Annotated Bibliography

Group Annotated Bibliography
This section includes the annotations of all three group members. Use the following menu's to see just those annotations made by each member.

Danny

Madeeha

Veronica

Group Annotations
'''Alzheimer’s Association. (2016). What is Alzheimer’s? Retrieved from http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp'''

The Alzheimer’s association website provides basic information about the Alzheimer’s disease, symptoms, effects on the brain, and the progress of its research. It is a useful source to learn about the disease. Another important link on this website is the major milestones in Alzheimer’s and brain research. It lists the key areas of the disease that have been defined so far through research. This source has been referenced in the historical context section.

'''Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia | Alzheimer's Association. (n.d.). Retrieved June 14, 2016, from http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp'''

This article examines closely a disease called Alzheimer’s, including how over time the disease worsens, the fact that Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging, it is the most common form of dementia, and that there is currently no cure but treatments for symptoms are available and research for it continues.

'''CBC Player. (2010, October). “Tangles: Alzheimer’s, My Mother, & Me” memoirist Sarah Leavitt (Interview) The Next Chapter. [Quote]. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1627182425'''

CBC Radio-Canada offers its services throughout the country by providing information and entertainment to the Canadians. There is a podcast available on the website where Sarah Leavitt talks about her memoir when it was initially published in 2010. The author shares the importance of documenting her mother’s illness as notes and sketches. This audio source provides useful content about Leavitt’s emotions towards her mother. The viewers would have appreciated more if the interview was videotaped instead of being recorded as a podcast. Lastly, there is an image from the CBC website on the media appearances and interviews section.

'''Changing Minds. (2016). Character types. Retrieved from Changing Minds.Org: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/characters/character_types.htm'''

This resource provided an excellent framework for Characterizations in the Family overview section. This source lists dozens of character types sorted by Sympathetic, Unsympathetic, Neutral, and Ambiguous with full descriptions listed for each character type. This source was useful in further defining the roles that the supporting characters played in Tangles. It wasn’t possible to fit every character into the character roles listed on this site, meaning that it was likely missing some character types. This site is devoted to providing comprehensive insights across a variety of topics with succinct definitions and key terms listed across the disciplines covered. The site does not advertise, and funds operations through donations. The storytelling discipline section of this site is among the most complete with over 250 pages dedicated to everything that has to do with storytelling. This page is just one of those 250. The information from this source was only used to populate the Family Characterizations section.

'''Cleave, R. V. (2016). Memoir Writing For Dummies. Retrieved from Dummies.com: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/memoir-writing-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html'''

The team at For Dummies (a series of simplified guides published by John Wiley & Sons) created a section of their site devoted to Memoir Writing for Dummies. This source is an excerpt from their larger book, and provides a number of beginner-level insights related to memoir characteristics. The section entitled ‘reader expectations for a memoir’ was used for the wiki analysis of Outstanding Scenes. This section is ambiguous as ‘outstanding’ scenes are open to interpretation. Prior to starting this section, the definition for Outstanding Scenes is taken from the For Dummies excerpt and placed on the Wiki with a link source. Working from the Vivid Scenes definition, we are able to specifically define many crucial moments of the memoir. One major limitation of this source is that the content is only an excerpt from the larger book on memoir writing, meaning that the definitions are limited and likely summarized. The material is authored by Ryan Van Cleave, an award winning American Poet, editor, and creative writing teacher.

'''Godman, H. (2013, December 9). A brief history of Alzheimer’s disease. Retrieved from http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/alzheimers-history#2'''

Healthline offers expert opinion which can guide people for the best health outcome. Its website presents a slideshow of a brief history of Alzheimer’s disease and its major discoveries. This is another useful source for anyone to learn about the disease. There are references to this in the historical context section.

'''Huffington Post. (n.d.). Tangles. [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-leavitt/author-i-dealt-with-grief_b_1478864.html?slideshow=true#gallery/224579/9'''

The Huffington Post presents a slideshow of Sarah Leavitt’ family and significant images from the memoir, Tangles. A picture of Leavitt with her mother during her illness is included in the early and adult life section. This is a good source to see photographs of Leavitt’s family and work.

'''Krishna, S. (2014, October 1). SWAPNA KRISHNA. Retrieved from Panels.net: http://panels.net/2014/10/01/my-kryptonite-the-thing-about-graphic-memoirs/'''

This article written by Swapna Krishna details several graphic memoirs and the use of colour (or the lack of colour) across a number of memoirs. The article explains the effect and outcome of using different colours, and how readers respond to these elements of a memoir. Krishna explains that memoirs with a lack of colour are indicative of imperfect thoughts or feelings on a topic. This knowledge enabled me to assess the deeper meaning behind frames that used blackouts and whiteouts to illustrate despair and reflection. Krishna is the managing editor for Panels.net, and regularly reads and reflects on graphic memoirs and colour. One major weakness of this article is the use of personal opinions across the memoir points. In my analysis, I saw things differently from Krishna, and this influenced my original opinions about the work. There were very few relevant sources that explained colour, and this source also discussed Tangles. As a result of seeing this information, I had to be careful not to use any of Krishna’s ideas in my analysis.

