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For this assignment, we will be examining two literary
research databases to demonstrate how you would begin work on a literature
review for a single author. Those databases are the MLA International
Bibliography and WorldCat. Both are accessible through the AUC library
electronic resources (databases) website. Go to
http://www.auctr.edu to begin your search.
Your task will be to run searches in both databases to
compile a potential bibliography of resources on your assigned author. See the
list at the end of this document for your assignment. In each database, you must
at least run the searches listed below. These four search parameters are
suggested as the minimum to procure as much information as possible. You may run
other searches you deem appropriate.
Assigned author name as subject
Assigned author name as keyword
Individual assigned work as
subject
A topic of your choosing (e.g.,
race, gender, class) and author name as keyword
Confine your search to the years 1993-2008. Once you have
run these searches, you will narrow your bibliographic list to what you consider
to be the top 20 sources on this author. You will then produce a
bibliography that includes a listing of these sources in proper MLA citation
format. The bibliography will include the following:
- Introduction: Preface your bibliography with an
introductory paragraph that describes how you approached your search.
Include the following:
- Describe the search parameters you used and their
basic results. For each search parameter, how many entries did you pull
up? Did you find a lot of cross-over between MLA and WorldCat or did you
notice different resources in each? Were there certain searches that
were more productive than others? Was there too much information or too
little? How did you decide upon the topic you chose to research?
- Provide a rationale for your choices. How did you
decide upon the sources you included? For example, did there appear to
be a great deal of focus on a particular topic that suggested it would
be important? Were there authors you recognized from your “Recent
Studies in Restoration and 18th-Century Literature” search?
Were there titles that simply caught your eye?
- Bibliography: Organize your bibliography
alphabetically and in accordance with proper MLA format. At the end
of each citation, note whether the AUC library owns that particular journal
or book. This information will assist your peers in knowing whether they
need to interlibrary loan an item that looks like it would useful in their
research.
Submit your
write-up to the “Assignments” section on WebCT in a Word 97-2003 compatible
format by the due date.
Assigned Author and Work
Laura Allen: Frances Burney,
Evelina
Kyla Berry: Jonathan Swift,
Gulliver’s Travels
Jessica Boyd: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
Yakesha Cooper: Daniel Defoe, Moll
Flanders
Irene Delilly: Thomas Gray, “Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard”
Serena Holloman: Olaudah Equiano,
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Kristen McNeil: Samuel Johnson, The
Rambler and The Idler
Ashley Mims: Richard Brinsley
Sheridan, The School for Scandal
Dominique Robertson:
John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera
Whitney Robinson: Joseph Addison and Richard
Steele, the Tatler and the Spectator
Krystle Sherman: Margaret Cavendish,
Poems and Fancies
Fairren Thompson: John Dryden, Absalom and
Achitophel
Tiffany Tolliver:
Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
Raquel Washington: William Cowper, “The Task”
Kara Yates: Eliza Haywood, The
Female Spectator |
