Honors English 11/APE--Mrs. Rohrbach

Annotated Works Consulted /Cited List

Annotated Works Consulted/Cited lists ask you to comment on the usefulness of your sources. The criteria (see list below) for annotated works apply to books, articles, Web sites, and reference materials.

Elements to include in an evaluative annotation:

1. Brief, two to three sentence summary *

2. Author’s credentials (This may be the most challenging task. Consult Current Biography, Contemporary Authors, Book Review Digest, or some of the CD-ROM periodical indices for biographical information. For more tips, consult "Why Should I Take This Author Seriously?") **

3. Scope and purpose of the work: Is it an overview, in depth analysis of a single work, excerpt? *

4. Comparison of the work with others dealing with the same topic or others in your bibliography *

5. Intended audience **

6. Evaluation of research: Is the work logical, clear, well-documented? *

7. Evaluation of scope: Has the topic been adequately covered? *

8. Evaluation of author bias **

9. Relative value of the work to the thesis or project as a whole *

10. A relevant quotation from the source integrated seamlessly into the evaluation. *

* = Must be included for all sources

**= Must be included for Web sources UNLESS these sources are recognizable as reliable academic sources. Example of recognizable academic source: GaleNet

Example of an evaluative annotation for:

Marx, Leo. “Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry Finn.” The American Scholar October 1953. 34-39.

Marx, a famous and respected literary critic (Note that “famous and respected” are not specific credentials—With what university or organization is the author affiliated? What other articles/books has the author published? What is the author’s specialty? However, in this case, the source itself, The American Scholar, is a recognized source.), presents a compelling argument for acknowledging a serious flaw in the novel, the unsatisfactory ending. Marx aims his article at an audience who is familiar both with the novel and with analyses of the novel by Lionel Trilling and T.S. Eliot. Marx objects to the unequivocal praise of the novel offered by Trilling and Eliot and asks us to question the success of the ending from a thematic standpoint. However, Marx’s view that “Today we particularly need a criticism alert to lapses in moral vision” reveals his bias that novels must reflect a moral (obviously, “moral” as defined by Marx) resolution to plot and thematic issues. This bias acknowledged, Marx’s view provides a balance to the praise and points out where Twain may have sacrificed Huck’s moral growth for the plot and the joke. This view prompted me to seek other evaluations of the ending so that I could decide for myself about both Twain’s intent and unintended results.

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