Assignment: Critical Summary

This assignment will give you practice in critical reading, summary writing in its objective and critical forms, and evaluation of an article focusing on Canadian literature and culture.

The following is a list of articles published in Canadian Literature related to Monkey Beach. Selectone journal article from the list and write a critical summary. See Writing a Critical Summary for help.

• Rob Appleford’s Close, very close, a b’gwus howls: The Contingency of Execution in Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach
• Kit Dobson’s Indigeneity and Diversity in Eden Robinson’s Work

This short paper will give you practice in critical reading, summary writing in its objective and critical forms, and evaluation of an article focusing on Canadian literature and culture. Your paper should not exceed four pages double-spaced in 12-point font, excluding the title page and works cited page.

Please use MLA style for in-text citations and your works cited.

Recommended Steps

1. Review the articles and select the one of most interest and relevance to your work.
2. Read that one article and write an objective description and summary of it for an audience of your fellow students in the course. This portion of your assignment should include relevant information about the author, their credentials and affiliation, as well as the title and date of the article. It should indicate your reasons for selecting the piece and also summarize principal evidence and arguments in your own terms and words, giving careful in-text credit (in MLAstyle) to the source whenever you quote or reference it directly.
3. Write an evaluation of the strengths and/or weaknesses of the piece. This element of the assignment goes beyond a basic summary, becoming what is often referred to as a critical summary. Consider in your critical summary such elements as content, arguments, organization, scholarship, and style.
4. Take a position. Argue for or against the argument of the article.
5. Write a works cited entry for the article in the most recent MLA style.

Your assignment will be judged for its content, organization, clarity, and presentation in the most recent MLA style.

Works Cited

• Appleford, Rob. Close, very close, a b’gwus howls: The Contingency of Execution in Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach. Canadian Literature 184 (2005): 85–101. Print. (PDF)
• Dobson, Kit. Indigeneity and Diversity in Eden Robinson’s Work. Canadian Literature 201 (2009): 54–67. (PDF)
• Robinson, Eden. Monkey Beach. Toronto: Knopf, 2000. Print.