Information Competency Literacy Research Guides

English 90R
Instructor: Ms. E. Pumpelly

Short stories assignment

Purpose: To introduce students to American and English short story writers. To increase student understanding of the elements of a short story such as plot, theme, characters and setting. view your short story assignment

A short story is a work of fiction that is shorter than a novel. The action is compact and every single event is critical to the development of the plot. The time span could vary from a day to years.
Read more short story elements and use the student activity worksheet to document your information.

Directions: Choose a short story from the Cuyamaca Library collection and find five facts about the author.

FIRST METHOD: BROWSE SHELVES: The 1st way is to browse the call number sections of the Cuyamaca collection. You may browse the call number sections listed below:

PN 6120.2 – English Fiction (books can be either a novel or a collection of short stories)

PS 648 S5 – American Short Stories Collections

PZ 1 – Collections of novels, short stories or other fiction

Great American Short Stories: The O. Henry Awards (PZ 1 +)
William S. Porter, who wrote under the pen name O. Henry, was born in 1862. He started writing stories while in prison for embezzlement. His writing career was short but he is the most widely read American short story writer. His best known story is "The Gift of the Magi" (1905) and the "Last Leaf". After his death, DoubleDay publishers established the O. Henry Awards in his honor.

Complete works of O. Henry (PS 2649 P5)
Short Stories of De Maupassant (PQ 2349 A4 E5)
There is a wonderful story called the "Necklace" on page 27.
The Realm of Fiction Short Stories (PZ 1 H16 RE8). Well-known international authors.

SECOND METHOD: LIBRARY CATALOG. You can search by author, title, keyword, or subject. Note that criticism or analysis of a specific short story is rarely the subject of a book-length study; instead you usually will need to look for books that deal with many stories or works by a specific short story writer.