Honors English 9 Author Research Paper
Name______Period______Date______
Author Study Research Project
Description and Requirements
Topic
Your topic is the life of the author you are assigned, and how it correlates to the type of literature he/she writes. Your paper should focus on the following: date and place of birth/death, early life/family life, education, career(s), books published (including the ones you’ve read), reviews of his/her works, writing method/style, and the author’s significance to the literary world and evidence that his/her life has affected what and how he/she writes.
Research
· You must use at least three different reference sources, including at least one book and two databases.
· MLA format.
· Works Cited page.
· Use easybib.com to help you format your Works Cited page.
· In your research paper you must explore the above (mentioned in the Topic section) and how those areas affected the author’s work/s.
Wording
· Use your words, not others’! If the report is not written in your words, you will receive a zero for your work and will have to write the entire paper in your words to receive credit for your work.
· Information should be paraphrased and any direct quotes need to have the proper punctuation and format.
· You are required to have one parenthetical citation in your essay.
Rough Draft Criteria
· five paragraphs
· quotes and paraphrases must be cited
· grammatically correct
· Works Cited page
Written
· You will complete a formal, five paragraph author research report.
· 12-point, Times New Roman font is required.
· Double-spaced text is required.
· Final copy will include at least one parenthetical citation and needs to be turned in with Thesis Organizer/Outline Packet, Note-taking Packet, and a completed Works Cited page.
· This paper is will be placed in your writing portfolio. Do your best work!
Guiding Questions for Your Research Paper
As you research, use some or all of the following questions to help you:
· What are the historical events that helped shape why the author writes about this topic/these particular themes?
· What are the social influences (people, events, education, etc) that helped shape why the author writes about this topic/these particular themes/patterns?
· How did the author’s professional career help shape why the author writes about this topic/these particular themes/patterns?
· What are the personal perspectives and experiences that helped shape who the author is and why the author writes about this topic/particular themes/patterns?
· What is the author’s significance to the literary world? How does this author influence others’ writings and others’ lives?
THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS IS YOUR THESIS STATEMENT.
You’ll structure your essay by answering the above questions. In other words, explain patterns and events in the author’s novels, short stories, essays, letters, and/or poems with his or her life.
Adapted from:
Mello.Author Research Project.Author Research Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. <shspatriots.pbworks.com/f/Author+Assignment2.doc>.
Name______Period______Date______
Author Research Paper
Evaluation Rubric
• The paper includes an introduction, a
body, and a conclusion.
• The introduction includes a thesis statement
that presents the central idea of the
paper.
• All the information presented in the
paper relates to the thesis.
• The ideas are sequenced effectively and
logically. /
Comments
Score______/20 points
Elaboration/Support/Style
• General ideas are supported with facts,
examples, opinions, and quotations
taken from at least three sources.
• Sources are cited correctly within the text
and in a Works Cited list.
• Statements that aren’t in the writer’s own
words are set off with quotations, and
credit is given to the sources from which
ideas are paraphrased. /
Comments
Score______/20 points
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics
• The writing is free of misspellings, and
capitalization is used correctly.
• Sentences are punctuated correctly, and
the piece is free of fragments and run-ons.
• The paper is presented in appropriate MLA format. /
Comments
Score______/20 points
Total ______/60 points
Adapted from:
Research Paper and Report Writing. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, n.d. PDF.
MLA Citation Format – Read Carefully!
MLA citation format is a method for formatting your paper and documenting the sources of information you use in your paper. The proper use of a citation format such as MLA can help you avoid plagiarism.
Parenthetical citations within the text of your paper let your reader know when you’ve used information from another source. The parenthetical citation corresponds to a source listed on your works cited page.
You must cite the source within your text any time you use others’ work, facts, ideas, statistics, diagrams, charts, drawings, music, or words in your paper. Whether you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a single phrase or a whole chapter, you must acknowledge the original author no matter how much of the source you use or how often you use it.
When you quote from a source, be sure to put quotation marks around the author’s exact words, and be sure the quoted material is copied exactly. Even if you use just a few words from an author in a sentence that is mostly your own, you still have to use quotation marks around those apt words and cite your source parenthetically at the end of the sentence.
When you paraphrase, or put information from a source into your own words, you must change not only the words of the original source, but also the sentence structure, and you must cite the source within your text. Even if your whole paragraph is a paraphrase or summary of one source, it is not acceptable to cite only at the end of the paragraph. You must clearly signal where your borrowing begins and cite throughout the paragraph as necessary to make clear to your reader that you are still borrowing from the same source.
Examples of Parenthetical Citation
1. One critic complains of the authors, “They’re sheep in wolves’ clothing who manage to write about bad things and make you feel good” (Bukiet 35).
2. Herr Bock, a former training professor at the Ministry of State Security, explains that, above all, an informer “needed to be honest, faithful, and trustworthy” (qtd. in Funder 200).
[If you quote or paraphrase text that is itself quoted from another source, you should cite the indirect source—the one that you have accessed and read yourself—not the original one. Begin your parenthetical citation with qtd. in, which is short for quoted in.]
3. Most of the reports submitted to the Starbucks Business and Ethics Compliance Department address issues in the category of employee relations ("Business Ethics").
[Even if you paraphrase (i.e. put information from the source into your own words), you still must provide a citation at the end of the sentence. If the source does not list an author, use the first word or two of the title in your parenthetical citation. In this example, the source does not have page or paragraph numbers because it is a web site.]
Adapted from the MLA Handbook, 7th edition