THIS SECTION
HAS THREE MAJOR FEATURES:
1) Sites for general study.
They include general homework help sites, the NCC library,
a site for finding literary texts which you can read on-screen or
download, and general help in matters in English and writing.
There are also sites for preparing a speech and for
overcoming procrastination!!!
2) Material specifically for your novel
and the documented essay assignment for English 102. For the 102
material, scroll toward the bottom of the page.
3)
Some comments about dictionaries.
FEATURE ONE: SITES TO AID IN ENGLISH AND GENERAL STUDY
NCC Library:
click on the URL below and follow the instructions. You will be
able to log in and actually find (1) what the library holds about
your author and (2) which items are currently available. You want
the NCC Library Catalogue button. In addition, there is a link to
some 16 other local libraries. If you don’t get in right away,
keep trying, for it is a very busy site.
www.sunynassau.edu/dptpages/library/libpage.htm
Finding Texts to Read Online:
This is the famous Guttenberg site, which has
over 10,000 texts which you can read online or download and even
print. The only catch is that many items which you might want and
under copyright (e. g., “Hills Like White Elephants”) and
therefore unavailable. However, just for the heck of it, I
entered The Scarlet Letter and “The Fall of the House of
Usher” (Poe), and I got them both (you have to scroll down a lot
of disclaimer material to get to the text.) This site might be
helpful if you have not been able to find something which you need
right now (e. g., your dog ate your copy of Hamlet), or you
left your novel at your significant other’s house. Don’t hesitate
to check the other links on the home page. Here it is (copy it
into your browser):
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
Homework Help:
these represent various levels from high school through college.
Don’t be put off by the high school level, for they contain very
basic material through Advanced Placement, which is the equivalent
of freshman and sophomore college work. Some even have discussion
rooms and/or question/answer help from teachers. I have also
listed sites for speech preparation, overcoming procrastination,
and a site where you might find a text which you need immediately.
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At any college library, type your author’s
last name into the computer, and you will find all of the
works by and about him/her, and they will all be together
in one place on the library shelves (the works by him/her
come first). Look, especially for (1) a volume which
contains your novel, followed by critical items; (2)
volumes which are collections of critical items about your
author/novel. Check the rear of such books for further
sources. ALL COLLEGE LIBRARIES USE THE SAME SYSTEM. For
instance, an English novel’s call number begins with PR;
an American with PS.
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At your public library (which uses a
different system), you will have to search by author and
title more methodically.
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For research techniques consult The
Riverside Handbook or The Little,Brown Handbook,
or any such volumes which use the MLA system.
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Good individual commentaries appear in
Contemporary Literary Criticsim (Ref/PN 771/.D59) and
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (Ref/PN
771.G27).
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Check your server (AOL, EROLS, etc.) for
sections on writing techniques and literature. AOL has a
very good one, Barron’s Book Notes, under "Channels."
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Cliffs Notes, Monarch Notes, etc., are
useful for studying the novel, but you may not use such
devices as sources. However, they do have, at the rear,
lists of material for further study.
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Another web tip: try putting "English 102"
into your browser. You will find lots of general help, and
you just might find me!
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JUST
REMEMBER: I don’t object to your using ideas from others
to help you with interpretation, but YOU MUST PUT OTHERS’
IDEAS INTO YOUR OWN WORDS. Ultra-sophisticated language is
a dead giveaway to what is called language plagiarism.
(See the links to PLAGIARISM on Home Page).
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FEATURE THREE:
DICTIONARIES
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The first point is that if you are serious
about college work, you MUST have a good, recent desk-sized
dictionary(not a small paperback). Nor is a synonym list
like Roget’s satisfactory. For instant help, your word
processing program’s dictionary can be helpful, but nothing
is superior to the real thing. Following are two items to
consider, the first to be purchased; the second to be
consulted in a college library:
1.
The American Heritage
Dictionary. Though Webster’s
Colllgiate is quite popular and highly admired, I
believe that the Heritage is superior for general and school
work. It is attractively printed, and most importantly,
the first given definition is the standard one. It also
has a fine section on standard English usage for such
matters as effect/affect;
bring/take, etc.
2.
The Oxford English
Dictionary. Often referred to as
the O. E. D. This is a gigantic, multi-volume dictionary in
the Reference Section of most college libraries (not so
often at public libraries). It has virtually every word in
the language with definitions and examples from the earliest
appearance of the word through the word’s many changes over
the years and even centuries. It is especially helpful if
you are working with texts earlier than, say, World War II.
For instance, what is the meaning of “mistress” in Marvel’s
seventeenth-century poem, “To His Coy Mistress?”
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