Module 2: Literature and Language Throughout History
As you already know, literature typically reflects the cultural values of its time. Specifically, a good piece of fiction is more than just a good story - it provides a glimpse into the history of its time. Throughout this course, you will be required to be a detective and analyze many texts with a careful eye. A primary source is an original document or an account from someone that witnessed an event or series of events. A secondary source is an account from someone that was not there. He or she has “second hand” knowledge of an event or series of events. It will be important to determine whether a piece of work is a primary or secondary document in order to understand its relevancy in providing an honest depiction of a time period.
Collaboration occurs when two or more people work together towards a common goal. For this assignment, you will work with other members of your class to collect, research, and analyze primary documents that represent the early to late Modern English time period (1400 to present). Your teacher will assign you to a group. Rather than dividing up the assignment between members of your group, plan on setting up several sessions to discuss the assignment, which should include all of the parts below. If you need assistance on creating effective presentations, please visit the Developmental Module.
Part I: Artifact Collection
Your first task is to collect the artifacts that your group will analyze in this assignment. In order to gather your artifacts, you can access a school or public library, or you can use the internet. You may want to visit the British Library's website.
Your group is responsible for collecting the following documents to analyze:
- 3 newspaper articles
- 3 photographs
- 2 legal documents (i.e. laws, treaties, pieces of legislation, etc.)
- 2 advertisements
As you find each of these artifacts, make sure to create a Works Cited document in which you cite them with the following information:
- The name of the artifact;
- The name of the artifact's author;
- The date of of the artifact's publication;
- How/where you found the artifact (URL or other resource); and
- A one to two sentence description of the artifact.
Part II: Artifact Analysis
For EACH of the artifacts identified by your team, you will need to complete the Primary Source Analysis Document. Since the assignment requires that you have ten different artifacts, you should complete ten different analyses. You will be using the same document analysis techniques throughout this course.
Part III: Group Peer Evaluation Form
It is important to work cooperatively to complete the assignment. Successful collaboration can be accomplished through careful planning and organization. Once you have completed the artifact collection and analysis, you should complete the Group Peer Evaluation Form. Make sure to read through the form in its entirety before you complete it.
Reflection
Now that you have studied an overview of all of the British literary periods, consider which of them you are most interested in studying? Why does that literary period interest you the most? In a digital document separate from your essay, compose three to four sentences responding to these questions.
Once you have completed your document collection, analysis, group accountability form, and reflection, please submit your work to the dropbox.
Once you have completed this module, please complete the module test.