Miss Byrd's English Classes



English III Research Project Assignment (CP)You will be writing a research paper about a famous American writer and one of his/her most famous narrative poems or short stories. This paper will be a literary analysis of the work that you have selected. You will conduct the research for this project outside of class, and write a 6-8-page research paper synthesizing your research information and analyzing your selected author's work. Paper Topic: You are to write about the connections you can make between the life, the works, and the literary time period in which your approved writer lived. You must read biographical material about the author and a story written by your author. Before you begin reading, do some research and place the writer in a particular literary period and note the literary characteristics of that period. Annotate the story as you read, marking passages that reflect those characteristics. Consider, too, the historical context in which the novel was written. What events would have had the greatest impact? Note fads, fashions, scientific advances, and everyday life. NOTE: You must have your writer and the specific resources you are reading by that writer approved in advance.Guidelines: Because you are collecting information that other people have already published, you must give credit to these people for the information you use that is theirs. In other words, NO PLAGIARISM. To protect you from temptation, I REQUIRE you to establish a GoogleDoc with active hyperlinks to all online sources you use. Additionally, you need to bring copies of any printed materials to class for approval. Also, I expect two copies of your paper turned in on the due date. One hard copy of the paper and one online copy of the paper (you are required to set up a GoogleDoc for this research project and share it with me, so I can give you feedback and check your progress throughout the research process). When I return your paper, I will pass back one copy of the essay and your sources, but I will keep one copy of your paper forever (or at least 5 years).Step 1 – Select your top two choices of authors and titles from the attached list. (homework grade) Due September 4th Step 2 – Find four EXCELLENT research sources about the life of your writer and the time period in which he/she lived. You should format each source citation according to MLA guidelines. You may use a citation generator, but if you do not correct any formatting issues (ex. Highlighting or ALL CAPS text) you will lose points. From these you will identify 4 characteristics of writing that are associated with the literary period in which your writer wrote his/her work. Due September 5th (minor grade)Step 3-- Read your assigned short story/narrative poem. Add a full MLA citation to your Google Doc for your assigned story. Mark passages that you will most likely use in your paper. You should annotate using the characteristics identified in step 2. Due September 6th (minor grade)Step 4 – (2 homework grades) Add three sources in correct MLA format (include active hyperlinks for web sources) to your GoogleDoc by September 14th add three more sources to your GoogleDoc (these must be critical—we will discuss how to find these sources in class) by September 28th Step 5 – (Major Grade) Complete an annotated bibliography for all 11 of your sources. You should submit a copy through GoogleDocs and bring a final hard copy to class. If you do not bring a hard copy to class, this assignment will be counted late. See the attached assignment sheet. Due: October 5th Step 6 – (minor grade) Create an outline sheet for your paper. Make certain that you have all the information you need. Due: October 12th Step 7—(minor grade) Bring a rough draft of your research paper to class. You MUST bring a hard copy and participate in the peer editing OR you will receive a 0 for this assignment that cannot be made up. Due: October 26th Step 8—(Counts as 2 major grades!) The final draft of your paper is due and you must bring a hard copy and submit a copy online. If you do not bring a hard copy on the assigned due date, then the assignment will be counted late. You must have a hard copy of your paper and your works cited page. Your online copy should include the final version of your proposal, annotated bibliography, outline, and research paper! Due: November 9th *Note: There are handouts with specific instructions for each of the above steps. Keep up with this packet!*Part 1: Choose an Author and Title“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”/ Katherine Porter (Modern)“The Yellow Wall-Paper”/ Francis Perkins Gilman (Realism)“The Story of an Hour”/ Kate Chopin (Realism)“The Raven,” “El Dorado,” and “Annabelle Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe (Dark Romanticism)“To Build a Fire” by Jack London (Naturalism)“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner (Southern Gothic during Modern Era)“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros (Postmodern/Contemporary)“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker (Postmodern/Contemporary)"The Most Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain (Regionalism/Realism)"A Dark Brown Dog" by Stephen Crane (Naturalism/Realism)"The Legend of Sleepy hollow" By Washington Irving (Romanticism)"The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving (Romanticism) "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Dark Romantics) "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (Modern)"Thank you' Mam" by Langston Hughes (Modern/Harlem Renaissance)\Step 2: Preliminary ResearchFind four EXCELLENT research sources about the life of your writer and the time-period in which he/she lived. Google: Biography of _____________ and find one excellent source about your author's life. An excellent source will include an author or publisher.Google: Characteristics of Literature in the ____________ period and