Components of a Lamar Critical Edition
The basic components of your project will be:
Preface
Contexts section (to give readers some relevant historical, biographical, and social contexts that help shape the literary work)
Critical Conversation section (an overview of some of the most significant or influential criticism on the work, including reviews/summaries of several influential critical articles or books)
Original Critical Essays section (team members each contribute their own original critical essay on the literary work, drawing on their research for the Contexts and Critical Conversation sections)
These components can be arranged in any order you wish, since a website allows for greater creativity and flexibility than a traditional book.
These components require the performance of certain tasks:
Familiarity with the format of Norton critical editions on which ours are modeled. Selection of a literary work or group of works for your team's project. Research into contexts (eg. historical background and social circumstances of the work, author's biography, relevant introductions to the genre, literary movement, etc.)
Research into the most influential voices in the critical conversation about this work
Writing and editing report-style pieces for the context section
Writing and editing critical summaries for the critical conversation section
Writing and editing original critical essays informed by your team's research
Laying out and designing the website
Writing a brief preface for the website, short introductions to each of the sections, and an additional element or resource of your choosing
Evaluating team members
To complete these tasks, each individual within the team is responsible for contributing three pieces of writing within three different genres. The first contribution you will research and compose is a one-page critical summary of a significant critical article or book chapter that is influential in the field. The second contribution you will research and compose is a report on an aspect of relevant context surrounding the work. Examples of relevant context may include historical background and social circumstances of the work's composition, author's biography, relevant introductions to the genre, literary movement, and other issues relevant to your work. The third contribution will be an original critical research essay that draws on the knowledge gained in the other two sections. Each team member must also contribute something to the overall project. That contribution may consist of writing the preface to the website, writing one of the section introductions, proofreading all work before it is uploaded to the site, laying out the website, participating in the construction of your additional resource or feature, etc. Each website must contain the three sections (contexts, critical summaries, original essays) with contributions from all members, a preface and section introductions, and an additional feature or resource of your team's choosing, in consultation with me.
You will receive individual grades for your individual written components of this project, as well as a grade on the entire project (which can vary within teams depending on the workloads and behavior of individual team members).
Here is the timeline we created in class for successful completion of these tasks:
Final Due Date May 12, 2014
March 26, 2014 Background section (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
April 10, 2014 One-page summary of critical article (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
May 02, 2014 Original critical essay (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
As a first step in the process, let's look at some Norton Critical Editions, on which your project is modeled. (I have written the basics of each step of this assignment here, but since this website is intended to support our classwork, we will discuss each one in class as well.) Norton has a website that provides a list of all the Norton Critical Editions. As a team (or individually, as your team decides), look over several of these critical editions, examining their overview and content, to get a sense of what a typical Norton Critical Edition looks like. With your team, discuss the common features.
Some of the critical editions are quite different from the typical case, so you'll need to look at several examples and find the most common format. In class, we will discuss these common features when planning your teams' critical editions. Keep in mind that our Lamar Critical Editions will be web-based, not print books, so the format will not be exactly the same. You should try to capture the features and quality of a Norton Critical Edition in your own project, but our new format allows for some additional creativity and freedom for you.
Another early task your team will need to tackle is selecting a text or group of texts to be the focus of your critical edition. I will provide you with a pre-screened list of literary works that, through research, I have determined to be suitable for our project. I have selected these works because they are long and rich enough to provide you with a good variety of interpretive angles and they have a robust body of criticism about them, something you will need in order to conduct your research effectively. You will work on this selection process in your teams with guidance from me.
Preface
Contexts section (to give readers some relevant historical, biographical, and social contexts that help shape the literary work)
Critical Conversation section (an overview of some of the most significant or influential criticism on the work, including reviews/summaries of several influential critical articles or books)
Original Critical Essays section (team members each contribute their own original critical essay on the literary work, drawing on their research for the Contexts and Critical Conversation sections)
These components can be arranged in any order you wish, since a website allows for greater creativity and flexibility than a traditional book.
These components require the performance of certain tasks:
Familiarity with the format of Norton critical editions on which ours are modeled. Selection of a literary work or group of works for your team's project. Research into contexts (eg. historical background and social circumstances of the work, author's biography, relevant introductions to the genre, literary movement, etc.)
Research into the most influential voices in the critical conversation about this work
Writing and editing report-style pieces for the context section
Writing and editing critical summaries for the critical conversation section
Writing and editing original critical essays informed by your team's research
Laying out and designing the website
Writing a brief preface for the website, short introductions to each of the sections, and an additional element or resource of your choosing
Evaluating team members
To complete these tasks, each individual within the team is responsible for contributing three pieces of writing within three different genres. The first contribution you will research and compose is a one-page critical summary of a significant critical article or book chapter that is influential in the field. The second contribution you will research and compose is a report on an aspect of relevant context surrounding the work. Examples of relevant context may include historical background and social circumstances of the work's composition, author's biography, relevant introductions to the genre, literary movement, and other issues relevant to your work. The third contribution will be an original critical research essay that draws on the knowledge gained in the other two sections. Each team member must also contribute something to the overall project. That contribution may consist of writing the preface to the website, writing one of the section introductions, proofreading all work before it is uploaded to the site, laying out the website, participating in the construction of your additional resource or feature, etc. Each website must contain the three sections (contexts, critical summaries, original essays) with contributions from all members, a preface and section introductions, and an additional feature or resource of your team's choosing, in consultation with me.
You will receive individual grades for your individual written components of this project, as well as a grade on the entire project (which can vary within teams depending on the workloads and behavior of individual team members).
Here is the timeline we created in class for successful completion of these tasks:
Final Due Date May 12, 2014
March 26, 2014 Background section (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
April 10, 2014 One-page summary of critical article (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
May 02, 2014 Original critical essay (turned in to instructor for individual grade and revision suggestions)
As a first step in the process, let's look at some Norton Critical Editions, on which your project is modeled. (I have written the basics of each step of this assignment here, but since this website is intended to support our classwork, we will discuss each one in class as well.) Norton has a website that provides a list of all the Norton Critical Editions. As a team (or individually, as your team decides), look over several of these critical editions, examining their overview and content, to get a sense of what a typical Norton Critical Edition looks like. With your team, discuss the common features.
Some of the critical editions are quite different from the typical case, so you'll need to look at several examples and find the most common format. In class, we will discuss these common features when planning your teams' critical editions. Keep in mind that our Lamar Critical Editions will be web-based, not print books, so the format will not be exactly the same. You should try to capture the features and quality of a Norton Critical Edition in your own project, but our new format allows for some additional creativity and freedom for you.
Another early task your team will need to tackle is selecting a text or group of texts to be the focus of your critical edition. I will provide you with a pre-screened list of literary works that, through research, I have determined to be suitable for our project. I have selected these works because they are long and rich enough to provide you with a good variety of interpretive angles and they have a robust body of criticism about them, something you will need in order to conduct your research effectively. You will work on this selection process in your teams with guidance from me.