Dr. Katherine D. Harris
English 201 (Fall 2007)

Textual History Group Project:
Practical Advice I
 

Getting Started

You've now read a great deal on how to research a textual history, as well as something about how to research a textual history on Steinbeck. What strategies should you use to turn that information into action? Keep in mind that you will put the information you gather into three forms: a brief group presentation, a group essay and a wiki. As a result, each person should read each piece of information in its original wording and context, but certainly each person doesn't need to have collected all the data individually.

Gathering Information: Initial Phases

A good tactic for managing this division of labor would be this:

photocopy all the resources you need (rather than take notes).

That way, though only one person gathered the info, both can see it in person. Consider making your initial copies at the library, but then going to a cheaper copy service to make other sets of those copies for yourself or your partner.

This also takes less time: you identify what you need and gather it, but leave the interpretation of that data for later. Scholars undertaking large projects often do just this, especially if they are at locations they can't get to often and they have limited time.

Taking Notes

General advice

Make sure that any notes you take clearly indicate whether it is a paraphrase or summary (for which you should use none of the author's words nor their sentence structure). Also indicate if your notes are a direct quotation: if a direct quotation it should provide an exact word-for-word, punctuation-for-punctuation mark, reproduction of the original text.

Advice specific to the contemporary reviews

Since the contemporary reviews often have a flare for wording, it's sometimes hard to get past those great phrases to the essential points. For each review, fill out the attached report form. This will help you analyze the apparently divergent information that the reviews give you.

Scholarly articles examining composition or publication history, etc.

Often articles or books will discuss textual information as part of a larger discussion, focusing on interpretation. This will point you in the right direction for focusing your own research.