ENGLISH 11 HONORS
Library Resources
Twayne's Authors Series
Here is your opportunity to become a minor authority on one aspect of an American author of your choice. You will also learn formal research paper techniques that you will use for this assignment and for assignments in your senior year and in college. Save all “how-to” handouts for future use. The assignment will receive 3 MAJOR GRADES: 1) content, 2) form and 3) preliminary steps. Therefore, in addition to the finished product, it is very important to do all preliminary steps on time and according to instructions. If you do so and follow all other instructions and guidelines this assignment can be easy and enjoyable.
THE ASSIGNMENT
Select an American author who you enjoy reading but who is NOT from the usual list of white, male authors. Let’s explore the diversity of America and its literature. You should seriously consider if your ‘Independent Reading’ author fits the following categories. Your author can be:
a) either male or female
b) a novelist, short story writer, poet, dramatist, or writer of non-fiction;
c) late 20th century.
THE THESIS
As you start to learn about your author, you will develop a thesis about your author and his/her literature. You will NOT just research the author’s life. Your Independent Reading book will be your primary source. Your THESIS STATEMENT may revolve around one of the following categories:
a) the ethnic characteristics of your author’s works;
b) a common theme in your author’s works;
c) a person or event that had a major influence on your author;
d) autobiographical aspects of your author’s literature;
e) an analysis of your author’s style;
f) etc.
TO BEGIN
Get an OVERVIEW of your author and his/her literature by using the reference works on Gale Group ( Literature Resource Center , Student Resource Center).
b) Then check that your author is not so obscure or modern that not enough has been written about your author and his/her works. If nothing has been written, you cannot do ‘research’.
c) If your author is very famous you will find that the wealth of information (TMI) is overwhelming and you may wish to switch to someone about whom less has been written.
d) Read several pieces about your author to begin to SELECT A THESIS relevant to your outside reading novel that will be used as a primary source.
SOURCE CARDS
IMMEDIATELY upon finding a possibly useful source, even a reference book or electronic source, record all pertinent information needed for your eventual Works Cited page. Put all reference information immediately into NoodleTools, print this page and write (by hand) a corresponding number next to the Works Cited entry. Do not number on this page because you will need to remove the numbers from the final Works Cited page. Make sure the information on the card corresponds EXACTLY to the model of the same type as
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of
of Wrath. (underligned) New York:
Penguin Books, 1939.
WMHS Book Room
Save your MLA STYLE SHEET and library sheet with the home access passwords so that you do not need to return to the library in order to complete your paper. Use the WMHS Info Center link to NoodleTools for proper format.
Older format:
The Joad's idealistic expectations
-Joads head to Ca. with high hopes
-Bus discover that for them
-"California is not a Promised Land but a man-blighted Eden."195
NOTE CARDS
Take all your notes on 3” x 5” index cards. Put only ONE IDEA on each card and ALWAYS include the page number and a CODE which corresponds to its source card. Be sure all QUOTES are EXACT but always take PARAPHRASED notes. These cards will later be rearranged by topic and finally into subtopics:
The Joad’s idealistic expectations
Joads head to Ca. with high hopes
But discover that for them
“California is not a Promised Land but a man -blighted Eden.” 195
RESEARCH PAPER
The completed paper will be 4.5 to 5 pages in length. MLA formatting rules apply to Works Cited, parenthetical documentation and formatting of title, headers, etc. One long quote and three short quotes with appropriate parenthetical documentation are required. Use NoodeTools on the WMHS Info Center blog page .
