1) Put forth an argument for why the Misfit shoots the grandmother when he does. Find critical commentaries that offer at least three distinct interpretations of the ending of OConnors A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Evaluate, reconcile, and/or refute these differing interpretations. In addition to five to seven outside sources, use specifically quoted passages from the work itself to support your ideas.
Make sure to read the “Finding and Annotating Sources Slide Presentation” in the Week Four Module and the entire explanation below before completing this assignment.
For this week, find three more credible sources that you might use for your essay. Provide this for each:
1. The full MLA end citation
2. A summary of the main points of the article
3. An evaluation of the reliability by indicating the credibility of the source (such as the journal or periodical that it came from), the authority of the author (his/her credentials, expertise, profession, etc.), and quality of the information/argument.
The annotation should be three to five complete sentences long for the summary and a few sentences for the evaluation. (See p. 78 in Wadsworth for a sample annotated bibliography entry. Note, however, that you are expected to provide an evaluation of the source as well.)
***MAKE SURE TO ORDER THE SOURCES ALPHABETICALLY, ACCORDING TO MLA STYLE.
For this week, you can find all three sources using Macomb Library’s electronic sources. You can also find any or all three of your sources elsewhere on the internet. However, if you do decide to search the internet for a credible source, do not use the following websites: Shmoop, Sparknotes, 123Helpme.com, Cliffnotes, Gradesaver.com, Another copy of the work itself (you are looking for research about the workwe have the work in our text so no need to find it again), or any blogs or personal websites.
****RECOMMENDATION: If any of the sources that you’ve found in the last two weeks has a Bibliography, Works Cited, or List of References, you can use this to track down a source. See if the full text is available either in one of the Macomb Libraries Databases or on the web (using Google Scholar, Google, etc.). Find the sources that the scholars/writers who’ve written on your topic use for their articles. Also, on some databases (ProQuest, for example), a list of “Related Items” or “Suggestions for Further Reading” is provided for the source you’ve chosen. This is another way to find potentially relevant (often scholarly) sources.
****FURTHER RECOMMENDATION: If you are having trouble finding sources for the literary works that you are writing about, you might be able to broaden your search. Perhaps find one source about the works’ theme, as you see it. Perhaps find a relevant video about the work or author in FILMS ON DEMAND or (AVON) ACADEMIC VIDEOS ONLINE. If you really run into trouble, email me and I may be able to recommend a relevant source, or at least an avenue to pursue.
Internet Searches
The major problem with using the Internet (as in a Google search) is that the source may be unreliable, contain invalid information, or lack credibility. Google Scholar (Links to an external site.) is one method of finding quality sources on the Internet. To access this, click on the link above or type Google Scholar into a Google search box. Then enter your search terms into the search bar, or click on the link in the previous sentence. The problem with Google Scholar is that most of the returns are not available unless you pay for them. I don’t want you to have to do that for any essay in my class. If you instead choose to use regular Google, you can get a sense of the quality by looking at the end of the URL to see what type of source it is.
.edu = educational institution
.gov = government source
.com = commercial source
.net = private source
.org = nonprofit source
.mil = military source
For a literature class, .edu and .org are the best choices. The .net means a personal site, so its possible a scholar is publishing there, but its more likely Ill find good information from a school or nonprofit, such as a literary organization.
