Writing Workshop Reporting Literary Research Feature Menu Assignment Prewriting Choose and Narrow a Research Topic Consider Purpose, Audience, and Tone Make a Research Plan Get an Overview and Find Sources Note Sources Research and Take Notes Analyze Research Information Write a Thesis Statement Make an Outline Document Sources Practice and Apply

Reporting Literary Research Assignment Assignment: Write a formal research paper of six pages on a topic that links literature and historical investigation. Literary research involves the study of literary works and the sources that shed light on them. How do you think researching the history of a period might help you understand a literary work, its author, and the culture that produced it? [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Choose and Narrow a Research Topic Consider the plays we’ve read and what you know about Shakespeare and the time period during which he lived and worked. Do some preliminary research (textbook, general reference works, the Internet).

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Choose and Narrow a Research Topic Choose a general literary topic. Decide on your historical approach. Women in the plays how the plays reflect the culture of Renaissance England Prejudice in the plays how Shakespeare’s life influenced his writing Themes in the plays Shakespeare’s comments on life in his time Marriage in the plays

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Choose and Narrow a Research Topic Narrow your topic. broad topic: Shakespeare’s plays and medieval culture What interests me about Shakespeare’s portrayal of English culture? how he portrays women in society What interests me about the women in the plays? Limited topic: how the complex female characters in Shakespeare’s work reflect the conflicting ideas about women’s roles at that time [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Consider Purpose, Audience, and Tone Purpose: to inform Audience: teacher and classmates Tone: objective and formal (but not stuffy) Your research paper will be an original synthesis of ideas and information: information you gather from research conclusions you draw from that information your own insights into the topic + + [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Make a Research Plan Use the 5W-How? method to make a list of research questions: Who are the female characters in the plays? What are their personalities like? When did Renaissance women get involved in business? Where did Renaissance women spend their leisure time? Why were women’s activities restricted? How did men treat women during Shakespeare’s time? did blahbedy blah blah blah [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Search for answers to your research questions. Look at general reference works to get an overview of your topic. Then look for sources with more specific information. Explore both print and nonprint resources.

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Search for answers to your research questions. Some specific places to start: online encyclopedia school or local library’s subscription databases museums or historical societies film or TV documentaries periodical indexes, such as the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Include a balance of primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources Secondary sources

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources primary source: firsthand, original information, such as letters, autobiographies, works of literature and art, speeches, and historical documents Othello and Macbeth, by William Shakespeare [SE p. 214]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources secondary source: information from or about a primary source, including biographies, documentaries, history books, literary criticisms, and interviews with historians [SE p. 214]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Identify each of the following sources as primary or secondary. primary A letter Shakespeare wrote to his wife A journal article analyzing “Macbeth” secondary A video of an interview with a Shakespeare scholar secondary [SE p. 113] A historical document stating that Shakespeare was under King James, patronage primary

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources To make sure a source is reliable and valid, ask: Are the facts accurate? Are the ideas presented objectively? Reliable, valid sources are usually those published by universities or respected publishing companies.

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Beware: Information on Web sites is not held to the same standards as most books and journal articles. Be especially careful in evaluating Internet sources. Web sites produced by educational, governmental, or professional institutions are usually reliable.

women characters in Shakespeare’s plays Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources Cover all relevant perspectives, or points of view. Renaissance historians Other writers from the 1500s Literary critics women characters in Shakespeare’s plays Sociologists Shakespeare biographers Experts in women’s studies [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Note Sources Keep a record of your sources. Make a source card, or bibliography card, for each source. Record the publishing information for your Works Cited list (see the Writing Workshop for this collection in your text). Number each source. (You’ll use these handy numbers as shorthand when you’re taking notes.) Add an annotation—a short note about the contents of the source. Include the call number or location of the source. Noodletools will simplify this process for you.

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Note Sources Source Card source number 3 publishing information Hallissy, Margaret. A Companion to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. annotation An introduction to the tales and characters. Has a guide to the language and a bibliography. [SE p. 208] call number 821.C393h

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Research and Take Notes Take notes on information that will help answer your research questions. Use a separate note card for each main idea. Include the source number and the page number(s). Write a heading showing the main idea. Re-read the note to make sure you understand it. Record each piece of information either as a direct quotation, a paraphrase, or a summary. [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Research and Take Notes Direct Quotation source card number 3 Structure of The Canterbury Tales “Structurally regarded, The Canterbury Tales is a kind of Human Comedy. From this point of view, the Pilgrims are the Dramatis personae, and their stories are only speeches that are somewhat longer than common.” heading note (quotation) [SE p. 209] page 130 page number

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Research and Take Notes Paraphrase source card number 3 Structure of The Canterbury Tales heading The Canterbury Tales is structured much like a dramatic play. The Pilgrims are the characters, and they deliver their stories as long speeches. note (paraphrase) [SE p. 209] page 130 page number

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Research and Take Notes Summary source card number 3 Structure of The Canterbury Tales heading Much as a character in a drama might tell a story in a soliloquy, each of the Pilgrims tells his or her story in a long speech. note (summary) [SE p. 209] page 130 page number

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Analyze Research Information Divide your notes into categories based on their headings. Then subdivide each set based on relevant aspects of the category. Prioress Appearance Interests Jewelry Fine forehead Animals French Rosary Gold brooch

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Analyze Research Information To analyze your notes, ask: Is the factual information consistent? Do different sources interpret factual information differently? If two sources conflict in their presentation of the facts, determine which source is more reliable and valid, and use the information from that source. If two sources differ on an interpretation, consider logic, common sense, and different perspectives, and then explain the different interpretations. [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Write a Thesis Statement Assert yourself. Write a thesis statement stating your topic and your conclusion about it. Chaucer’s complex, often inconsistent female characters reflect the changing roles of women in fourteenth-century England. [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Make an Outline Order, please. Think about the most effective order for presenting your ideas. (You’ll probably use a combination of organizational patterns.) chronological order—the order in which events occur logical order—related ideas are grouped together order of importance— most important idea to least important, or the reverse

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Make an Outline Make a formal outline. Introduction A. Overview of research B. Thesis statement II. The Prioress A. Appearance 1. Fine forehead 2. Jewelry a. Green-beaded rosary b. Gold brooch with motto B. Interests/pleasures 1. French language 2. Animal lover major divisions of your paper secondary divisions supporting examples specific details [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Prewriting: Document Sources Plagiarizing is a form of cheating. Make sure to document all sources in your paper to avoid taking credit for others’ work. how to document sources See the examples in your textbook. Every direct quotation what to document Any original theory not your own Data from studies and interviews Anything you’re not sure of [End of Section]

Reporting Literary Research Use the preceding instructions to select a topic for your literary research paper, locate and record information from primary and secondary sources, write a thesis statement, and plan your paper’s documentation. Be sure to follow the guidelines for making source cards and taking notes. [End of Section]

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