Literary research can take multiple forms. All will involve a close read of the work of literature along with the support of outside texts about the author, genre, theme, or historical significance. Close reading will help you describe the setting, themes, characters and plot. While outside sources will provide further information on the author, genre, theme, or historical significance.
As you read and analyze these outside sources, you are entering into a larger scholarly conversation covering not just this one piece of literature, but an author's full works, and even entire genres. Scholarly conversation is the existing research surrounding a topic. Like most conversations, these conversations are in constant flux as they change with new ideas and different points of view. Scholars may disagree with each other but to do so they must acknowledge what others have been saying as they make their arguments. They do so to demonstrate their knowledge of what has been said about a piece of literature or theme in part to strengthen their arguments and in part to build their own credibility.
Authors enter into this scholarly conversations through the use of citations. Citations allow readers to more easily follow along with the conversations the authors are having.
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Primary sources are the works of literature being analyzed by you or the authors writing secondary sources. Examples include:
• Poems • Novels • Films/Plays • Letters by or about the author from the time period of the author’s life • News articles about the author or work from the time period of the author’s life |
Secondary sources are those that analyze or comment on the primary sources or that you use to analyze the primary sources. In other words, the authors of the sources talk about the topic or primary sources in the secondary ones. These are where you will find the scholarly conversation. Examples include:
• Biographies • Work Overviews • Topic Overviews • Literary Criticism • Peer-reviewed criticism |
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