About Project #2:

Annotations from a previous similar assignment

Here are additional thoughts to help explain Project #2 better:

Imagine you’re reading a novel for class. You’re reading it on a tablet, on your phone, on your computer, and when you tap on a word or a highlighted section, information appears. That information could define a word you might not have known, or could explain who a person referred to is/was, or could provide data about something that would help you understand what the author is referring to. Or it could link you to passages in other texts that relate, or to information about the author’s biography, or to important literary criticism written about that novel.

What would reading in that format be like?

What if you could contribute to a project that asks readers to do this work? How would that digital annotated text help you understand the text better than reading it in its original format?

Project #2 asks you to make an argument about how a digital annotated edition of Quicksand by Nella Larsen could help readers understand different aspects of the novel better.

To complete Project #2, you have several different pieces to bring together:

• A post that includes a research annotation, approximately a paragraph long, using three outside sources that you refer to in a Works Cited list
• Two posts that each include a glossary entry that connects in some way to the topic you have chosen to write about
• A post that includes the business letter to an editor at the Hathi Trust project (the organization that made the digital image of Quicksand available online) in which you argue for the benefits of a digital edition by making specific reference (by paraphrasing, quoting, and/or summarizing) not only to Quicksand but also to your research annotation and two glossary annotations.

Questions? Please keep asking them! This is the best way for me to know that I need to provide more or clearer information!

Important upcoming dates:

• Annotations due today, M 4/23. Please post them on our site by the end of the day. Choose the category “Research Annotation” and use any tags you think are appropriate.
• W 4/25: Please bring a draft of Project #2 to class on Wednesday for peer review.
• We will begin the next section of our readings, focusing on contemporary fiction. Get ready to share your ideas about what you enjoy reading as we read the short fiction and accompanying materials I will share with you.