find three sources about the literary period in which your author wrote. You can also try googling Characteristics of ___________ found in ___________ and include the title of your short story. Make a list of four characteristics that you are going to look for in your assigned story. You should format each source citation according to MLA guidelines. You may use a citation generator, but if you do not correct any formatting issues (ex. Highlighting or ALL CAPS text) you will lose points. Organize all of your research in your GoogleDoc.Also, include a citation for your selected short story. You will have to cite evidence directly from your story in your final research paper.Step 3: Read and AnnotateYou are required to use specific examples from the text in your research paper to demonstrate how your chosen story reflects the characteristics of the literary period and personal beliefs/biases of the author. You must read effectively to use the text effectively in your research paper. I am requiring that you annotate your story to prepare you for the writing of the paper. The purpose of annotation is to slow down your reading and to help you to interact with the text. You can look for the kinds of things you normally look for when reading (character development, aha moments, themes, symbols, figurative language, setting, etc.); however, to be effective, you should look for passages that reflect the characteristics of the literary period in which you author wrote and passages that seem to reflect the life and experiences of your chosen author. To do that, you should do some preliminary research about you author/literary period so that you can be on the lookout for appropriate and relevant passages.Ex: The Romantic Writers valued feelings over reason, loved nature, and celebrated the individual who stands in opposition to society. If I were annotating Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, I would color code each of those three characteristics and mark passages that reflect each. Some research into the author’s life reveals that he led an adventurous life, which inspired most of his writings. I would use another color to annotate passages that reflect specific experiences he had as a young man.Step 4: Compile Research SourcesGuidelines: Because you are collecting information that other people have already published, you have to give credit to these people for the information you use that is theirs. In other words, NO PLAGIARISM. To protect you from temptation, I REQUIRE links to all your online sources and that you bring in all print sources for verification. To help you pace yourself in completing this project, especially the research portion, you are required to add three sources in correct MLA format (include active hyperlinks for web sources) to your GoogleDoc by September 14th and add three more sources to your GoogleDoc (these must be critical—we will discuss how to find these sources in class) by September 28thNOTE: You should already have 5 sources at this point! (1 biographical, 3 about the literary period, and 1 for your selected story)Resources (minimum):Four biographical (at least one MUST be a book—it can be an ebook!)Four about the literary/historical period (at least one must be a book—it can be an ebook!)Three critical resources (these must be scholarly reviews!)Citing Sources: We will follow the MLA style, and you will have access to the writer’s handbooks to help you.Critical Essay: You will need to conduct research in several areas: your author and his/her times, the book you are reading and its context, and the criticism of the work. To focus your work, center your research on the questions you need to answer:What is the context of the work –when, why was it written?What social, historical, and cultural issues are addressed?How does the work reflect the issues of the time?How are the author’s personality, beliefs, and background reflected in the work?How was the book received in its own time? Now? What do critics, then and now, say about the work?Find good, solid, academic sources. No Wikipedia! Your sources should generally include both an author or editor name and a qualified or legitimate sponsor/editor (especially sources found online!)Step 5: Annotated BibliographyAn annotated bibliography is essentially a Works Cited page that you will create. Yours will include all of the sources that you have found for your project. Remember—you are required to have 11 sources, 4 biographical (1 book!), 4 contextual (1 book), 3 critical! ***Your story will be the 12th source!A sample has been provided for your perusal (on the website).?An annotated bibliography consists of two parts: the citation and commentary about it (the annotation). First, create an accurate citation for each of your sources. This could get complicated, depending on the type of source you are using. I do not mind if you use online citation makers to help you; however, don’t rely on an online citation-maker to complete this task accurately for you 100% of the time. It’s always best to double check them and let your teacher check them for accuracy!! The first question I will ask is what type of source is it and where did you find it, so make sure you have that info available. You can use resources such as the MLA Handbook, Easy Writer, or documentation provided by the Purdue Owl website. Second, to accompany each citation, you will write an annotation which describes and evaluates that source. Annotations are usually between 5-8 sentences long. Include the following information for each source: Summary of source: What are the main points? Overview of examples? What kind of information is provided? Author’s Credentials/Ethos: Who wrote it? What are his/her credentials? If no author—which organization or university sponsors the information? What makes the information credible/believable? THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! If you do not know—then you probably should not use the source!!! Evaluate the source: Why did you choose this source? Is it expository, persuasive, narrative, analytical, etc.? Is it reliable or biased? How will you use the information this sources provides in your research paper? Does it address more than one aspect of the topic (example-both literary context and author background)? ?Be sure to follow MLA Formatting for your Bibliography, the same way it is in the example: ?