ANNOTATED RESEARCH on the Internet

Research a literary, cultural, biographical, or historical subject from Lessons 5-8 (with one author, or one collection of works, or even one literary genre or cultural period–as long as you can FOCUS on one play! Research your subject on the Web.

Pick a topic to help you understand this part of our survey of drama. Good subjects include especially Sophoclean tragedy, or Aristotle on tragedy, Greek or Roman comedy, Medieval mystery plays, the Elizabethan revival of classical / development of Medieval drama / invention of modern drama, or of course Shakespearean comedy, tragedy or tragi-comic romance. Realism, Modernism, or Ibsen.
Pick one play for your focus within any broader subject.

Hamlet
Moliere, Misanthrope
Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Synge, Playboy of the Western World
1. Identify what subject you are exploring (including your focal play). Why is this subject interesting? What do you hope to discover?
2. Neatly summarize the plots, characters and themes of one play (not one which you describe in a Short Play Report).
3. Pick 3 different articles to summarize and evaluate:
1. You need a researchable topic or question, and 3 likely and substantial articles related to it. (Vary search terms & engines as needed. Appropriate websites or webpages: essays, reviews, history, definitions, etc. Not cinematographic background ‘news’ or mere reports of new movies.)
2. Give a full citation (MLA format) for each article. Cite EACH of your THREE sources fully: Web addresses are to be included–but they are NOT enough.
3. Summarize what each article says: what was its thesis statement or question, in what parts or steps did the author develop his thesis, and what kind of supporting evidence did he bring to bear? Summarize what is important about each webpage (–and its host website), including specifics on the topic and how it is developed, explanation of point of view and/or purpose, the format of the webpage, the quantity and quality of background links, and at least one distinctive example.
4. Then critique each article separately: what was interesting or well done in each essay, and what fell short of satisfying us? Critique the A) writing, B) usefulness, and C) informativeness of each article.
5. Post your reviews in 3 entries, with two bullets or numbered paragraphs in each entry.
6. Identify also, finally, which article is the best (and which the worst), and explain why.