Writing WorkshopReporting Literary Research

AssignmentPrewriting

Choose and Narrow a Research TopicConsider Purpose, Audience, and ToneMake a Research PlanGet an Overview and Find SourcesNote SourcesResearch and Take NotesAnalyze Research InformationWrite a Thesis StatementMake an OutlineDocument SourcesPractice and Apply

Feature Menu

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 ResearchAssignment

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: 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 ResearchPrewriting: Choose and Narrow a Research Topic

Choose a general literary topic.

Decide on your historical approach.

how Shakespeare’s life influenced his writing

how the plays reflect the culture of Renaissance England

Shakespeare’s comments

on life in his time

Prejudice in the plays

Themes in the plays

Women in the plays

Marriage in the plays

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: 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]

Purpose: to inform

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Consider Purpose, Audience, and Tone

Your research paper will be an original synthesis of ideas and information:

Audience: teacher and classmates

Tone: objective and formal (but not stuffy)

information you gather from research

+conclusions you draw from that information

your own insights into the topic

+

[End of Section]

Use the 5W-How? method to make a list of research questions:

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Make a Research Plan

did blahbedy blah blah blahHow

Why

Where

When

Who

What

are the female characters in the plays?

are their personalities like?

did Renaissance women get involved in business?

did Renaissance women spend their leisure time?

were women’s activities restricted?

did men treat women during Shakespeare’s time?

[End of Section]

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: 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 ResearchPrewriting: 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 ResearchPrewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources

Include a balance of primary sources and secondary sources.

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources

A letter Shakespeare wrote to his wife

A journal article analyzing “Macbeth”

Identify each of the following sources as primary or secondary.

primary

secondary

A video of an interview with a Shakespeare scholar

A historical document stating that Shakespeare was under King James, patronage

secondary

primary

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources

Reliable, valid sources are usually those published by universities or respected publishing companies.

To make sure a source is reliable and valid, ask:

• Are the facts accurate?• Are the ideas presented objectively?

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Get an Overview and Find Sources

Cover all relevant perspectives, or points of view.

women characters in Shakespeare’s plays

Literary critics

Shakespeare biographers

Other writers from the 1500s

Sociologists

Renaissance historians

Experts in women’s studies

[End of Section]

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Note Sources

a source card, or bibliography card, for each source.

each source. (You’ll use these handy numbers as shorthand when you’re taking notes.)

the publishing information for your Works Cited list (see the Writing Workshop for this collection in your text).

Keep a record of your sources.

an annotation—a short note about the contents of the source.

the call number or location of the source.

Noodletools will simplify this process for you.

Make

Record

Number

Add

Include

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Research and Take Notes

the source number and the page number(s).

a separate note card for each main idea.

Take notes on information that will help answer your research questions.

a heading showing the main idea.

Use

Include

Write

the note to make sure you understand it.Re-read

Record each piece of information either as a direct quotation, a paraphrase, or a summary.

[End of Section]

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: 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

French Animals

Fine foreheadJewelry

Rosary Gold brooch

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: 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]

Assert yourself. Write a thesis statement stating your topic and your conclusion about it.

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Write a Thesis Statement

Chaucer’s complex, often inconsistent female characters reflect the changing roles of women in fourteenth-century England.

[End of Section]

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Make an OutlineOrder, 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 ResearchPrewriting: Make an OutlineMake a formal outline.

I. IntroductionA. Overview of researchB. Thesis statement

II. The PrioressA. Appearance

1. Fine forehead2. Jewelry

a. Green-beaded rosaryb. Gold brooch with

mottoB. Interests/pleasures

1. French language2. Animal lover

major divisions of your paper

secondary divisions

supporting examplesspecific details

[End of Section]

Plagiarizing is a form of cheating. Make sure to document all sources in your paper to avoid taking credit for others’ work.

Reporting Literary ResearchPrewriting: Document Sources

how to document sources

what to document

See the examples in your textbook.

Every direct quotation

Any original theory not your own

Data from studies and interviews

Anything you’re not sure of

[End of Section]

Use the preceding instructions to

Reporting Literary Research

• 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]

The End