- ?Use a hanging indent ?- ?Entirely double-spaced, no extra spaces in between citations ?- ?Make sure that an entire line of text is being used before jumping down to the next line. ?It is HIGHLY recommended that you schedule a conference with Ms. Byrd to go over a draft of your Annotated Bibliography before it is due. This will result in: learning how to fix your mistakes, getting a better grade, and a faster turnaround time for your grade. You can email me to request a conference time. Requests for conferences at the last minute will not be granted. When you come to your conference, make sure to have: a draft of your citations and copies of all your sources.?-1333503873500Step 6: OutlineDevelop and support a thesis sentence that makes a connection between the life, the works, and the literary period in which your approved writer lived. For example:left85725Orson Scott Card proves to be a postmodern author because his novel Ender's Game contains the postmodern elements of hyperreality, fragmentation, paranoia, and irony.400000Orson Scott Card proves to be a postmodern author because his novel Ender's Game contains the postmodern elements of hyperreality, fragmentation, paranoia, and irony.35052009525Jack London’s writing in The Call of the Wild reflects both his background and the literary trends, the social philosophies, and the scientific theories of the Naturalistic Period of American Literature. 00Jack London’s writing in The Call of the Wild reflects both his background and the literary trends, the social philosophies, and the scientific theories of the Naturalistic Period of American Literature. ORYour finished project will be a 6-8 page paper with parenthetical citations from the work itself and from your other sources (3 in-text citations per page minimum). You will cite your sources parenthetically within the content of the essay. Focus your essay on what you can prove from your reading and research. Narrowing your topic will help. You essay MUST be typed (12 point, Times New roman), double spaced, with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, right, left).American Lit. Paper – ROUGH OUTLINEName ________________________Author: ______________________________________________________________________________________Title: ______________________________________________________________________________________Thesis statement:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Connecting the work to the author’s backgroundThree major points:1.quotes from primary source to prove ita.b.c.2.a.b.c.3.a.b.c.Sources:Connecting work to historical (and literary) time periodThree major points:1.quotes from primary source to prove ita.b.c.2.a.b.c.3.a.b.c.Sources:Criticism1. Source:Date of source:Summary:2. Source:Date of source:Summary:Step 7: Research Paper Rough DraftYour rough draft is due October 26th. You MUST bring a hard copy with you to class WITH your most up to date Works Cited Page. Your grade will be based on having a copy of your paper and participating in the in-class peer editing. If you do not bring your paper at this time, you will earn a 0, and it cannot be made up. If you do not bring a hard copy, you will earn a 0—because you cannot participate in the peer-editing. If you bring a paper without the works cited page, the highest you can earn is a 50! If you bring an ENTIRE rough draft and works cited page and participate in the in-class peer editing, you will earn a 100. I will deduct 10 points from the rough draft for every page that is missing; however, you should bring what you have on the assigned due date! Step 8: Research Paper Final DraftPaper Topic: You are to write about the connections you can make between the life, the works, and the literary time period in which your approved writer lived. You must read biographical material about the author and a novella, novel, or play written by that author. Before you begin reading, do some research and place the writer in a particular time period and note the literary characteristics of that time period. Annotate the novel as you read, marking passages that reflect those characteristics. Consider, too, the historical context in which the novel was written. What events would have had the greatest impact? Note fads, fashions, scientific advances, and everyday life. NOTE: You must have your writer and the specific resources you are reading by that writer approved in advance.Guidelines: Because you are collecting information that other people have already published, you have to give credit to these people for the information you use that is theirs. In other words, NO PLAGIARISM. To protect you from temptation, I REQUIRE photocopies or printouts of your resources to be turned in with the final copy of the project. You may make notes on these papers and/or use highlighters or you can use note cards to help you with your planning, but whatever choice you make –you need to turn them in with your paper. In addition, I expect two copies of your paper turned in on the due date along with your sources. One hard copy of the paper and one online copy of the paper. When I return your paper, I will pass back one copy of the essay and your sources, but I will keep one copy of your paper forever (or at least 5 years).Resources (minimum):Three print resourcesThree internet resourcesTwo critical resources (print or internet)Citing Sources: We will follow the MLA style, and you will have access to the writer’s handbooks to help you.Critical Essay: You