Difference between revisions of "Excerpt"

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==Read and digest==
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Studying literature it is part of the job to read greater quantities of texts from different periods and genres, both "primary" and "secondary literature".
  
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Studying literature you are bound to read a lot of texts from different periods and genres, both "primary" and "secondary literature".  
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===Underline passages? Leave little notes alongside the text!===
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Most of us feel compelled to underline passages while reading. Underlined passages can allow a fast second reading if one knows exactly what one underlined. After a while one just has a book with lots of underlined passages which is more difficult to read than a fresh text. Leave marginal notes with information why this is an important passage.
  
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===Underline passages? Leave little notes alongside the text?===
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If you read an article in a scientific journal restrict your text marks to a minimum. Ask yourself: what are the central ideas and statements and what are passages one has to quote to document this message?
  
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Most of us feel compelled to underline passages while reading. Beginners feel especially safe while underlining. In the end they have a text with 90% marked passages, often in different colors - and regularly of no use at all. Once they are through with the text they have to re-read the underlined passages, and then they realise, that they do have to read the passages they did not underline to make sense of all the underlined passages. A text without the coloured passages would now be easier to read...
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In order to get the information out of the text write an excerpt.
  
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If you read an article in a scientific journal restrict your text marks to a minimum. Ask yourself: what are the central ideas and statements and what are passages one has to quote to document this message? An article of 25 pages might contain three or four underlined passages - because you would not quote more if you had to substantiate a summary of the author's position.
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===Identify your text===
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''Robinson Crusoe'' exists in hundreds of editions - page references vary accordingly. When you begin your excerpt note what edition you used. Try to use a critical edition: one with a scientific apparatus that follows the original as closely as possible (and that tells you where the editors interfered with the original text). EEBO and ECCO allow the use of first editions, they are always perfect to quote.
  
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===Get the information out of the text!===
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Quote your title according to the [https://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/anglistik/download/BM7/materials/Leitfaden_Lit-Cult_2017-2018.pdf style sheet]'s advice. You can use this quote later on in footnotes and bibliographies.
  
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You cannot learn and remember everything. It is much more important to remember where you saw the information. That is why you have to get the information '''out of the text''' - into a medium you yourself organise. If you work on a topic open a file in which you gather notes telling you where you found relevant information.
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===Give information on length and structure of the book you are summarising===
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Modern books use a blurb (Klappentext) to give first information. Design and table of contents offer additional information. Early modern books had their own means to offer first information. Here some important things to look at:
  
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If you read an article or book, create an excerpt that will help you later to trace back relevant information. 
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'''Front matter'''
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* Frontispiece (an engraving - what does it show?)
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* Original title page information
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:The Original Defoe title page read (here with line breaks):
  
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==How to write a good excerpt==
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::THE| LIFE| AND| STRANGE SURPRIZING| ADVENTURES| OF| ''ROBINSON CRUSOE'',| Of ''YORK'', MARINER:| Who lived Eight and Twenty Years,| all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the| Coast of AMERICA, near the Mouth of| the Great River of OROONOQUE;| Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-|in all the Men perished but himself.| WITH| An Account how he was at last as strangely deli-|ver'd by PYRATES.| [rule]| ''Written by Himself''.| [rule]| ''LONDON:''| Printed for W. TAYLOR at the ''Ship'' in ''Pater-Noster-''|''Row''. MDCCXIX.
  
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===Identify your text===
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:Is the author mentioned? Are there indications of a genre: "A novel"? Are there misleading elements: this is the true story written by Robinson Crusoe - whilst we know that it is Defoe's work. Are these elements handled in order to mislead or simply a convention readers understand as such? What information do we get about the publisher(s)? Scandalous titles can give (openly) misleading information. 
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* List of subscribers (an indication that people expected this book to come out and even paid for it in advance)
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* Dedication - to whom is the book dedicated and to what effect? Irony, Flattery, Advertisement (persons of such a high status will appreciate this book)
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* Preface (why should one read this book?)
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* Table of contents
  
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''Robinson Crusoe'' exists in hundreds of editions - page references vary accordingly. When you begin your excerpt note what edition you used. Try to use an edition you can quote in any context - the first edition of ''Robinson Crusoe'' is available on the web, it is the perfect edition to quote. If you buy an edition rather pay a bit more to get a "critical" edition.
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'''Text'''
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*How structured? (chapters? single uninterrupted text?)
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*Mode of presentation (first person narrative? drama?)
  
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Quote your title according to the [[style sheet]]'s advice - that will help you later to list your title in footnotes or bibliographies with simple copy and paste.  
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'''Apendices'''
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*Index etc.?
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*Publisher's book advertisements?
  
