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Research Assignment: RA-Lit
Cards for a Complete Literary Work
Samples showing MLA format for play, film, song, and storyOne of the requirements of the scholarly project in a composition and literature class is to anchor your research study in at least one work of literary merit. To "anchor" your study means to ground it in an idea or fact from the literary work and in that way to relate your research study topic to the literary work. The literary work serves as a primary source of information about your topic (a "primary source" is like an historical document—the item itself, not any writing about the item). For RA-Lit, you will make out a bibliography card for this full-length literary work, and two (2) note cards with quotations from that work that you think will be important to illustrate your idea. You will also write 2 or more research journals showing your thinking about this literary work. Note that a film is also considered a primary artistic work, and so you can complete an RA-Lit for a film adaptation of Hamlet that you find useful in furthering your understanding of your research topic, as well as the essential RA-Lit for Shakespeare's play itself, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. For a collaborative project, each partner or team member should offer at least one different quotation from the play that will support the thesis of the project or projected paper, in addition to similar passages but with variant interpretations related to the group's topic.
Use the examples below as models for what kind of information to put on the cards and how to arrange that information. In the samples below, you can see how someone might "anchor" a research study, or relate a research topic, to a literary work—even if the literary work is not the topic of the research study, but simply a source of inspiration for it.
Sample BIBLIOGRAPHY CARD (aka "Bib Card") for RA-Lit for a research project exploring this topic: Buddhist detachment: compassion v. emotional sensitivity. The bibliography card is the part on the right side of the two-column box below. The information in the left-hand column is placed here so you can follow what kind of information each section of the bibliography card contains. The information on the right is what goes on your index card. Use 4" by 6" cards.
type of info to include
The way the card should look
Student Initials, RA#, Bib code to match note-bib cards Citation (MLA)
Type of source. Name of library (or source), and call number.
Credentials: author and/or translator (where credentials found). Bias, perspective, slant . You can refer to other note cards for more information
Summary of the whole source, its usefulness to your particular project
MKL, RA-Lit, Shikibu
Shikibu, Murasaki. The Tale of Genji. Trans. Edward G. Siedensticker. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. 1090 pages. 9-1/4" x 6-1/8" (one volume, with woodcuts) [Note: all lines but line one of the citation should be indented, unlike this item]
Literary Work, world's first psychological novel. Written in 11th century C.E. Primary Source. Personal library
Murasaki Shikibu was an aristocrat in Heian Japan. (Source: See 'ShikibuBio' card for more info). As of 1979, Edward G. Seidensticker was a professor of Japanese at Columbia University (spending 6 months in New York and the rest of the year in Tokyo and Honolulu), and a noted translator who won a National Book Award for translation in 1970; he was awarded the third-class Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government for introducing Japanese novels abroad. Seidensticker's translation is considered "masterly." (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica online).
Summary: This book is a translation into English of an 11th century work "universally recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese prose narrative, perhaps the earliest true novel in the history of the world" (book blurb). It's a romance in 54 chapters recounting, through the stories of Genji and his son Kaoru, court life in Heian Japan for about 75 years, from the 10th to 11th centuries.
Reminders for Bib Cards: See also the "Research Method - Assignments" handout.
- Write on the back if you need more space; use an arrow (→) at the bottom right side of the front of the card to remind yourself later that you have more information on the back of the card.
- Be consistent in size and color of bib cards. All your bib cards should look the same from a distance-same size and color. Bib cards should look different from note cards: use highlighting to distinguish them easily. (Recommendation: use 4x6 index cards for the bibliography cards—colored cards are useful, to distinguish bibliography cards from note cards.)
- Use MLA format for the citation (type and sequence of information, spacing, punctuation, capitalization, etc.). For CITATION Style Guides, check your current college handbook. Also consult our MiraCosta College Library and the CSU San Marcos Library Websites. Click here for samples to show MLA format for play, film, song, and story.
- Credentials: After you provide information about credentials, identify (by title and date) the SOURCE you used to find this information. If you can't find information after 30 minutes of guided searching, do not use this source as one of the items in your bibliography.
- Your summary should discuss the whole item that you have cited in the bibliographic citation.
- Word-processed typed pages with bib card information are OK as well. (Begin a new page for each bibliographic citation. Use separate files, or organize alphabetically in the word processor. Use of database management programs is encouraged.)
Sample NOTE CARD for RA-Lit for a research project exploring this topic: Buddhist detachment: compassion v. emotional sensitivity. The information in the left-hand column is placed here so you can follow what kind of information each section of the bibliography card contains. The information on the right is what goes on your index card. Use 4" by 6" cards.
Student Initials, RA#, Bib code to match note-bib cards and page number
Subject Heading (SH), file name you create to designate the subject matter of the note card (summary of content of the note)Introduction to a Direct Quotation (note q. marks at beginning and end and parenthetical page reference)
Interpretation of and commentary on the quotation
MKL, RA-Lit, Shikibu 895
SENSITIVITY AND THE LESSON OF IMPERMANENCE
In the second part of the novel, Kaoru shares with Nakanokimi his sorrows over the deaths of those whom he has dearly loved: "It is a sad season, the saddest of the year, I think. I went off to Uji the other day, hoping to shake off a little of the gloom, but it made me even sadder to see how 'garden and fence' had gone to ruin. I was reminded of how it was after my father died. . . . He had been careful to have only sensitive people near him, . . . I told myself that time took care of everything, that a day would come for the most impossible sorrows to go away; and it did seem to be true that everything had its limits. So I said; but I was young then, and quick to recover. I have now had two great lessons in impermanence, and the more recent one has left a wound I am not likely to recover from." (Shikibu 895)Kaoru and Nakanokimi weep with grief, longing, uncertainty. Like his father Genji, Kaoru is a man of great sensitivity who learns, in intimate relations with others, lessons of life's impermanence. This is an example of mono no aware tempered by Buddhist philosophy.
Reminders for Note Cards: See the "Research Method - Assignments" handout.
- Focus each note card on ONE idea or aspect of your research topic. The general rule of disciplined note-taking is ONE IDEA PER CARD (different sources will address the same idea, providing corroboration or alternate views). Choose precise words in your subject heading to go along with the specific information in the note. Ask yourself, "What part or aspect of my research topic is this note about?"
- The Subject Heading (SH) of your note card, written in pencil so you can alter it as your research project takes on its particular shape, shows what is on the note card itself, in relation to your research topic; make it as specific to the note on the card as you can make it. You should be able to outline your developing research paper using the subject headings on your note cards.
- Clearly relate the quoted passage and commentary to your research topic. Show how it furthers your thinking about your topic and increases your understanding. For the commentary part of the note, be sure to explain the significance of the passage to your research; also do two or more of the following:
- summarize or paraphrase the quoted passage
- interpret different meanings of the passage
- show how the passage specifically relates to other books or articles you are reading for the project-look for corroboration, alternative views, diverse explanations or factual records that shed light on the information
- comment on how the passage relates to the idea you are researching
- record questions raised by the quoted passage-speculate on answers or where to find them
- Develop your commentary. (A one-sentence comment is inadequate usually—a phrase comment is always inadequate). Go beyond mere restatement or summary of the passage.
- Do not quote passages that do not relate to your specific topic and that cannot be used to explain or support your thesis (or its contrary)
- Quote exactly (don't get sloppy here), and be sure you have quotation marks (q.marks) at beginning and end. Use poetic form to preserve the original line lengths of poetic works (e.g., most of Hamlet is written in iambic pentameter, poetic lines).
- Do not quote out of context. For example, if the quoted passage refers to something else not identified in the passage itself (e.g., "this," "he," "as a result" are clues to out-of-context quoting), be sure to write out the context in your commentary or in a parenthetical note in the quotation (this note will be enclosed in square brackets).
- Consult the research paper/annotated bibliography assignment, especially the part describing what you need to write as annotations. Think about including this kind of information on note cards.
RESEARCH JOURNAL (RJ) WRITING. Every day you are researching for a paper, be sure to spend 10-15 minutes doing critical thinking about what you are reading. Date each journal (give the time if you'd like, especially when you do significant journal writing at two entirely different times of a day). Identify the book or article that is the starting place for your writing about your topic. Then just brainstorm, mind map, list, outline, and/or free write, aiming to stay focused on the topic of your paper for which you are doing the research. Aim for a minimum of one page for each day of research to record that you are thinking and learning. This journal writing enables you to make best use of the research and writing process and provides an avenue for you to deepen as well as broaden your thinking about your topic. The Research Journal is your place to freely ask questions as well as summarize articles, a place for wondering as well as clarifying, amplifying and exemplifying, comparing and contrasting, classifying and organizing, exploring causes and effects, finding personal connections, recalling stories and experiences that relate to the topic, identifying current events that make your topic more relevant, exploring agreement or disagreement with ideas you discover, testing your ideas, imagining—oh, there are so many ways to expand your mind and improve your thinking and writing.
Created 24 September 2003. Revised 11 January 2008.
Contents Copyright 2003-2008. Gloria L. Floren. All rights reserved.
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