LitWiki:How to Contribute: Difference between revisions
Added more to summary and character. |
m →Annotated Bibliography Entry: fixed a word |
||
| (2 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
==Study Guides== | ==Study Guides== | ||
Most study guides will address a '''text''' of some sort, from {{c|Poetry|poems}} to {{c|Prose|prose}}, and even television shows and films. While there is no one correct way of writing a study guide, most will contain similar sections, listed below in a somewhat arbitrary order. You might begin by having a look at well written examples, like the Wikipedia entry for “[[w:Indian Camp|Indian Camp]]” or one of the [[w:Wikipedia:Featured_articles#Literature and theatre|featured articles in literature and theater]]. These are all good models for study guides. You might also see the [[w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/ArticleTemplate|article template for books]] to give you an idea for organizing your study guide and a place to focus your research. Unless you are an experienced wiki editor, you might begin small by choosing | Most study guides will address a '''text''' of some sort, from {{c|Poetry|poems}} to {{c|Prose|prose}}, and even television shows and films. While there is no one correct way of writing a study guide, most will contain similar sections, listed below in a somewhat arbitrary order. You might begin by having a look at well written examples, like the Wikipedia entry for “[[w:Indian Camp|Indian Camp]]” or one of the [[w:Wikipedia:Featured_articles#Literature and theatre|featured articles in literature and theater]]. These are all good models for study guides. You might also see the [[w:Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels/ArticleTemplate|article template for books]] to give you an idea for organizing your study guide and a place to focus your research. Unless you are an experienced wiki editor, you might begin small by choosing a section of a study guide to '''research''', write, and edit. The following are various places ways to focus. | ||
===Annotated Bibliography Entry=== | ===Annotated Bibliography Entry=== | ||
| Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
First, locate a '''strong secondary source''',{{refn|See [[w:Wikipedia:Reliable sources|Wikipedia:Reliable sources]] for a thorough discussion about choosing reliable sources for research. Essentially, you should keep your sources to '''scholarly printed material''': books and journals. Occasionally web resources will work, like reviews and essays in magazines and newspapers and the infrequent web site, but mostly you will want to stick to those items you find in a library. Physically going to the library is the best way to uncover excellent sources, but increasingly full-text resources are available via university libraries. Either way, introduce yourself to a librarian to get the best sources.}} usually a book or an article from a scholarly journal—your university library is a big help here. Get the article and read it, taking notes as you go. Try to identify the critic’s main point(s) and write it in your own words. Once you have read the article, you are ready to write your bibliographic entry. | First, locate a '''strong secondary source''',{{refn|See [[w:Wikipedia:Reliable sources|Wikipedia:Reliable sources]] for a thorough discussion about choosing reliable sources for research. Essentially, you should keep your sources to '''scholarly printed material''': books and journals. Occasionally web resources will work, like reviews and essays in magazines and newspapers and the infrequent web site, but mostly you will want to stick to those items you find in a library. Physically going to the library is the best way to uncover excellent sources, but increasingly full-text resources are available via university libraries. Either way, introduce yourself to a librarian to get the best sources.}} usually a book or an article from a scholarly journal—your university library is a big help here. Get the article and read it, taking notes as you go. Try to identify the critic’s main point(s) and write it in your own words. Once you have read the article, you are ready to write your bibliographic entry. | ||
Next, find the appropriate '''citation template''': [[w:Template:Cite book|book]], [[w:Template:Cite journal|journal]], [[w:Template:Cite magazine|magazine]], [[w:Template:Cite news|newspaper]], or [[w:Template:Cite web|web site]]{{refn|Web sites should be used sparingly as they (1) are often not credible, and (2) tend to disappear. If you think a web page would make a good source, look for two things: an author’s name and a posted date. If these are missing, you might want to avoid using the site as a source.}} will cover most of them.{{refn|See [[w:Wikipedia:Citation templates|Wikipedia:Citation templates]] for further explanation and a list of other source templates you can use.}} Templates provide an easy, consistent way to use sources. For example, this is the template for citing a book: | |||
<code><nowiki>{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date= |title= |url= |location= |publisher= |page= |isbn=}}</nowiki></code> | <code><nowiki>{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date= |title= |url= |location= |publisher= |page= |isbn=}}</nowiki></code> | ||
| Line 31: | Line 31: | ||
===Theme Exploration=== | ===Theme Exploration=== | ||
Identify and explain a theme of the text. | Identify and explain a [[theme]], or a main concern, of the text. First, do some research by finding a couple of strong secondary sources, like chapters in an edited collection (book) or articles in scholarly journals. You might even use the keyword “theme” while searching. Read the articles to get an idea of the themes in the work, and write a paragraph explaining how the theme operates in the text. Be sure you cite your sources correctly: add the source to the “works cited” section using the proper template and use shortened footnotes for in-text citations (see [[Help:Contents]]). For example, see “[[w:Indian Camp#Initiation and fear of death|Indian Camp]],” “[[w:To Build a Fire|To Build a Fire]],” and/or “[[w:The Man Who Studied Yoga|The Man Who Studied Yoga]]” on Wikipedia. | ||
===Symbol/Metaphor Analysis=== | ===Symbol/Metaphor Analysis=== | ||
| Line 49: | Line 49: | ||
===Content Expansion and Revision=== | ===Content Expansion and Revision=== | ||
Nothing is ever perfect. Revise or add to any sections that need it. | Nothing is ever perfect. Revise or add to any sections that need it. | ||
==Literary Term== | ==Literary Term== | ||