Write an annotated review of a scholarly article of literary criticism over any of the works we have read up to this point in the semester. An annotated review is a one-page, single spaced document that has three parts (citation, summary, and response). See Annotated Review Document Format to get a sense of what this document should look like and its parts. The purpose of the review is to briefly summarize an article or review about a particular topic and then to provide your feedback about your opinions and quality of that article. You need to read the article, summarize the author’s main points or arguments, and then tell where you think the author has some good, valid ideas or where you think the author is mistaken or reaching in his or her interpretation.
Source Requirement: You will need to research and find a scholarly article to use as the basis of this project. You will find the article for your review by searching the library’s databases. The article must be a scholarly article published in an academic journal. DO NOT use an article that merely summarizes the primary text! Avoid articles that come from Masterplots or literary encyclopedias or other high school level articles and sources. Articles from literary websites like Shmoop, Sparksnotes, Course Hero, etc. are forbidden. This article must be of a higher quality, college-level scholarly source. When I mean scholarly, I mean it was written by someone who has a PhD in literature. You want to make sure the article you use interprets or analyzes the primary text. Scholarly articles usually contain vocabulary and concepts that require a higher reading level, so if it’s a little difficult to follow when you read it, it’s probably the right quality. If it is super easy to read and talks about basic symbolism and character analysis, it’s probably not scholarly, and you need to keep looking.
Format and Length: Your review will be typed in MLA style, single-spaced and one-page long. It’s okay if you go over one page, but you should not go under. The paragraphs should be well-developed, not skipping any main ideas or details. Any quotes should be properly introduced and punctuated as quotes. Avoid plagiarizing language from the article or other sources.
