Scholarly Text Annotation Group Project
English 325, Fall 2021

The purpose of this project is for each group to produce a scholarly text that will help readers read and think about the text they produce. Unlike a traditional course essay, this project allows you to directly interact with the text you choose, producing interpretative, historical, linguistic, and creative annotations. Using COVE (see below) allows you to integrate not only text but also images and audio links that will give your text context and meaning.  To support your annotations and further help readers, you will also write an introductory headnote to your text and share sources you used and recommend.  Ultimately, this project will help you think about what knowledge is and how we produce and share it. Using COVE (Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education)

Watch video about COVE Studio - See "How To" menu on COVE website.  There is also information for students about how COVE Studio works.  You should also review the COVE website.  We'll discuss this website as the semester progresses.  The COVE website has examples of annotated scholarly texts that offer helpful examples for your project.


Groups

1. Tucker De Guelle & Chole Verhelst
2. Lauren Masarik & Rosemary Acker
3. Cash Van Stiphout & Sabina Heusuk
4. Tess Kurschner & Angelina Sherman
5. Dalton Sell & Maggie Weiland
6. Sid Hart & Hunter Kiesow
7. Dylan Potter & Kirsten Faulkner

Notes on Collaboration

Critical Introduction to your text (1.5-2 pgs, single spaced)

Your critical headnote (introdutory essay) should contextualize your text.  You might begin be briefly introducing the text and author and situating it as a Victorian text.  Then, consider what are the key questions and issues the text raises?  What are some key conclusions you've reached about the text that readers should consider and explore further as they read?  Consider key ideas your annotations reveal. This essay will be, in essence, the first annotation of your text.  Link to the text's title.  You will include recommend secondary sources at the end of this essay. (See below.)

Annotated Text

This is the main portion of this project.  Your annotations will be interpretative, historical, cultural, creative, and linguistic.  You might also make connections to contemporary issues.  COVE Studio allows you to link visual images (e.g., historical figures, geographical sites) and video clips (e.g., adaptations, readings of the text).  You can also make recordings of yourself--e.g., readings of portions of text to highlight tone and meter.  And you can make connections to our society today.  Your annotations should be scholarly, relevant, and thoughtful, not just brief, casual personal opinions.  Consider how annotations will help readers understand and think about the text, offer interesting connections, and raise provocative questions. These annotations make the text "yours," allowing to create it.

You should set your annotations so they can be viewed by all groups.  This will allow you to look at other groups' annotations to see how the number of annotations they are using and the scope/focus of annotations.  This should be helpful in evaluating your own annotations.

Also, review some of the COVE Editions annotated texts on the COVE website:  https://editions.covecollective.org/editions

Cited and and Recommended Sources

You should include sources you directly cite to support points in your annotations as well as sources as recommended reading (e.g., issues you haven't had space/time to address or are not the focus of your text.).  For cited sources or works you cite, include quotated or paraphrased material in the annotation and then give the full bibliographic entry at the end of relevant annotations. (You are not using a traditional works cited page.)  Put recommended sources at the end of your critical introduction, using a heading such as "Recommended Sources" or "Further Reading."  Cite sources (style) using the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.  A copy is available in the library if you don't own your own.  Number of cited sources: 3-4; Number of recommended sources: 2-3.  These are guidelines.  You can use additional cited and recommended sources if you wish.  Note: Dictionary definitions or citations from the Norton Anthology--if you were to use it--should be considered additional sources.

 Research

You will need to conduct research about your text: historical references, author background, sources that discuss the text you are annotating, and cultural and social references.  You can search the Internet (e.g., Google) but you should also use the library databases.  Sources should included credible websites, journal articles, books or book chapters, and essay collections.  Both electronic and print sources are relevant.

For help with research, consult with the reference librarians.

**Check the stacks for books, e.g., British history, geography, critical studies of your author and text.  Also, critical essay collections will be helpful.

**Useful library databases for journal articles:  MLA International Bibliography, JStor (Full Text).  You can also search in specific journals the library subscribes to, e.g., Victorian Studies, Victorian Literture & Culture, Nineteenth-Century Literature.  For articles in journals the library does not subscribe to, use universal borrowing.

**The reference section in the library has specialty, subject-focused encyclopedias that may be useful for introductory knowledge/information.

**Helpful websites:  See Resources menu--"British Literature Links" on the course website, e.g., The Victorian Web.

 

Due Date: See syllabus