NAME: ______Period: ______
Literature Circle author Research Project
OVERVIEW.
Your task is to work with your literature circle to create a visually appealing poster about the author of your group’s choice novel. While you will get some class time to work on this assignment, you should plan to devote some time outside of school to ensuring this project is completed by the designated due date. As this assignment will count as one test grade for the sixth six-weeks, I expect to see a considerable amount of time and effort reflected in your work. All Literature Circles will present neat, professional, and creative posters that include all of the following essential information on Monday, May 7th.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION.
¦ Your author’s full/birth name, prominently displayed on the poster with large, colorful print.
¦ Your author’s date of and place of birth and death (if applicable).
¦ At least one photograph of your author, prominently and professionally displayed on your poster.
¦ The genre(s) in which your author primarily wrote.
¦ The title of a least three notable literary works attributed to your author.
¦ At least three adjectives that famously and accurately describe your author and/or his or her work.
¦ At least three famous quotes ascribed to your author. Your group may choose to include quotes from an interview, etc. with your author or quotes from a famous literary work your author wrote. All quotes must include appropriate MLA in-text citations.
¦ A biography of your author’s life written in your own words. Your author’s biography should be at least two pages, typed in MLA format and should include all of the information specified on the second page of this packet. You must include appropriate MLA citations.
¦ Two credible literary reviews or articles about your group’s novel. Your group should find two opposing viewpoints and must include appropriate MLA citations.
¦ A comprehensive works cited page in proper MLA format. Your group’s works cited page should include all sources used throughout the project, including the poster, biography, photograph, literary reviews, and famous quotations.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
¦ Prominently display all information on your poster. This means that the name, date and place of birth and death, literary genres, book titles, adjectives, etc. can clearly be seen and read from at least a few feet from your poster. The only items which do not need to be in large print are the biography, two literary reviews, and works cited page(s).
¦ You must type the biography and works cited page(s) in MLA format. The two literary reviews should be typed and neatly compiled/reformatted in two documents stapled together. After presenting your poster, please neatly and professionally attach all three of these documents to your poster with a paper clip.
¦ Include all group members’ first and last names neatly on the back of the poster.
¦ DO NOT use Wikipedia for any aspect of your research on this project. Wikipedia is not a credible source and groups caught using it will lose points on their projects.
¦ I will not allow you to print your biographies, work cited pages, reviews, or any other aspect of your projects in my class and will not grade documents that are emailed to me rather than printed out. It is your group’s responsibility to ensure that all documents are printed and assembled in advance of the project due date.
¦ For a review of MLA format, please visit Mrs. Patterson’s website at: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Page/22243.
Grading Criteria
Your group’s project will count as one test grade for the sixth six-weeks of English III. Consequently, I expect to receive work of the highest quality. Each group member will receive the same test grade on the project. I will use my own observations to give all students one individual quiz grade based on their overall effort on the project and whether or not they appropriately followed through with their designated responsibilities within the group. For a specific breakdown of how grades for this project will be calculated, please see the attached rubric on the last page of this packet.
Group Member Responsibilities
Complete the following chart for all of your group members to help divide the responsibilities for the project.
Group Member ResponsibilitiesTask / Group Member(s) Responsible for Completing Task
Research Questions / Whole Group
Find, Print, and Format Author Photograph
Three Famous Quotes
Find, Format, and Print Two Literary Reviews
Compose and Type Biography
Compile and Type Works Cited Page
Purchase/Supply Poster Board for Poster
Assemble Poster
Present Poster / Whole Group
Three Famous Quotes Ascribed to Your Author
Quote #1: “______
______
______”
Source URL: ______
Quote #2: “______
______
______”
Source URL: ______
Quote #3: “______
______
______”
Source URL: ______
Information to Display on Poster and include in Biography
1. What is the author’s full/birth name?
2. When and where was the author born? If the author is dead, when did he/she die?
3. In what genre(s) did your author primarily write?
4. The title of a least three notable literary works attributed to your author.
5. At least three adjectives that famously and accurately describe your author and/or his or her work.
Information to include in Biography
6. Is/was the author married? To whom? Have children?
7. What are two important facts about his/her childhood?
8. What are two important facts about his/her education?
9. What are two important facts about his/her life or career before they became a writer?
10. What rewards, honors, or recognition has the author received for his/her work?
11. What significant historical events had an impact on his/her writing?
12. Why has the author’s novel (the one that you’re going to read) been banned or censored in the past?
13. What authors influenced the author’s writing?
14. What authors have been influenced and inspired by the author’s writing?
15. Is there a movie version of the book you will read? If so, when was it made, who directed it, and who stars in it?
citations for Mla works cited page
To help your group keep track of your sources, fill out a citation box each time you use information from a new/different source. Be sure to record the information for which the citation was used in the line provided at the top of each box. For example, if I used information in the first citation box for research question numbers 3, 4, 7, and 14, I would write “Research Questions 3, 4, 7, & 14” in the line at the top of that box.
Citation #1 – Information for: ______
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______
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Citation #2 – Information for: ______
______
______
______
Citation #3 – Information for: ______
______
______
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Citation #4 – Information for: ______
______
______
______
RUBRIC – Literature Circle author Research ProjectGroup Member Names: Period:
Grading Criteria / Possible Points / Points Earned
Poster and biography include author’s full/birth name / 5
Poster and biography include author’s date of and place of birth and death / 5
Poster and biography include the genre(s) in which the author primarily wrote / 5
Poster and biography include the title of at least three notable literary works attributed to author / 5
Poster and biography include at least three adjectives that famously and accurately describe author and/or his or her work / 5
Poster includes at least one photograph of author / 10
Poster includes at least three famous quotes ascribed to author / 10
Attaches a two-page minimum original biography of the author’s life that is typed in MLA format and includes all of the information detailed in project packet / 20
Attaches two credible literary reviews from opposing viewpoints and includes appropriate MLA citations for each review / 15
Attaches a comprehensive works cited page in proper MLA format that includes all sources used throughout the project / 15
Poster is professional, neat, creative, prominently displays all information and is submitted with biography, reviews, and works cited page(s) paper clipped to it / 5
Total / 100
Comments:
-5-