Lamott’s book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life

Lamott’s book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life

An annotated bibliography is a list of secondary source citations with a short overview of each essay’s main argument. The educational goal is to 1) gather information necessary for your final research paper and 2) to train yourself in finding other authors’ theses sentences so you can write your own. Before you begin this assignment you should read the Purdue OWL section on annotated bibliographies at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

For this assignment you should:

List at least six secondary sources in alphabetical order. These should include 3 booksand 3 journal articles.

Include all information required by the MLA style for the citation. You can find this in your handbook or online at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Include a 75-100 word summary of each source, which should include direct quotes. The goal here is for you to find the author’s thesis sentence.

Proofread for grammar errors. For style guidance, go to https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Your bibliography should look something like this for a book:

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print.

Lamott’s book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott’s book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one’s own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.

Lamott offers sane advice for those struggling with the anxieties of writing, but her main project seems to be offering the reader a reality check regarding writing, publishing, and struggling with one’s own imperfect humanity in the process. Rather than a practical handbook to producing and/or publishing, this text is indispensable because of its honest perspective, its down-to-earth humor, and its encouraging approach.

Chapters in this text could easily be included in the curriculum for a writing class. Several of the chapters in Part 1 address the writing process and would serve to generate discussion on students’ own drafting and revising processes. Some of the writing exercises would also be appropriate for generating classroom writing exercises. Students should find Lamott’s style both engaging and enjoyable.

(Example from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/03/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. )

And like this for an article:

Babbitt, Kevin. “Mary Magdalene and the Drama of Saints: Theatre, Gender, and Religion in Late Medieval England.” Theatre Journal 57.2 (2005). 331-332. 10 September 2005. <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ theatre_journal/v057/57.2babbitt.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.>.

The author provides an in-depth review of Theresa Coletti’s book (ISBN-13: 978-0812238006) based on the Bodleian Library manuscript Digby 133 (the Digby Mary Magdalene). He is very favorable of the book, describing the author’s analysis as knowledgeable, thorough, and cohesive. Babbitt highly recommends the text for anyone interested in looking at the performance of religion, especially in light of gender issues.