British Poet Research Project and Presentation

British Poet Research Project and Presentation

Sophomore Honors English

Assignment: Research the life and times of your assigned British poet. You’ll complete three tasks with your research:

Write a 2-3 page biography of your poet and his/her time period in MLA format.
Analyze one poem by your poet.
Present your poet’s life to the class and share/discuss the poem you analyzed.

See attached page for the poet you’ll research and the poem you’ll analyze.

Objectives:

· To learn about many British poets and their time periods and poetry, and get more practice analyzing poetry.

· To learn/review/practice these steps in the research process: note taking from sources, synthesizing information from several sources, writing a research paper, citing your sources, formatting a Works Cited Page, and presenting your research to the class.

Due Dates:

Outline of biography paper due ______

Rough Draft of biography paper due ______

Poem Analysis due ______

Final Draft of biography paper, including parenthetical citations, Works Cited page, rough draft, outline, and peer review sheets due: ______

Date of my presentation: ______

Source Requirements

ü Use at least three sources on your poet’s life. Your choices of sources are limited to the following list, and you must use each type of source:

□ British Lit Textbook: Find the brief biography of your poet in this textbook. This is a good source to start with to get a brief overview of your poet’s life. You will also get his/her time period information from this source.

□ Encyclopedia of World Biography: Find your poet’s biography in this set of reference books from the THS library.

□ Internet Source: You may use one or more of these websites only to find information on your poet. (There are links to these sources on the THS Library Online Services webpage. If you feel your poet is not well represented on any of these sites, see me for another option.)

· www.luminarium.org

· www.poetseers.org

· www.poets.org

· www.victorianweb.org

MLA Research Paper Contents:

ü Your biography should:

□ introduce the main ideas of the time period in which your poet lived,

□ briefly cover all phases of your poet’s life (childhood/family, schooling, marriage/family, career/writing, old age, death) and

□ clearly state the influences on your poet’s writing.

ü You must include parenthetical citations for all information in your essay, and should include at least two direct quotes from your sources in each body paragraph. (Remember that a quote in a research paper is material copied directly from a source, not necessarily words someone spoke.)

ü You must include a correctly formatted Works Cited Page at the end of your essay.

ü Be sure to keep track of all of the steps/drafts in this process because you’ll being turning everything in with your final draft.

Poem Analysis:

You will be assigned one important poem by your poet to analyze. (See attached page.) Study this poem and fill out the poetry analysis worksheet to show that you’ve developed a deep understanding of the poem. If you need help with this analysis, please ask so you have a thorough understanding of the poem before your presentation. Your teacher will go over your analysis and check off when it’s complete.

Presentation Expectations:

Prepare to give a brief overview of your poet’s life, explain the influences on his/her poetry, and share the poem you analyzed with your classmates. You will have about 6 minutes total. (Be sure to plan a little time for your classmates to read and think about the poem’s meaning before you talk about it.) It’s very important that you stick to the most important information about your poet and practice your presentation before you give it so you know you won’t go way over your allotted time. Your classmates need an overview of your poet; they don’t need to know everything you read about him/her in your research.

Also, you should not just stand up front and read your whole research paper to the class. You should know your poet well enough to speak conversationally about him/her and not be dependent upon your essay. You may use notes or an outline. Opening and closing statements are often the weakest parts of these presentations because students haven’t planned them ahead of time and can’t think of anything to say when they get up front, so plan these statements out in advance and write them down.

You must have a visual aid (poster, overhead, PowerPoint slide show) to enhance your presentation. At minimum, your visual aid should include your poet’s name and picture, dates of birth and death, what s/he is best known for, and the title of the poem you’ll share and a theme statement from it. Please make sure your visual aid is easy to read/understand and will be visible to everyone in the room because your classmates will be taking notes from it. (Let me know at least one day ahead if you will need overheads made or if you will need the projector set up for a PowerPoint.) Some advice about PowerPoint shows: use a light-colored background and dark font, and print out your slides so you can face your audience during your presentation instead of looking back at the screen the whole time.

Presentations will begin after your biography papers are due. You’ll know at least a few days before your presentation day, and you must be ready to give your speech on your scheduled day (unless you have an excused absence). Your presentation will be a big part of the lesson plan that day, so if you’re in class, you must give your speech. If you are home sick on the day your presentation is scheduled, please ask the attendance office to notify me that you won’t be in class that day or e-mail me directly so I can make a plan to fill your time slot. If this happens to you, you should be prepared to give your presentation on the day you get back to school.

Research Sources

Citation information for your British Lit textbook source:

______