'''Leavitt, S. (2010). Tangles. Calgary: Freehand Books.'''

This is the source for the graphic memoir Tangles. Several frames were scanned and cropped into the Wiki for reference purposes and support in illustrating many of the points across site. This source appears across every page in the Technical analysis, as do scanned frames. This source was crucial to the analysis, as the images helped better explain the analysis points. There are no weaknesses to note.

'''McCullough, J. (2012, March). Interview with Sarah Leavitt. Retrieved from http://www.jjmccullough.com/index.php/interview-with-sarah-leavitt/'''

This website has posted an interview of Sarah Leavitt conducted by VanCAF webcomic in March 2012. Leavitt answered questions like how her family reacted on her book, Tangles, what is her educational background, where did she spent her childhood, etc. This source provided excellent information as it presented the author’s personal views instead of media’s views. The website however, should have released the entire interview since there were some good insightful questions proposed to Sarah Leavitt.

'''Nordquist, R. (n.d.). What Is a Writer's Purpose in Composition? Retrieved July 1, 2016, from http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/purpose-term.htm'''

This website looks at composition of writing and what an author’s reason for writing are. Some reasons include informing, entertaining, explaining, or persuading.

'''ReadWriteThink.com. '''(n.d.). Graphic Novel/Comics Terms and Concepts. Retrieved from Read Write Think: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1102/terms.pdf '''

This source was used extensively in the Images section of the Technical analysis, as the PDF provides several examples of literary terms and concepts for analyzing a graphic novel or comic. Many of the headings from this PDF appeared in the Images section, such as Text, Effects, and Faces. This source also helped with brainstorming new ideas for the Images analysis of Tangles. The source – ReadWriteThink – provides classroom support material and professional development classes for lecturers, making the information on the PDF relevant and valuable, as well as trustworthy. One major weaknesses of the PDF was the limited depth available. The PDF largely served as a jumping off point for other ideas in the analysis. The PDF is authored by the website rather than any particular author, this means there is a chance that other authors may hold different views related to the ‘terms’ cited.

'''Sarah Leavitt. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from http://sarahleavitt.com/about/'''

Sarah Leavitt’s official website provides her background information, career and some latest news from the media. This source is used to elaborate on her adult life, career, and book reviews. The website’s news tab lists the successful stories of her first book in different parts of the world. There are several good reviews on the site from many newspaper companies, magazines, and authors. Most of the images are taken from this source to provide a visual to the readers. Overall, this source has a lot of in-depth information and there are no weaknesses.

'''Shaw, A. (2011, July 6). An Introduction to Graphic Novels: Sequences. Retrieved from CloudSpace: http://www.cloudscapecomics.com/2011/07/06/an-introduction-to-graphic-novels-sequences/'''

This source provided the details needed to complete the Action section of the Technical analysis. Anise Shaw explains 5 types of graphic novel sequence design, and they include moment to moment; action to action; subject to subject; scene to scene; and aspect to aspect. Although these five types were not specifically used in the technical analysis, they greatly informed the scope of ‘action’ when defining different stories in Tangles. The lessons were originally posted on Epidigm.net, but the ideas were reformatted to serve CloudScape – an online community for comic book lovers in BC. Most importantly, one of the more abstract points in the Action analysis - Disconnected Scenes – was a direct result of the ideas covered in this article, and my own interpretation of the meaning. This article has few weaknesses, and covers the core concepts quite well. Examples for each of the sequence sections may have helped bolster the article.

Turner, T. (2008, July 23). The 8 Methods Of Characterization Powerpoint. Retrieved from SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/es99.trish.turner/the-8-methods-of-characterization-powerpoint'''

This source is a slide share presentation that covers 8 types of characterizations and brief explanations of each. These 8 categories of characterization were used extensively in the analysis of Mariam’s development – the main topic of the memoir. The 8 characterizations were not used directly, instead, many were combined into groups that were easier to explain in depth. This is one major weakness of this source. The list of 8 characterizations have a lot of overlap, and would lead someone to make the same analysis several times for the same character. This is the primary reason for the groupings done in our analysis. The source itself has over a hundred thousand views, making it a very attractive source for many users in the past. Another weakness of this source is the author, who is largely unknown. This does introduce some risk that the opinions are inaccurate, or that the list of characterizations is incomplete. For this reason, the resource was used only for the characterizations, not the deeper explanations behind each.

'''University of British Columbia. (2016). Sarah Leavitt. Retrieved from http://creativewriting.ubc.ca/program-information/faculty-staff/sarah-leavitt/'''

The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Arts page lists Sarah Leavitt as a lecturer of creative writing courses. The website provides specific names of the courses that she teaches. There is also a brief background and career information of Leavitt. The creative writing courses are mentioned in the careers, works, and awards section. The purpose of this source is to present information about UBC’s faculty and staff. Thus, there are no weaknesses.