English III—Their Eyes Were Watching God

Literary Criticism Assignment:

Annotated Bibliography & Reflection (115 points)

� Instead of writing an essay on Their Eyes Were Watching God, you will research and write about literary criticism. Throughout the next several weeks, you will find and annotate critical essays on the book and supplementary texts, draft annotations responding to each of these articles, and write a reflection explaining the understandings you’ve gained from a close study of literary criticism. You will turn in everything—articles, drafts, peer edits, etc.—with the final draft, so be sure to keep your materials in a safe place!

Step 1: Finding, evaluating, and annotating literary criticism

o Literary criticism is writing that tries to evaluate and understand a work of literature. Many

types of literary criticism exist, and each attempts to discuss a work of literature within the confines of its particular school of thought. For this assignment, you may use criticism of any kind.

o Why read literary criticism? Literary criticism can help us understand literature and see

books, stories, poems, and essays in a new light. Reading another person’s thoughts on a piece of literature can also give us support for our own ideas and can give us something to respond to.

o How do I find literary criticism? Our library has both print and database sources for literary

criticism. We’ll discuss how to go about searching in much more detail in class, but the following websites should help in your search: JSTOR, Magill on Literature, Academic One File, Discovering Collection. *Note: Some of the articles available on the library website are LONG! Be kind to yourself and choose articles between 2 and 5 pages. Many will also be difficult, so pay attention to the reading level guide that accompanies some articles (and see suggestions for deciphering difficult text below).

o What literary criticism do I need for this assignment?

o 2 articles evaluating Their Eyes Were Watching God o 1 article evaluating one supplementary piece o 1 article evaluating one other supplementary piece (For example, you might have 2 articles on Eyes, one article on ”What We Talk about When We Talk about Love,” and one article on “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

o How do I annotate literary criticism? Reading critical essays on literature can be difficult! To help you get the most out of each article, please annotate thoroughly. Use the following guidelines for your annotations:

o Highlight—words you don’t know (look up meaning and write it in the margins) o ?—questions (write the question in margins; write the answer if you’re able to answer it

after reading further) o ����—interesting ideas that you’d like to explore further in reflection (and write that idea

in the margins) o Underline—ideas that raise an important point (and write why they’re important) o C—connection to something in text, something we discussed, or something else (and

write the connection in margins) o Summarize—at the end of each article, write 3-4 sentences summarizing the main

points of the aritcle Remember that re-reading, asking questions, varying your reading speed (speeding up or slowing down as needed), visualizing, and summarizing as you go are all strategies that can help you decipher difficult texts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Step 2: Drafting annotated bibliography entries

o An annotated bibliography is a list of sources with both bibliographic information (what

you’d include in a works cited page) and an annotation, or a note, on each source. (continued)

o Your annotations should include the following: o Summarize: What are the main arguments? What is the point of the

book/essay/article? o Assess: Is the source useful? How does it compare with other sources in your

bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is the source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

o Reflect: How does this source fit into your research? How can it help you shape your argument? How has it changed the way you think about your topic?

o Annotations should be written in formal, academic language.

o Why should I write an annotated bibliography? o Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project

because it informs your thinking about a topic and can help you formulate a thesis. Additionally, annotating requires that you think critically about a source rather than simply taking it at face value. Note: You will use articles from the annotated bibliography in your research paper, so be sure to choose items that fit your research question.

o Format

o Bibliographic information (title, author, publisher, etc.) should be written in MLA format. Annotations are written in paragraph form immediately following the MLA citation. Sources are then placed in alphabetical order. The entire annotated bibliography should be double-spaced and should have an MLA heading and page header.

o Include 4 or more entries (see above) o Please see example!

*Information adapted from http://owl.english.purdue.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Step 3: Reflecting on literary criticism

o What should the reflection include? o Your reflection should address what you’ve learned about the texts we studied by

reading and analyzing literary criticism. Be specific—connect specific contents of the articles to specific connections or revelations you’ve had (using your initial annotations should help with this). You should address each of the texts you’ve studied in the reflection (Their Eyes Were Watching God and two other pieces of your choice), and you should write in formal style (no slang, contractions, or first/second person pronouns). Ultimately, your reflection should prove how literary criticism can be a valuable tool in the study of literature.

o How long should it be? o The reflection should be a minimum of 1 full page, typed, double-spaced

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Step 4: Revising and collecting materials

o For what elements should I revise? o Revise to insure that your annotations and reflection include all required components

(see above) o Revise for MLA format o Revise for mechanics o Revise for style—your final draft should include at least 3 of the new sentence patterns

and at least 6 of our previous patterns. These can occur in either the annotations or the reflection (or both) and should be highlighted and labeled (alternatively, you may use footnotes—see example).

o What should I include with the final assignment? o Turn in everything you’ve collected with this assignment in the following order:

� Rubric with your name � Annotated bibliography � Reflection � Annotated articles (in alpha order) � Draft work and peer reviews

� Remember to submit all typed work (annotations and reflection) to turnitin.com the day the assignment is due!

Don’t forget to highlight and

label sentence patterns!

English III—Their Eyes Were Watching God

Annotated Bibliography Rubric

Requirements Descriptions

A

Wow! Awesome!

B Above Average

C Average

D Below Average

Not

present Article 1

5 4 3 2 0-1 Article 2

5 4 3 2 0-1 Article 3

5 4 3 2 0-1

Annotated Articles

Articles come from reputable sources and cover the required content (2 articles on Their Eyes Were Watching God and 1 article on 2 different supplementary pieces. Articles are approximately 2-5 pages in length. Printed copy of articles includes evidence of thorough reading with detailed annotations.

Article 4 5 4 3 2 0-1

Entry 1 9-10 8 7 6 0-5

Entry 2 9-10 8 7 6 0-5

Entry 3 9-10 8 7 6 0-5

Annotated Bibliography Entries

Bibliographic information is cited accurately, and annotated entries summarize the article, evaluate its credibility and purpose, and reflect upon its suitability for research/extension of thinking. Annotations are thorough yet concise.

Entry 4 9-10 8 7 6 0-5

Reflection

Reflection is a minimum of 1 page in length and is specific in addressing how the literary criticism articles uses can be a valuable tool for the study of literature.

18-20 16-17 14-15 12-13 0-11

Style

Annotated bibliography entries and reflection use precise, sophisticated diction and mature, varied sentences. A minimum of 3 new and 6 old sentence patterns are used effectively and labeled correctly.

14-15 12-13 11 9-10 0-8

Mechanics Annotated bibliography entries and reflection are free from errors in grammar and mechanics.

9-10 8 7 6 0-5

Formatting

Assignment is in MLA format for page heading, header, margins, and spacing. If used, sources are cited correctly within the reflection. Annotated bibliography is in alphabetical order by source author or title.

9-10 8 7 6 0-5 __________/115 Comments:

English III—Their Eyes Were Watching God

Annotated Bibliography Example

Miller, James E., Jr. “Fitzgerald’s Gatsby: The World as Ash Heap.” Twenties: Fiction,

Poetry, Drama. Ed. Warren French. New York: Everett/Edwards, 1975. 181-

201. Print.

In the article “Fitzgerald’s Gatsby: The World as Ash Heap,” James Miller

examines The Great Gatsby as a “powerful embodiment” of the corrupted era in which it

was written—the Jazz Age (181). Miller argues that all characters—1Gatsby, Tom,

Jordan, Nick, Daisy—in the novel are guilty of this corruption, that it is exactly that

pervasive guilt that “suggests the contagiousness of the 1920s disease” (181). Though

corruption is omnipresent, Miller suggests that the Gatsby Nick sees at the end of the

novel, 2the one who “turned out all right in the end,” may be the real Gatsby (201). This

real Gatsby is a character for whom our “moral sympathy for [his] innocence [can]

transcend his corruption” (201). 3Articulate and insightful, Miller’s article proves useful

in assessing the sources of Gatsby’s corruption and his relative innocence despite that

corruption. Though the source is interesting and objective, it could be improved upon if

Miller rooted more of his observations in historical evidence. Miller’s article helps a

reader understand how the culture of corruption in America during the Roaring Twenties

helped shape Fitzgerald’s novel and can help shape our understanding of it in our still

imperfect society today.

1 Series with an omitted conjunction 2 Appositive 3 Out of order adjective

Cita

tion

Summary

Evaluatio

n

Reflectio

n

Article Annotations Example