Name:

English 3

Independent Research Project

For your next assignment, you will be assigned a prominent immigrant author. It will be your job to research their backgrounds, influences, literary criticism, and their short stories. Using all the information you glean from your research, you will write a research paper that analyzes the author’s influences in their written work.

You will need to:

-Research the background of your author

-Read at least 3 short stories written by your author and annotate them.

-Read at least one piece of reputable literary criticism about your author

- Write a 4-5 page essay that combines what you have learned (includes MLA cited biography)

Timing:

-In class: Tuesday, October 17th

-In class: Tuesday, October 24th

-In class: Thursday, October 26th

-Due: Tuesday October 30th

Create a schedule for yourself so you know when you’re going to get it done

Background. Use these questions to guide your research, but do not limit yourself to this! Do not use Wikipedia.

Where and when they were born:

When they moved to the US or their parents/grandparents moved here:

Their thoughts and feelings about the American culture:

Their influences (who they read, were inspired by, etc)

Major life events:

Historical events happening during their life time that affected them:

Annotate 3 short stories:

-write why questions

-create subtitles

-look up challenging vocab

-create an outline for the reading

-find the climax of the story

See if you can answer the following questions about the essays you wrote (These answers will help you in your essay)

What is the moral/point of each story:

How are the stories similar? Different? What themes do they all address?

How does the author’s background play into each story?

What makes their writing significant to American literature?

Literary Criticism:

Find reputable sources that analyze the writing of your author. Take notes on what they say or explain about your author. You will need to include a bibliography with your essay.

Some resources to check out:

-The New York Times

-The New Yorker

SFCCLibraryReference database  Credo Reference

Go to SFCC library and ask for help from the research desk

Resources to AVOID:

Wikipedia

Cliffnotes

Huffington Post

Buzzfeed

Almost anything that is a “.com”

Potential Outline for Essay (Option1)

  1. Introduction
  1. Hook
  2. Thesis
  3. Plan
  1. Authors Background and influences
  2. Analyze background or common theme in 1 short story
  3. Analyze background or common theme in 2 short story
  1. Compare to the first story
  2. Include literary criticism
  3. Analyze the authors influences
  1. Analyze background or common theme in 3 story
  1. Compare to other stories
  2. Include literary criticism
  3. Analyze the authors influences
  1. Conclusion

(Option 2)

  1. Introduction
  1. Hook
  2. Thesis
  3. Plan
  1. Authors Background and influences
  2. 1 element found in all three stories
  3. 1 element found in all three stories
  4. 1 element found in all three stories
  5. Conclusion

(Option 3)

Create your own