Short Research Assignment

Annotated Bibliography

The MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition includes basic guidelines for an annotated bibliography. However, your professor may assign more specific instructions, which take precedence.

The annotated bibliography contains descriptive or evaluative comments about your sources. Each citation should adhere to MLA guidelines. Begin your comments immediately following the citation. The title might be 'Annotated Bibliography' or 'Annotated List of Works Cited'. Your instructor may request an annotated bibliography in order to evaluate the types of sources you are selecting for your research. The annotations should show that you have carefully conducted your research and critically analyzed the information you will use to write your paper. The good news is that the 'Works Cited' list will be almost complete before you begin writing.

For additional information, see the MLA 9 Handbook, section 5.132.

Short Research Assignment

Step 1:

Select one of the fiction readings (one of the short stories) that we have covered in class so far. These are "Rip Van Winkle," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Minister's Black Veil," and "Bartleby the Scrivener."

Step 2:

Access the JSTOR database, the Literary Reference Center database, the Gale Literature Resource Center database, or the ProQuest database from the GHC Library.

Find a critical article (critical, in this sense, just means academic) that offers an interpretation of your selected story, or an explanation of some part or aspect of it. Read/skim carefully the article. With that being the case, choose one that is of a manageable length for you to read.

Step 3:

Write a one-paragraph summary of the article--of the article, not the story. This should be approximately 200 words--no more than this. Put the article into context for your reader (see the rubric below).

Step 4:

Now, write a one-paragraph reflection on the article--approximately 300 words. What did you think of it, or think about it? What's your opinion of what this literary scholar, literary critic is proposing about the story? Do you think he or she is right? Why or why not?

Step 5:

Now, for the fun part. Use two different AI applications (I recommend ChatGPT, which is free on the Internet, and CoPilot, available through your GHC Microsoft access) and ask for a "prequel" or "sequel" to the story. What happened before the story began, perhaps? Or, what happened after it ended? The "prequel" or "sequel," whichever you choose, should be approximately 300 words/one paragraph, so be sure to tell your AI app that. :) How well did the "prequel" or "sequel" fit with the story? Were the results from the two apps different? How were they different? Which did you like best--and why?

Step 6:

Submit all three paragraphs to the assignment drop box below here in D2L by Sunday, March 30, 11:59 p.m. Assignments will be graded as follows:

Rubric

Category	Point Value	Notes
Formatting	10	MLA heading, running header, title Indented paragraphs, double-spaced 12-point font
Paragraph 1	30	Summary of article Article must be academic--and a complete, full-text article. Proper context provided (Who wrote the article? When was it written? What aspect of the story is the article dealing with?) Provide a correct MLA works cited entry 200-300 words
Paragraph 2	30	Reflection/Response to article Questions to consider: Do you agree? Did this article make you think about the story differently? What would you like to learn more about? Include one quotation from the story and one quotation from the article. Approximately 300 words
Paragraph 3	30	Create a prequel to the story or a sequel to the story using two different AI applications (ChatGPT and CoPIlot are recommended). If anything is cited here, it must be cited properly. Approximately 300 words/one paragraph