fkcc comp ii - literary criticism
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Today’s presentation will cover
Essay paper tipsFKCC databasesWeb evaluation
Fall ’09 Comp II – T Ansbro
Your literary research involves…
1. Literary reference materials to provide background information and criticism
2. Journal or periodical articles3. Websites specifically aimed at
literary research4. MLA documentation and citing
sources to develop your Works Cited list
FKCC Catalog
Keyword search tips:
Books about author's works, type author name & “interpretation” or truncate the word “criticism”
Shakespeare critic*Shakespeare interpretation
Books about author's life /times, type author name & truncate “biography”
Hemingway and biograph*
Subject heading search tips – use
“subject contains” option rather than “exact”
Poe criticism interpretation (or any author/poet)
FKCC databases that may be helpful:
• Literary Reference Center (EBSCO)• Literature Resources (Gale)• JSTOR • Humanities Full Text (Wilson)• Lit Finder (Gale - Poem Finder, Story Finder, Essay/Speech/Play Finder)
• Granger’s World of Poetry
Why search FKCC databases?
• Most references are full text & free• Can easily limit your searches to scholarly/peer-reviewed articles
• Databases have citation format options
Popular or Scholarly?
Scholarly or Peer-reviewed articles
Often have an abstract
Serious look - contain many graphs and charts - few glossy pages or exciting pictures
Cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies and cite other scholarly writings, not popular works
Scholarly or Peer-reviewed articles
Authors are scholars in the field
Affiliations of the authors are listed--universities, research institutions
Discipline coverage - assumes some scholarly background on the part of the reader
Popular or Scholarly?
Still need to search the Internet?
You may still wish to search the Internet for resources.
Be sure to evaluate what you find
Look for credible resources
What to look for?
Accuracy
Is the information accurate? Can you verify the information in
another source? Does the page cite well-known sources
or authorities?
Authority
Is the author identified? Is there reason given to assume that the
author is an authority in the subject? Does the author provide contact
information? If the author is identified as a
corporation or organization is there information available about the reliability of the group?
Currency Is the information current? When was the web site created? When was it
last updated? Are the links working?
Point of View/Bias Is the primary purpose of the site advertising
or is it informational? Does the information contradict something you
already know or have learned from another source?
Does the author have an agenda or trying to sway his/her audience?
Plagiarize: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source
"plagiarize." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.Merriam-Webster Online. 25 March 2009 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize>
For more information visit:
http://www.plagiarism.org/http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01
MLA Style Books at FKCC Library (available at Circulation Desk)
Gibaldi, Joseph, ed. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. (will be available soon)
Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2009. Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Essential Handbook.
New York: Longman, 2008.
Internet resources
MLA formatting and writing style guide from the Online Writing Lab at Purdue http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
MLA style from Diana Hacker Guide http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_s5.html
FKCC Library Research Tools – Subject Guides – Literary Guide/Citation Guidehttp://library.fkcc.edu
Be sure to acknowledge your sources and avoid plagiarism!