ENGL 2322: British Literature Fall 2024

We are reading texts from a time that starkly contrasts our own. Daily life, customs, culture,
beliefs: you name it, and it was different. For your first research project, I want you to
investigate the earlier period, so that you can understand where the authors are coming from
and why characters behave the way they do. Crime and law enforcement are ubiquitous
today; we even have entire TV networks devoted to them. There was crime in earlier periods,
too, but there was no organized law enforcement, and they had a different approach to
breaking the law.

This project asks you to pick a topic related to crime: law enforcement, court, trials, criminal
investigations, or something else. And then it also asks you to pick a specific crime: robbery,
murder, adultery, treason, etc. You will then create an Annotated Bibliography that
demonstrates your learning. This is, in a sense, historical research. However, all literature is
historically situated. You cannot read it without considering whence it came. You need
background information to comprehend texts fully. Because this class deals with crime,
criminality, and social deviance, it is important for you to understand how crime was
addressed back in the days of yore. For the final product, all your sources need to have been
found in the LSC library.

The task.
1. Pick two topics. The first should be a crime-related topic. Basically, learn something
about the criminal justice process: criminal investigations, “police,” trials, etc. There
was not an organized police force until fairly recently. How did people organize and
investigate, punish, and fight crime? Then, pick a specific crime and learn about how
it was perceived. You are looking at the way things were handled in England between
the years 700 and 1700.
2. Once you’ve settled on something interesting, start researching it in the library. Find
2 sources from the library databases that teach you about each topic. You should
have four sources total.
3. Read the and compose an Annotated Bibliography with a reflection, which includes
the components below. Look at the sample to help with formatting