"Crit - Crit"
or
A Critical Critique of
Literary Criticism
Goals
of this assignment:
When researching
literature, learn to select criticism that
1) meets the needs of your inquiry
2) meets high standards for scholarship
Practice finding
literary criticism relevant to a particular work (and particular aspects of
that work)
--in print references
--in electronic or online references
Evaluate the merits of different articles using
the IOC rubric
Attempt (as a whole
class) an overall ranking of criticism sources by their usefulness to English
A1 students.
What
you'll need to do:
Make copies/printouts of at least three
critiques relevant to The Great Gatsby. Among the three should be:
At
least one (preferably more) relating to literary techniques examined in your
style essay
At least one from a print reference
At least one from an electronic or online reference
At
least one from a "scholarly" resource
At
least one from a "typical" resource commonly used by students (Spark Notes, etc.)
At least one good or great critique (per IOC rubric)
At least one poor or fair critique (per IOC
rubric)
Label each
article:
complete bibliographic information for the
article
print/electronic
lit technique/s
good/great OR poor/fair
cited/uncited (has its own footnotes or
bibliography of works cited)
any
Scavenger Hunt* finds highlighted and labeled
IOC
strengths/weaknesses highlighted and labeled: at least one per article
In
Compo: write a reflection
summarizing on your findings and what you learned from the process
Schedule:
Two partial periods in library reference section
(Thurs-Fri, 9/28-29).
Read all articles by Monday 10/2 for Gatsby
wrap-up discussion
Annotated/highlighted/labeled
articles and Compo reflection due Tuesday 10/3
*Scavenger
Hunt:
Find an example of an
unsupported assertion.
Find an example of
elegant writing.
Find the most glaring
typo, grammatical error, or error of fact.
Find
a highly original and/or thought-provoking thesis.
Find
an offbeat interpretation of the novel;
weigh its validity.
Find a passage of
criticism that changes/heightens/deepens/enhances your personal response to the
novel.
Find a presentation
whose logic you can contest.
Find an outstanding
example of "focused, well-developed, persuasive" structure.
Find a precise and
convincing choice of text evidence.
Find a superb discussion
of text evidence.
Find
a mundane, unsurprising, obvious or pedestrian interpretation.
FindÉsomething else
relevant to the IOC rubric!
Research Gateways |
Scholarly |
Typical |
Onlinefind another gateway
|
Google Scholar |
Start with Google search: |
Gale's Literary Index |
Cliff Notes |