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===Give information on length and structure of the book you are summarising===
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What kind of use can readers make? Are there indications of topics?
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It makes a difference whether it was a 50 page story or an 800 page novel - your excerpt of a 50 page story can touch the plot briefly and concentrate on interesting observations - you can re-read the text any time. A drama or an 800 page novel is something different. State how many pages it has, give a note on the structure. Maybe make copy of the table of contents.
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===Note what information the text originally gave on author and publication details===
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If you read (a EEBO or ECCO reproduction of) an original book with an interest to see what kind of book this originally was note details about the format of the original book.
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*What information did the title page give? Our modern editions of ''Robinson Crusoe'' offer "Daniel Defoe" as the author and add labels like "literature" or "fiction", "a novel". The original editions played an entirely different game. Take a copy of the original title page if you can. If you can't, you might quote the entire title page as specialists used to do before it became so easy to access scans of the originals - this is a "diplomatic transcript" of ''Robinson Crusoe's'' first edition title page (a quote which gives you information about the original layout of the page):
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::THE| LIFE| AND| STRANGE SURPRIZING| ADVENTURES| OF| ''ROBINSON CRUSOE'',| Of ''YORK'', MARINER:| Who lived Eight and Twenty Years,| all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the| Coast of AMERICA, near the Mouth of| the Great River of OROONOQUE;| Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-|in all the Men perished but himself.| WITH| An Account how he was at last as strangely deli-|ver'd by PYRATES.| [rule]| ''Written by Himself''.| [rule]| ''LONDON:''| Printed for W. TAYLOR at the ''Ship'' in ''Pater-Noster-''|''Row''. MDCCXIX.
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*What additional information did the dedication or preface provide (many older texts had these additions - often filled with misleading information).
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===Produce a kind of quick diary while reading the text===
 
===Produce a kind of quick diary while reading the text===
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While reading it is good to take quick notes - with page references: What happens on these pages, what has happened in the chapter you have just read? in the act or the scene of your play? Taking notes is the only way you make sure you somehow digested the text. Take a piece of paper, note page numbers (act or scene references) on the left and take notes referring to these page numbers.
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*While reading it is good to take quick notes - with page references. Write page numbers on the left hand side and add short remarks on content. If the book has individual chapters take a short note after each chapter. In case of a drama: give indications for each scene.
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*If there are interesting topics you may also produce an index of interesting passages under different headings.
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If you are reading a scientific book take notes of steps the author took - is there a point he/she tries to make? How is it proved.
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===After reading the text: reconsider your reading experience===
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The excerpt you created while reading the text is often difficult to understand later - you talked about protagonists of the play and said what they did - a year later you might no longer remember how many characters the play had and how they related to each other. Who was in love with whom? Who was whose son? Why did these people do these things? Add a few sentences as a survey and garnish that survey with your personal thoughts. Be frank - if you did not like the text, state it. If you read it because you had to, state it.  
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If you read books in order to write about them, think of passages you might want to refer to in your paper, Abschlussarbeit or dissertation.
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===After reading the entire text/drama===
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*Give a short summary
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*Try to reflect your reading: Why did you read this text (working on a seminar paper with a certain question, or simply: private amusement)? What do you think you can do with your reading?
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*Note surprising moments, interesting topics
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*In case of secondary literature: summarise the argument and comment on its consistency.
  
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==What do I do with my excerpt?==
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you may place these condensed reflections with copy and paste at the beginning of your excerpt. (The diary of your reading is often difficult after a couple of weeks have passed). Do write your excerpt as if you had to take care for a person (yourself) suffering from progressing amnesia.
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Your excerpts should help you to get a broad range of texts to refer to. Your finals will include oral examinations in which you will speak about topics of your choice and about selections of texts you want to discuss under these headings.
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You can collect your excerpts with your seminar materials - which is not the best thing to do. It is most convenient if you can recycle materials, i.e. if you can use them in different and ever changing contexts.  
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===What do I do with my excerpt?===
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Open a file for all your excerpts. A chronological order (first publications, e.g. 1719 for Defoe's ''Robinson Crusoe'') can be helpful.
  
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Some people take notes on file cards they eventually put into the respective books they have in their bookshelves. Others have Aktenordner for their excerpts (and additional materials they collected). A good way to organise your excerpts in a larger file system is the chronological arrangement: Note the date of the first publication on top of the first page and allow excerpts of books of different fields you study to stand next to each other. It can be extremely interesting to see what kinds of materials were published and read at the same time - or to think whether there are centuries of which you have never read a single line.
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Recycle your readings.
  
