Annotating the Working Notes

An assignment by Anna Gibson

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Overview

Whenever I assign a novel that was originally published in parts, I encourage my students to attend to its serial structure. I have experimented with spreading out a novel across an extended period of the semester in an approximation of serial reading, but more often I provide students with a “serial key” to the novel—parts, dates, and page numbers—so that they can mark up their Penguin or Oxford trade paperback, adding sticky tabs or pencilled divisions to mark the installments. As they read, I ask them to attend to the serial breaks. What would it feel like to have to wait a week or a month for the next number? What is the function of a single serial part within the larger novel?

I developed this assignment for a master’s-level class in which I wanted to deepen our critical engagement with the function of a single installment of a monthly Dickens novel, both for our analysis of the text as a whole and our understanding of Dickens’s serial composition over time. I have also adapted it for an upper-level undergraduate course. Each student is assigned one of the nineteen monthly installments of the novel and its corresponding page of working notes. In this two-part assignment, students are tasked with adding comprehensive annotations to their page of working notes; they then write a short essay that makes a claim about the work performed by this installment in relation to the larger novel. The example I have included here takes Little Dorrit as its focus, but it could easily be adapted to any monthly novel (e.g. David Copperfield, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend). Since the two courses in which I have implemented versions of this assignment were quite small (approximately 15 students), I was able to avoid assigning the final double number, instead prioritizing installments 3-17 so that students could attend to how their part of the novel develops elements of plot from previous installments and, to borrow Dickens’s phrase, “paves the way” for future installments.

This assignment has the benefit of focusing attention on one manageable part of a very long novel. I have often found that long multiplot novels can overwhelm students; in written assignments they often slip into generalization or description rather than analysis. In giving students responsibility for a single installment, this assignment encourages them to “zoom in” on the specific narrative function of scenes, dialogue, events, and character development. This kind of concentrated focus on one narrative unit also draws attention to the experience of serial reading: what does it mean to consider the work performed by this serial part before the future of the novel exists? The first part of the assignment uses the working notes to get students thinking about the composition of an installment, which can lead to insightful claims about function in the second part, the essay. How does Dickens use this part to move the novel towards its as-yet unwritten serial future? What decisions is he making at this point in the novel’s development? What does he consider but dismiss, and to what extent are those virtual possibilities for the novel significant? In what ways does this installment introduce new elements to the novel, and to what extent does it advance longer-term developments? What expectations does it generate in a serial reader?

The annotation portion of this assignment promotes a critical engagement rooted in close reading, helping students develop an argument about narrative function for their subsequent essay by building up from analysis of small details about the novel as it was written. The working notes not only train students’ attention to the content of their installment, which I ask them to re-read alongside their page of working notes; they also help students consider the compositional dynamics of the number, the “work” it performs in relation to those that came before and those for which it prepares. For instance, a student working on Number XII of Little Dorrit might consider the significance of the repeated phrase “pave the way” in reference to Mr. Merdle, who does not appear as a character in this monthly part. How is this installment doing the work of “paving the way” for Merdle’s downfall? The working notes can provide students with a pathway into the intricacies of the text.

Instructors might use a variety of annotation tools for this type of assignment. Since my institution subscribes to Perusall, I can provide students with access to PDFs of the working note transcriptions from Dickens Notes in this annotation platform. (Instructors who are interested in developing a similar assignment are invited to reach out to the Dickens Notes team for transcription PDFs.) They can highlight text using the text annotation tool, but they can also select areas of the page, including non-textual markings, using the image annotation tool. I am able to respond to annotations and even “grade” the assignment in Perusall. Other tools that would facilitate this kind of annotation activity include Hypothes.is, Adobe Acrobat, and, of course, old-fashioned paper and pen! Instructors who want to encourage students to engage with one another might consider paired discussions in class between those responsible for the installments immediately before and after their own. What can they learn from each other’s insights? Could they even cross-reference their peers’ annotations in Perusall, which will provide hyperlinks to individual annotations?

I do encourage students to resist reading through the annotations on Dickens Notes for their installment before they write their own, primarily because I want to avoid overwhelming them with information that will cloud their own engagement with the notes. In class I stress that the kind of annotations they are writing are not the same as the editorial annotations on Dickens Notes; rather than providing historical and critical context, they are annotating to consider meaning, plot, character development, and the novel’s serial form, its organization and development number by number. Similarly, while students are welcome to do research to inform their annotations, this is not a requirement of the assignment, since my goal is to prioritize their own analysis.

The short essay component of the assignment asks students to develop a claim, or a series of connecting claims, about the narrative function of their assigned installment. The assignment as a whole is scaffolded so that the essay’s evidence emerges from insights students have already developed from close reading the working notes. While no assignment is AI-resistant, this approach discourages AI use, since it is rare for LLMs to have access to accurate information about the installment divisions of a novel. Since students need to be aware of which parts of the novel have not yet been published (or, in most cases, even written) before their own, they must develop their own critical insights about how their chosen installment works in relation to those that came before and those that have yet to be written. And, since the essay is focused on a manageable section of the novel, their claims tend to be more focused than they might be if they were attempting to account for the entire text. The essays my students have generated have offered rich insights into the significance of a novel’s serial form and helped students think critically about how a serial novel’s composition and reception transform how we read its plot.

Assignment Instructions

For this assignment you will each take on one monthly installment of Little Dorrit, along with its corresponding page of working notes (using the Dickens Notes transcriptions). There are two parts to this assignment.

Part 1: Annotations

Your task is to close-read your page of working notes thoroughly, obsessively, intensely. Take a magnifying glass to this page of notes and read them in relation to both your assigned installment and those that come before and after. You will add your annotations to the transcriptions in Perusall. Your annotations are likely to be both explanatory and analytical:

Explanatory Annotations: What do these entries signify? To what do they correspond in the published novel? If there are differences between entries in the notes and the appearance of characters or places in the installment, can you explain them? Assume that your reader is familiar with the novel; try to avoid long summaries and instead make concise reference to the plot in service of your explanations.

Analytical Annotations: These entries will vary widely and should make up the majority of your annotations. Here you are thinking about the meaning and significance of entries in the notes. What do they mean? How do they shed light on aspects of the novel? Of Dickens’s compositional process? Pay attention to things like:

• How do you interpret deletions? Why might a deletion be significant for our understanding of this installment?

• How might we understand these questions and answers? How do they impact how you read the installment?

• How do differences in ink on the manuscript page impact your understanding of an entry? What about non-textual markings (underlining, lines)?

• Where there are events, characters, or other elements introduced in the notes that are not present in the published installment, how might you interpret them? Do they appear in subsequent installments? Not at all? What do you think their presence in the notes suggests about how Dickens was approaching those characters, events, plots, or the installment itself?

• Think about the relationship between notes on the manuscript page. How is Dickens using space? Is there something different about this page of notes compared to those before or after it? If so, how might you interpret that difference?

• What else? Ask questions about every element of your notes page, including content (words, erasures, marks) and form (layout, ink, space). Nothing is too small to notice.

Use the notes as a springboard to analysis. When a character is mentioned in the notes, for example, consider the role of that character in the installment. Where Dickens crosses out and rewords a chapter title, do you have thoughts about the significance of the new or erased title?

Even though you are annotating just ONE page of the working notes, you might find it helpful to cross-reference your page with others, since sometimes you will find patterns across multiple pages.

Annotation Logistics: You will add annotations to the transcriptions in Perusall. These transcriptions contain both text and images (Dickens’s non-textual markings). You can annotate text by highlighting words using the text annotation tool. Switch to the image annotation tool to select an area of the page or a non-textual element. Consult the manuscript image as you write your annotations, since you will likely see visual elements (e.g. ink color) that are not translated in the transcriptions. You can mention these visual details in your annotations.

Part 2: Essay

Your task in this 4-5-page double-spaced essay is to make a claim, or a series of connected claims, about the function and significance of your assigned installment within the novel. Think of this as an opportunity to use some of the thinking and close reading you did as you created your annotations to support a focused and sustained argument about this monthly number of Little Dorrit.

Your essay should be critical and analytical (rather than descriptive), but somewhere early in your essay you will want to briefly summarize the content of your installment. Think of this as a quick reminder of your installment’s scope to a reader who is already familiar with the novel.

There are a number of approaches you could take to this essay. Here are some ideas:

• You might focus on one (or a handful of connected) element(s) of the installment and its working notes to make a claim about their function in the novel as a whole;

• You might focus on the working notes themselves, making a claim about how an aspect of the notes helps you understand something new about the installment or the novel;

• You might make an argument about the function of the installment to the rest of the novel;

• You might focus on an event or aspect of the novel that is anchored, in some way, in your installment, even if it extends into other monthly numbers. Be clear about how your installment provides this anchor.

Regardless of your chosen approach, you want to be sure you are grounding your argument in your chosen installment while also demonstrating your understanding of the rest of the novel.

A Note About Research: You are welcome to do a little research to supplement your annotations and your essay with contextual information or other scholarly viewpoints, but this is not required. Any research you conduct must be clearly cited using MLA style. If you decide to consult the existing editorial annotations on Dickens Notes, please do so only after you have drafted your own annotations, since your goal is to share your own insights.

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