Starting the Research Process: Critical Academic Sources

Some useful tools for acquiring academic sources for your research papers:

Our school has access to the EBSCOhost database when you are on campus. You can access it off campus with the correct password and username (if you need this info, please email me).

There are several databases to select from. Some are great for this research essay; some, not so much.

I recommend starting with the EBSCOhost research database and then selecting the Academic Search Premier. This is one of the better databases we have access to and I would start search here.

Feel free to explore all the other EBSCO databases, and if you're up for the challenge, Google Scholar sometimes gives you access to some excellent sources.

Poetry Research Paper - Getting Started

Hello Comp/Lit students! I am sorry that I cannot be present today, but please be not afeard; all is well.

First, take out your "Poetry Research Journal." If you do not have one, make sure you have one by tomorrow and that you transfer any notes you take today into the journal.

Today you will do an initial overview of background information on your poet, and we'll be collecting this information from one of the best sources on the interweb: The Poetry Foundation.

While this does not count as a "critical-academic source" for your paper, it is a reliable source that will provide you with a good start on your familiarization with your poet.

The links for each poet are listed below. Make sure to first copy down all information from the source that is required of you (see poetry research paper handout). Then copy down any notes that you believe will help you better understand your poet. Following this information gathering, reread your poet's selected poem and see if your understanding or interpretation of the poem has changed or evolved given your newly acquired knowledge.

Wordsworth

Wilbur

Nelson Waniek

Lee

Atwood

Crime and Punishment Reading Schedule

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Friday
1/9 - 1/13	No School	Camus, The Stranger, and Myth of Sisyphus	AP Practice Prose Essay	Crime and Punishment Part 1 Chapter 5
1/16 - 1/20	No School	John Stuart Mill Part 2 Chapter 1	Book Club Discussion Part 2 Chapter 5	Part 3 Chapter 1
1/23-1/27	Part 3 Chapter 3	Nietzsche Part 3 Chapter 5	Book Club Discussion Part 3 Chapter 6	Part 4 Chapter2
1/30-2/3	Part 4 Chapter 4	Kierkegaard Part 4 chapter 5	Book Club Discussion Part 5 Chapter 1	Part 5 Chapter 4
2/6-2/10	Part 6 Chapter 1	Sartre Part 6 Chapter 3	Part 6 Chapter 5 Book Club Discussion	Epilogue Essay Topics
2/13-2/17	No School	Novel Conclusion	Work Period	Essay Due by 4:00 to Turnitin.com

Fyodor Dostoevsky Book Club

For this unit you will be placed in book clubs of four students and will plan out as a group how you will proceed through Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment.

Process:

On each book club day of this unit, your book club will meet for 30 minutes during class to discuss topics of interest in that section of Crime and Punishment.

·       For each book club gathering, one student will type up four discussion questions from the reading for that week.

·       These questions will be provided on one piece of paper and they must be analytical reading questions, two of which must incorporate direct quotes (at least one from the novel).

·       A supplemental “philosophical” reading will be studied prior to the meeting (typically the day before) and I have ensured that each supplemental reading ties directly into the concurrent reading from Crime and Punishment. At least one of the questions must incorporate specific ideas from that week’s supplemental reading.

·       The preselected group leader of that week will lead his or her book club discussion. This group leader will be responsible for taking the “group notes” in response to his or her questions on the printed handout.

Book Club Meeting Blueprint:

Session 1: 1/17        Group leader: ____Mr. Achimore         Part 2 Ch. 2

Session 2: 1/18       Group leader: ______________        Part 2 Ch. 5

Session 3: 1/25       Group leader: _____________          Part 3 Ch. 6

Session 4: 2/1        Group leader: ______________         Part 5 Ch. 1

Session 5: 2/8        Group leader: ___________ __          Part 6 Ch. 3

Homework for Friday 1/13

For Friday, read up to Part 1 Chapter 5 in Crime and Punishment.

For Tuesday, read up to Part 2 Chapter 1 in Crime and Punishment.