LI 271--American Literature II

First Paper

 

This paper is to be typed and is to use the subdivisions used below.

 

For example:

 

I.  Kent Library--Hemingway

     A.  79

     B.  17         

     And so on

Use the “Last Name” code below to determine which author you research in Section I

 

Last Name Starting                                                              

A-C                                         Mark Twain                            

D-F                                          Robert Frost                            

G-L                                          Ernest Hemingway                               

M-P                                         William Faulkner                                  

R -Z                                         Flannery O’Connor                             

 

 

I.  Kent Library--List the name of your first author (as determined by your last name in the chart above).  

     At the Kent Library website ( http://library.semo.edu/ ), by “Find,” click on <Books….> and then <Kent Library>. 

 

List

 

            A.  The number of Entries (not Subjects) for your first author listed in a Subject Heading search in Kent Library.   

 

B.  Now do a Keyword search for an Annotated Bibliography about your first author; in the Keyword search box, enter, for example, <Robert Frost annotated bibliography>.  List the number of entries you find.   If there are no annotated bibliographies, redo the search <Robert Frost bibliography>.   And your answer would look like  this 0/31  with the zero as the number of Annotated Bibliographies and the 31 the number of bibliographies.

  

C.   List the Author (actually, it’ll probably be an Editor), Title, and Kent Library call number of what looks like a good annotated (or regular) bibliography.  (Browse through the list of titles looking for phrases like “Annotated Bibliography,” “Critical Bibliography,” or “Checklist of Criticism.”   Avoid titles like A Descriptive Bibliography or A Bibliography of the Works of...)

                       

II. The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Your Text)--The name of your second author (the one on the list after your first)

           

From  “Selected Bibliographies” in the back of the text list:

            A.  Author and Title of a biography.

            B.  Author and Title of a critical work.

 

             One of these works must be in Kent Library; include the call number with the entry.

 

NOTE:   You must use the volume of your text that the author appears in.  Flannery O’Connor, for example, will not   appear in the “Selected Bibliographies” in Volume C.

 

(No repetition of titles in II and/or III)

 

 

III.  Guide to American Literature (Valmai Kirkham Fenster, ed.)--Your third author

            There are other good bibliographies of American literature, but we’ll use this one in Kent Library.  Be sure to check the catalogue to see if the book is On Reserve, in the Reference Section, or in the general stacks.

           

            A.  From Fenster, give the Author and Title of what looks like the best biography of your third author.

            B.  From Fenster, give the Author and Title of a major critical work about your third author.

           

One of these titles must be in Kent Library; include the call number with the entry.

 

IV.  MLA  (electronic) Bibliography--Your fourth author

 

To access the MLA Bibliography, from the Kent Library Home Page, click on  <Find….Articles>, click on <Quick Access> or <AZ List>, scroll to and click on MLA      

 

A.  Using the Keyword search option, find the number of entries or items listed for your “Fourth Author” and give that number. 

 

 B.  Still in MLA, on the original screen where you entered your author’s name, go to the bottom of the screen to limit your search to items for that same author available in Kent Library.  List that number.    

 

            C.  Using the information found in B (above), find an article in a periodical or a chapter or section in a book of at least three pages which is in Kent Library;  read the article or chapter and write a half page (double spaced) summary of it, prefacing it with a complete bibliographical entry  (Follow the form on the Notes and Bibliographical Style   linked here and on the course web page).

           

   Do not use book reviews or “articles” from Dissertation Abstracts.

 

           

V. The Internet—(Use Google as your search engine)--Your fifth author.

            A.  For that author, list the number of “hits” when you input the entire name in normal order.

B.  Now search for a “home page” for that author (Enter, for example, Edgar Allan Poe home page).  Look at a few, and select a good one.  List the Title of the site (in quotation marks) and give its web address (URL).  Write a summary description and evaluation of the site (about a page double spaced):  What audience is the site aimed at--general readers, high schoolers, undergraduate students, specialists?  What’s the best or most interesting feature; what is missing that might be helpful?  What kind of links does it have?  How many of them work (or don’t work)?