World Literature I

Skill-Building Activity: Article Summary/Evaluation

Part of writing an effective analytical research paper (like the one eventually due in week 7) involves using evidence not only from the literature (primary sources) but from the works of professional academic research (secondary sources). Therefore, you will need to be able to properly locate, analyze, and evaluate scholarly sources. This activity will help you build these research skills. 

For this assignment, choose a scholarly critical article from one of the GMC Library databases that makes a clear argument about any one of the stories you’ve read for class so far. The article you choose must provide more than basic biographical information and plot summary alone- it must make an opinionated argument about some aspect of the literary work you’ve read for class. Please summarize the article’s main ideas, then evaluate your article’s merits– is the author’s thesis interesting? Did you agree with its ideas? Did the author do an effective job proving their argument- why or why not? 

Your complete summary/evaluation should be at least 250-300 words in length and fully address all requirements.

For help with GMC Library navigation, view the “How to Use the GMC Library resource in this week’s Online Learning Resources.

Instructions: 

• Clearly identify the author’s thesis and main points by first summarizing the article briefly. 
• You should then provide an evaluation of these main points and explain how this article’s argument is relevant or convincing to you (or not), and why.

MLA Style:

• Your paper must be formatted according to MLA format (this includes having a header, double spacing, etc.)
• All quotations and paraphrases must be cited using MLA style.
• Include in this analysis a QUOTE and a PARAPHRASE from the article, with appropriate in-text citations.
• Include a works-cited page at the end of your paper that cites your chosen article.
• For more information about MLA style, review the “How-To Guide: MLA Formatting and Citations” page linked in class.