GEW 101--Gompper--Fall 2009

You are expected to analyze a variety of story-telling forms (short stories, essays, media) for your research papers in this class.

Incorporating what others have said into your writing not only meets the requirement for research, but provides ideas and analysis that you can use to support your arguments or choose to disagree with in your own work. This puts you into the scholarly conversation which is central to university-level learning.

The authors you are reading have all produced a number of works over a span of time. That means that you will not only find critical analysis of individual works but that there are entire books written to critically analyze an author's works as to themes, symbolism, and intent. Our databases will bring back a great deal as well, and are frequently focused on one aspect of an author in comparison to the broader coverage found in books.

To find books in our Library Catalog, the best way to start is an author as subject search in lastname, firstname order and then look for the subheading "Criticism and Interpretation". 

To find articles in our databases, it is important to select an appropriate database. For purposes of your essays, you are looking for critical analysis of themes and writing strategies the author employs in the work. This will not only be found in literature databases, but some other scholarly databases as well. Each tab will show you places to start with resources particular to the work you are writing about.

When you begin your research for your literature analysis, you will discover both scholarly and non-scholarly material has been published. You need to locate scholarly works in order to become part of the informed conversation surrounding your text. ' Scholarly' means it is not a popular press or emotion-based piece. For additional help on what is a scholarly source, click here.

The other tabs on this page will address finding resources for each of your essays:

• Essay Two: Sherman Alexie
• Essay Three: Native Americans in popular film and television (as well as other media)
• Essay Four: Civil Disobedience, with a focus on either Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" or Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience".