Question

When seeking critical sources for writing a literary argument on To Kill a Mockingbird, students need to evaluate those sources to determine their usefulness. Read the excerpts from the following websites, and, based on the information in the excerpts and the identity of the sources, choose the most credible source and the most useful information for use in a literary argument paper.

O This passage is from Wikipedia: "To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature."
O This passage is from www.gradesaver.com: "The children's attempts to connect with Boo evoke, again, the sense that children will be able to see Boo with more decency and sincerity than the rest of the populace. Their search through the darkness, the many gates, the vegetables in the yard, and then Dill's glance through the dark window with curtains through which there is one small light are somewhat symbolic of the children's search through layers of ignorance and rumor to find the truth underneath it all. By searching for the man who has been made into a monster by society, they bring back his basic common humanity and unite him with everyone else in spite of his unusual personality."
O This passage is from a Harvard University student's blog: "Of all the Mockingbird characters, I best relate to Boo Radley. Nobody knows who I am."
O This passage is from Rebecca H. Best's article ''Panopticism and the Use of 'the Other' in To Kill a Mockingbird," which appeared in The Mississippi Quarterly 62.3-4 (2009) and was accessed through the Literature Resource Center database: "The children long to understand Boo and the reasons for his seclusion because they recognize in him and his story something exciting, mysterious, romantic, even strange; they see in him the Other--that against which they are defined and that which they could become."

Answer 1

The most credible source for a literary argument on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is Rebecca H. Best's article from The Mississippi Quarterly because it is a peer-reviewed journal article that provides deep analysis of the characters and themes relevant to forming a solid argument.

Step-by-step explanation:

When selecting the most credible source and useful information for a literary argument paper on To Kill a Mockingbird, it's important to evaluate the credibility of each excerpt provided. The passage from Wikipedia, while providing factually accurate information about the novel's success, lacks in-depth analysis and may not be sufficient for a literary argument.

The excerpt from www.gradesaver.com offers an interpretation of the novel's symbolism and thematic elements related to the children's perspective and could support a literary analysis. However, the most credible source is Rebecca H. Best's article from The Mississippi Quarterly, accessed through the Literature Resource Center database.

This peer-reviewed journal article discusses the depth of the novel's characters and their interactions with the concept of 'the Other,' thus providing a rich source for constructing a literary argument.