Tag: Annotation

Blog Post 5: Annotation of Scholarly Source

Leave a comment
Please publish an annotation of an article on The Jew of Malta, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, or The Witch of Edmonton and some aspect of Animal Studies or Posthumanism.
For full credit, please complete the following:

  • 1. Using the MLA database, please search for an find one peer reviewed article or book chapter on The Jew of Malta, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, or The Witch of Edmonton and some aspect of Animal Studies or Posthumanism
  • 2. Read the article
  • 3. Write a 300-500 word annotation, with MLA citation, of the article you chose. For more on how to write an academic annotation see below and for further reading see Perdue OWL: Annotated Bibliography.

Annotations ‘How To’

For Blog Post #5, you need to find a critical article on The Jew of Malta, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, or The Witch of Edmonton and some aspect of Animal Studies or Posthumanism; read the article; and then write an annotation. What is an annotation? What is its purpose? What are its parts?

An annotation is a short statement in which you summarize and assess the validity of a secondary, scholarly source you plan to use in your research. To write an annotation, complete the following:

  • 1. Cite the source in MLA
  • 2. Write 2-3 sentences that give a broad overview of the argument, aims, and/or scope of the article or chapter: what are the main claims/goals, what are the key terms, what’s the context?
  • 3. Write 2-3 sentences explain the main mode of inquiry and/or evidence the author uses to achieve her main claim/goal. Literary scholars main mode of inquiry is close reading, so you then have to point what portions of the play you chose are being read, and according to what line of inquiry. 
  • 4. Write 1-2 assess the validity of the source. Did the author accomplish the goal he set out for himself? You’ve already stated the main claim/goal and the evidence/methods the author uses to achieve that goal, so now assess the article’s success. 
  • 5. Write 1-2 How will you use this article/chapter in your own work? Authors use secondary literature in a variety of ways: define and/or complicate key terms/ideas; provide social or historical context; build on and add to ideas that have already been published–“joining the conversation.”