will need to conduct research in several areas: your author and his/her times, the book you are reading and its context, and the criticism of the work. In order to focus your work, center your research on the questions you need to answer:What is the context of the work –when, why was it written?What social, historical, and cultural issues are addressed?How does the work reflect the issues of the time?How are the author’s personality, beliefs, and background reflected in the work?How was the book received in its own time? Now? What do critics, then and now, say about the work?Develop and support a thesis sentence that makes a connection between the life, the works, and the literary period in which your approved writer lived. For example:Familiar with all medieval social classes, Geoffrey Chaucer reveals his cynicism and a hidden faith in The Canterbury Tales.Your finished project will be a 6-7 page paper with parenthetical citations from the work itself and from your other sources (3 in-text citations per page minimum). You will cite your sources parenthetically within the content of the essay. Focus your essay on what you can prove from your reading and research. Narrowing your topic will help. You essay MUST be typed (12 point, Times New roman), double spaced, with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, right, left).Works cited Page: Cite all your sources in an alphabetized list that follows the MLARubric #6: Outline ContentThesis Statement:5 Points: Very clear central argument; both analytical and argumentative4.5 Points: Clear central argument; both analytical and argumentative; main ideas a little too vague4 Points: Mostly clear central argument; ideas are slightly too general; attempts analysis and argument3.5 Points: Somewhat clear central argument; ideas are too general; either analytical or argumentative 3 Points: There is a weak central argument/ statement is far too general or vague to focus the paper0 Points: There is no clear central argument/ no thesis statement includedTopic Sentences:5 Points: The topic sentences are strong, clear claims and not facts about the author’s life and literary time period4.5 Points: The topic sentences are mostly claims about the author’s life and literary period4 Points: The topic sentences are mostly (at least 4 out of 6) claims and not facts.3.5 Points: There are topic sentences, but they are mostly facts. They need to be revised before the paper can be completed.3 Points: There are words or phrases used, but no topic sentences included in the outline.0 Points: This is not included in the outline. Format/Organization:5 Points: The outline is in the correct format and order according the instructions. 4.5 Points: The outline is mostly in the correct format and order.?4 Points: The outline is in the correct format but not in the correct order.3.5 Points: The outline is not formatted or ordered correctly, but the required elements are included. 3 Points: The outline is not formatted or ordered correctly, and it is missing required elements.0 Points: There is no outline.Connections between Author’s Life and Work:5 Points: There are three clear, well-reasoned, supported connections. 4.5 Points: There are three connections.4 Points: There are three points about the author’s life (without clear connections to the work)3.5 Points: There are two points about the author’s life (without connections)3 Points: There is only summary about the author’s life/ not connections 0 Points: There is no sections about the author’s life and workConnections between Author’s Work and Literary Period:5 Points: There are three clear, well-reasoned, supported connections. 4.5 Points: There are three connections.4 Points: There are three points about the literary period (without clear connections to the work)3.5 Points: There are two points about the literary period (without connections)/ or the literary period is incorrect or unclear3 Points: There is only summary about the literary period/ not connections 0 Points: There is no section about the work and time period. Critical Responses to the Work:5 Points: There are two excellent critical responses summarized on the outline. 4.5 Points: There are two critical responses summarized in the outline.?4 Points: There is one excellent critical response summarized on the outline. 3.5 Points: There are two critical responses but both are weak or say the exact same thing3 Points: There is a summary of the work itself but it is not from a critical source 0 Points: There is no critical section on the outline/ this portion is incomplete Use of Quotes/Evidences for Research:5 Points: Uses at least 3 quotes per topic sentence/ quotes are documented using MLA format4.5 Points: Uses at least 3 quotes per topic sentence/ quotes are documented 4 Points: Uses at least 3 quotes per t.s./ sources are only listed at the bottom 3.5 Points: Uses paraphrasing from sources/ documents sources 3 Points: Fills in the points for each paragraph/ does not align points with research0 Points: This portion is missing or unclear and unusable for the paperUse of Sources (minimum of 8):5 Points: Uses at least 8 different sources, excellent sources, everything is clearly documented on the outline4.5 Points: Uses at least 8 sources, all documented on the outline4 Points: Uses 8 sources, all documented, does not use the novel as a source on the outline3.5 Points: Uses 6-7 sources, all sources documented3 Points: Uses 4-5 sources, all sources documented 0 Points: Does not use sources/ source provenance is unclear or undocumented (not useful for the paper)Follows Instructions/Meets Requirements: 5 Points: One GoogleDoc, all r.p. elements are there4.5 Points: One Google Doc, most r.p. elements are there4 Points: Submitted as a separate Google Doc3 Points: Does not meet submission requirements/ fails to follow all instructions 0 Points: There is no outline ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download