page typed analyses. Choose the three most interesting or useful articles or chapters from your working bibliography and write an analysis of each one, following the suggested outline below. At the top of the first page of your analysis of each of the three articles or chapters from books, type the complete bibliographic citation in proper MLA form, using author's name, title, and full publication information.

Analysis of Articles or Chapters of Books:

Your analysis of each article or chapter must "nail down" the author's thesis; it must also analyze the author's argument and use of evidence; it must also consider how the piece might be useful to you in your own scholarly essay.

Try to answer these questions:

What is the author's main idea or thesis?

From what theoretical perspective does the author seem to be looking at the play? (E. G.: traditional historicist, new historicist, new critical analysis of the text and its formal qualities, reader-oriented analysis of how the text works upon the reader, Marxist, feminist, deconstructive, gay/lesbian, post-colonial, etc.)

What kind of evidence does s/he use to demonstrate this thesis?

What other kinds of contextual information (historical, cultural, social, political) does s/he use in arguing the thesis?

How effective and convincing do you think the argument is? Why?

In addition, after analyzing the argument, try to suggest, even if only briefly, what use your own scholarly essay might make of the author's ideas or the contextual information s/he uses in your own scholarly essay (agreeing with them; disagreeing with them; using them to support your own ideas; using them as a spring board for your own ideas; using some of the historical, social, cultural, political information but for your own purposes). If the article does not seem useful to you in your own study, explain why. This will necessarily be speculative or "guess work" right now and subject to much change, but it will help you see how you might put your scholarly essay together later on.

Assessment: I will assess each bibliographic project on the clarity of its analysis, its ability to "nail down" a thesis, its articulation the author's theoretical approach, its evaluation of the effectiveness of the author's argument, its explanation of how the text might be useful in the scholarly essay, its proper use of MLA format, and its correctness and clarity of expression. No late projects accepted. If you are absent on a due date, you must submit the project on the next class you attend.

Baker's Home Page | 433 Description | 433 Requirements | 433 Syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi