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ENG 206: Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism

Library Assignment: Finding, Annotating and Documenting Secondary Sources

When literary scholars and critics develop new interpretations and analyses, they enter into conversations that are already underway. To find out what has already been said and learn about recent developments, they need to engage with secondary sources as well as the primary texts (the novels, poems, films, etc.). 

How do they find out who’s talked about their chosen primary texts, what they’re saying, and what’s current in the field? 

In the case of literary studies, the first stop is the MLA Bibliography.

For this assignment, you’ll learn how to

• Search the MLA bibliography for multiple types of secondary sources (journal articles, monographs, book chapters)
• Analyze bibliographic entries for relevant information (subject headings and keywords, dates, length)
• Search the MLA Periodical Index to learn about and evaluate journals (frequency, circulation, submission and acceptance rates)
• Make a Works Cited list following MLA Style Guidelines
• Annotate your Works Cited list with paragraph-length summaries of content, including critical approach 

DUE: The assignment will be due Tuesday, October 17^th and consists of three parts:

I. Finding Sources 

Choose a specific author, literary work, or topic of interest (a theme, genre) and write it out here:

Sylvia Plath

Jot down a variety of search terms or phrases. Use the space provided to list them and record the number of results you get for different ones.

Poetry, literature, scholarly articles, author

Practice narrowing and/or expanding results by date, type, language, etc. Describe your results:

I narrowed it down by year (2010-2022) and got down to 277 results. 277 is still a lot, but it was less than the 1,000 it was when I put in Sylvia Plath, and more than the 0 I got when I put Sylvia Plath as the author. When I typed in poetry, I narrowed it down to 212 sources. 

Perform searches in the MLA bibliography to locate 5 sources that meet the following criteria: published in the last 10 years and electronically available (either from EBSCO, ebook Central, JSTOR, Project Muse, or direct subscription to a journal title). 

II. Describing Sources

Survey the format, looking for section breaks, subheadings, lists of keywords or abstracts, end/footnotes to orient yourself to the text

Read through the introductory and concluding paragraphs and write a basic summary that tells your readers 

• what main problem or issue they’ve identified, 
• how the author is approaching the topic (their critical approach but also their particular focus), 
• how they intend to resolve or reframe it, and 
• why their argument is significant

III. Citing Sources

Use MLA guidelines to document your sources in a Works Cited List

To submit:

Take a picture of this sheet and upload it to your ePortfolio along with your Annotated Bibliography.

Please also print your Bibliography, attach this sheet to it, and hand both in to me.

Annotated Bibliography:

Berry, Sarah. “(Re)Embodying the Disembodied Voice of Lyric: The Radio Poems of Derek Walcott and Sylvia Plath.” Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 68, no. 3, Sept. 2022, pp. 295+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A721247494/LitRC?u=bidd97564&sid=ebsco&xid=c212e043.

Berry’s main argument is that Plath’s poems are lyrical poetry. Berry is approaching this argument through the establishment of the relationship between poetry and radio. Berry plans on reframing her argument through Plath’s critique of disembodied lyric voices. Berry’s argument is significant due to her usage of critical reading skills when discussing Plath’s poems. 

Elleström, L. (2016), Visual Iconicity in Poetry. Orbis Litter, 71: 437-472. https://doi-org.une.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/oli.12112.

Ellestrom’s argument is that the application of analyzing visual poetry makes readers able to discern between iconicity and visuality. Ellestrom approaches this by breaking down the rhyme schemes of Plath’s poems. She tries to reframe Plath’s poems through the lens of practicality within structure. Ellestrom’s argument holds some weight due to the analyzing of the structure of Plath’s poems.   

Lowenthal, Jeremy. “Sylvia Plath’s Aerial Poetics.” Modernism/modernity, vol. 29 no. 1, 2021, p. 123-144. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mod.2021.0074.

Lowenthal’s main argument is Plath’s attention to trauma and emotional connections push the boundaries of visual poetry. He approaches this topic by describing Plath’s life and how her circumstances influenced her poetry. Lowenthal reframes this through his description of aerial poetic devices. His argument is significant due to his questioning line of reason that he poses at the end of his article.  

Nied, Christopher. “Plath Profiles: Volume 13.” View of Vol. 13 No. 1 (2021): Volume 13, 2021, https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/plath/issue/view/2113/182.

The main issue Nied describes is the repetition within Sylvia Plath’s poems aid in the reader understanding the poem to the fullest extent. He also explains it as a very interesting literary strategy. He argues that Plath’s repetition also embodies an obsession with her own work. His main strategy is picking apart each poem that Plath uses repetition in to see if it actually adds meaning. Nied holds tight to the idea that repetition adds value to Plath’s poems. His argument is significant due to the sheer amount of critical work he does with Plath’s literature. 

Tamas, Dorka. June 2021. Sylvia Plath’s reimagination of the Grimms’ fairy tales in postwar American culture, Feminist Modernist Studies, 5:1, 36-53, DOI: 10.1080/24692921.2021.1947081.

The main issue Tamas identifies in the article is how Sylvia Plath’s beginning poems can be used to describe a post war America. The author is approaching the topic by taking the reader through Plath’s poems, then through a direct critique of motherhood within American culture. Tamas wants to stress that the fairy tales, in Plath’s eyes, are embedded within postwar American daily living. Tamas’ argument is significant here due to the effectiveness of laying down the details that support her thought process.