CHS Library: English Class Projects: Juniors

"Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience...from generation to generation.  In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation."

---Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

It has been said that literature is not created in a vacuum.  To prove this point you will research an American author or poet of your choice and show how his/her works are the living memory of our nations.  Think about how your author's works are a snapshot of that time period.  One way to go about this is to  consider how his/her works would have been different if he/she had lived in another time period.  For instance, if Kanye West had been making music in the 1940's, would it be the same music that you know today?  Why not?

You will be expected to read a short biography (not an encyclopedia entry or web site) of the person as well as a minimum of two novels or short story collections by an author, three full-length plays by a dramatist, or two books of poetry by a poet.  You should also know the major historical events occurring in America during the writer's lifetime and/or the major personal of historical events that shaped the writer's literature.

In order to accomplish this, you will be given time in class every Tuesday and Thursday to read your author's works and keep an SSR log (Book title, author, pages read, brief summary and reelection) as your journal entry.  You will receive credit for bringing a book by or about your author.  If you fail to bring an appropriate book, you will lose book check points.

On scheduled days, we will visit the library as a class, but you will need to do research on your own by going to local libraries.  Your research should not be limited to the Internet!  In the end, you will have at least 3 books (biography and two novels), 2 reliable web sites (school, academic organization, etc. Not Joe's web page on Jack London), and 2 magazine/journal articles.  If you have an L.A. County public library card, you can access all holdings via www.colapublib.org.

Your final product for this assignment will be twofold.  First, you will hand in a 6-8 page research paper complete with necessary citations and a bibliography in MLA format (see links below) as well as a 5-7 relevant graphics integrated into the text.  Second, you will present your finding to the class in a 7-10 minute oral report complete with with visuals that you have created for the class.  You should not have to rely solely on outside sources.  Most of the paper will be based on your own ideas with support fro the author's works--you must quote from your author's works.  This is not a simple biography!

MLA Source 1 (Long Island University)
MLA Source 2 (Dallas Community College)
MLA Source 3 (Hawaii Community College)
MLA Source 4 (Purdue University)
MLA Source 5 (Easybib.com)

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