Library of CongressMain Reading Room
A.P. Literature
Research Paper
Do one of the following:
A. Choose an author we have studied this year, a novelist, playwright, or short story writer, someone you would like to learn more about. Write a five page research paper that explores some aspect of his or her work. Use at least three separate sources.
Here are some examples:
Examine a work from a particular critical perspective
Determine the biographical or historical influences that affected a work (or writer).
Explore how a particular work or writer influenced his or her culture.
Examine a writer’s style or technique. Consider how it changed over time.
Explore how different critics have received a writer or work over time.
Choose a detail from a book or play (a theme, a reoccurring symbol, the evolution of a character, the role of setting, etc.) to explore in detail.
B. Research a poet, someone whose work you are fond of or someone you would like to learn about. Write a five page paper which presents a thesis about him or her and focuses on both the poet’s life and work. Your paper must include the following information but should not be organized as if these are the four sections of the paper. Combine information about the poet with his/her life, work and critics. Biographical information should be kept to a minimum and only discussed as it pertains to the writer’s work.
--a thesis
--a sampling of his/her work
--critical commentary
--biographical information about the poet
Topic due: May 12
Initial Thesis Statement and Works Cited due: May 19
Rough Draft due: May 28
Paper due: June 4
Format: MLA
Sources: In order to present a well-balanced evaluation of your subject you must cite a minimum of three authoritative sources.
Begin reading and/or rereading primary sources immediately.
Research Paper
Do one of the following:
A. Choose an author we have studied this year, a novelist, playwright, or short story writer, someone you would like to learn more about. Write a five page research paper that explores some aspect of his or her work. Use at least three separate sources.
Here are some examples:
Examine a work from a particular critical perspective
Determine the biographical or historical influences that affected a work (or writer).
Explore how a particular work or writer influenced his or her culture.
Examine a writer’s style or technique. Consider how it changed over time.
Explore how different critics have received a writer or work over time.
Choose a detail from a book or play (a theme, a reoccurring symbol, the evolution of a character, the role of setting, etc.) to explore in detail.
B. Research a poet, someone whose work you are fond of or someone you would like to learn about. Write a five page paper which presents a thesis about him or her and focuses on both the poet’s life and work. Your paper must include the following information but should not be organized as if these are the four sections of the paper. Combine information about the poet with his/her life, work and critics. Biographical information should be kept to a minimum and only discussed as it pertains to the writer’s work.
--a thesis
--a sampling of his/her work
--critical commentary
--biographical information about the poet
Topic due: May 12
Initial Thesis Statement and Works Cited due: May 19
Rough Draft due: May 28
Paper due: June 4
Format: MLA
Sources: In order to present a well-balanced evaluation of your subject you must cite a minimum of three authoritative sources.
Begin reading and/or rereading primary sources immediately.
List of Suggested Poets
Amiri Baraka
Sandra Cisneros
W.B. Yeats
Jane Kenyon
Adrienne Rich
Sonia Sanchez
William Stafford
Seamus Heaney
Theodore Roethke
Countee Cullen
Ted Hughes
Galway Kinnel
William Wordsworth
William Carlos Williams
Mark Strand
Sharon Olds
Tess Gallagher
William Blake
Mary Oliver
Charles Simic
Thomas Hardy
Marianne Moore
John Donne
Carl Sandburg
Robert Herrick
Gwendolyn Brooks
Rita Dove
Lucille Clifton
Mark Doty
Eavan Boland
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Richard Wilbur
Ezra Pound
T.S. Eliot
Elizabeth Bishop
John Keats
Louise Gluck
Billy Collins
Sylvia Plath
Margaret Atwood
Denise Levertov
Nikki Giovanni
Robinson Jeffers
Dorothy Parker
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Langston Hughes
Robert pinsky
Dylan Thomas
Naomi Shihab Nye
Sara Teasdale
H.D.
Anne Sexton
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Edward Hirsch
Li-Young Lee
Allen GinsbergLawrence
Amiri Baraka
Sandra Cisneros
W.B. Yeats
Jane Kenyon
Adrienne Rich
Sonia Sanchez
William Stafford
Seamus Heaney
Theodore Roethke
Countee Cullen
Ted Hughes
Galway Kinnel
William Wordsworth
William Carlos Williams
Mark Strand
Sharon Olds
Tess Gallagher
William Blake
Mary Oliver
Charles Simic
Thomas Hardy
Marianne Moore
John Donne
Carl Sandburg
Robert Herrick
Gwendolyn Brooks
Rita Dove
Lucille Clifton
Mark Doty
Eavan Boland
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Richard Wilbur
Ezra Pound
T.S. Eliot
Elizabeth Bishop
John Keats
Louise Gluck
Billy Collins
Sylvia Plath
Margaret Atwood
Denise Levertov
Nikki Giovanni
Robinson Jeffers
Dorothy Parker
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Langston Hughes
Robert pinsky
Dylan Thomas
Naomi Shihab Nye
Sara Teasdale
H.D.
Anne Sexton
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Edward Hirsch
Li-Young Lee
Allen GinsbergLawrence
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