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==Examples==
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===Examples===
  
 
*[http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/anglistik/lit-wiss/downloads/excerpt_hobbes_leviathan_1651.pdf Excerpt of Thomas Hobbes, ''Leviathan'' (1651).] (Handwritten during my student years, used red colour when I quoted Hobbes, was, as it seems, extremely fascinated --[[User:Olaf Simons|Olaf Simons]])
 
*[http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/anglistik/lit-wiss/downloads/excerpt_hobbes_leviathan_1651.pdf Excerpt of Thomas Hobbes, ''Leviathan'' (1651).] (Handwritten during my student years, used red colour when I quoted Hobbes, was, as it seems, extremely fascinated --[[User:Olaf Simons|Olaf Simons]])

Latest revision as of 14:32, 2 February 2018

Studying literature it is part of the job to read greater quantities of texts from different periods and genres, both "primary" and "secondary literature".

Underline passages? Leave little notes alongside the text!

Most of us feel compelled to underline passages while reading. Underlined passages can allow a fast second reading if one knows exactly what one underlined. After a while one just has a book with lots of underlined passages which is more difficult to read than a fresh text. Leave marginal notes with information why this is an important passage.

If you read an article in a scientific journal restrict your text marks to a minimum. Ask yourself: what are the central ideas and statements and what are passages one has to quote to document this message?

In order to get the information out of the text write an excerpt.

Identify your text

Robinson Crusoe exists in hundreds of editions - page references vary accordingly. When you begin your excerpt note what edition you used. Try to use a critical edition: one with a scientific apparatus that follows the original as closely as possible (and that tells you where the editors interfered with the original text). EEBO and ECCO allow the use of first editions, they are always perfect to quote.

Quote your title according to the style sheet's advice. You can use this quote later on in footnotes and bibliographies.

Give information on length and structure of the book you are summarising

Modern books use a blurb (Klappentext) to give first information. Design and table of contents offer additional information. Early modern books had their own means to offer first information. Here some important things to look at:

Front matter

  • Frontispiece (an engraving - what does it show?)
  • Original title page information
The Original Defoe title page read (here with line breaks):
THE| LIFE| AND| STRANGE SURPRIZING| ADVENTURES| OF| ROBINSON CRUSOE,| Of YORK, MARINER:| Who lived Eight and Twenty Years,| all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the| Coast of AMERICA, near the Mouth of| the Great River of OROONOQUE;| Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-|in all the Men perished but himself.| WITH| An Account how he was at last as strangely deli-|ver'd by PYRATES.| [rule]| Written by Himself.| [rule]| LONDON:| Printed for W. TAYLOR at the Ship in Pater-Noster-|Row. MDCCXIX.
Is the author mentioned? Are there indications of a genre: "A novel"? Are there misleading elements: this is the true story written by Robinson Crusoe - whilst we know that it is Defoe's work. Are these elements handled in order to mislead or simply a convention readers understand as such? What information do we get about the publisher(s)? Scandalous titles can give (openly) misleading information.
  • List of subscribers (an indication that people expected this book to come out and even paid for it in advance)
  • Dedication - to whom is the book dedicated and to what effect? Irony, Flattery, Advertisement (persons of such a high status will appreciate this book)
  • Preface (why should one read this book?)
  • Table of contents

Text

  • How structured? (chapters? single uninterrupted text?)
  • Mode of presentation (first person narrative? drama?)

Apendices

  • Index etc.?
  • Publisher's book advertisements?

What kind of use can readers make? Are there indications of topics?

Produce a kind of quick diary while reading the text

  • While reading it is good to take quick notes - with page references. Write page numbers on the left hand side and add short remarks on content. If the book has individual chapters take a short note after each chapter. In case of a drama: give indications for each scene.
  • If there are interesting topics you may also produce an index of interesting passages under different headings.

After reading the entire text/drama

  • Give a short summary
  • Try to reflect your reading: Why did you read this text (working on a seminar paper with a certain question, or simply: private amusement)? What do you think you can do with your reading?
  • Note surprising moments, interesting topics
  • In case of secondary literature: summarise the argument and comment on its consistency.

you may place these condensed reflections with copy and paste at the beginning of your excerpt. (The diary of your reading is often difficult after a couple of weeks have passed). Do write your excerpt as if you had to take care for a person (yourself) suffering from progressing amnesia.

What do I do with my excerpt?

Open a file for all your excerpts. A chronological order (first publications, e.g. 1719 for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) can be helpful.

Recycle your readings.

Examples

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