American Literature 20th Century American Icons Research Projects Due: Mar. 10

Below you will find a list of many of this country’s cultural icons of the early 20th century. Most of these people are well known not only for their contributions to our society or culture but also for sometimes controversial or at least very public lifestyle or renown. Your job is to find out information about one personality, focus on a particular aspect of this person’s life and then create a visual/written presentation with a critical response to this person’s life/career/art/contribution. You will have both a written report and visual presentation for the class that should be several minutes in length and cover the form for which this person is most known or the political/social contribution they were involved. Your focus should be on how this person affected his/her chosen field and thus influenced the country as a whole. You will receive a rubric for both report and presentation once the research process has begun. You will be assigned your project topic via random drawing; you may only choose from those remaining if you choose not to research your first topic.

Frank Lloyd Wright Irving Berlin T.S. Eliot

Ernest Hemingway Gertrude Stein Booker T. Washington

William Faulkner F. Scott Fitzgerald Jack London

Carl Sandburg Buffalo Bill Cody Henry Ford

Jonas Salk Frederic Remington William Randolph Hearst

Theodore Roosevelt George Washington Carver Robert Frost

W.E.B. DuBois John D. Rockefeller Josephine Baker

Scott Joplin Joseph Pulitzer Joseph McCarthy

Clarence Darrow Willa Cather August Busch (Sr./Jr.)

J.D. Salinger Robert Oppenheimer Grant Wood

Dorothea Lange Dwight D. Eisenhower Jack Kerouac

Jerome Kern George M. Cohen Mark Twain

Bix Beiderbecke John Muir Thomas Hart Benton

Kate Chopin John Dewey Langston Hughes

Richard Wright N.C or Andrew Wyeth Huey Long

Thomas Edison George S. Patton Harry Truman

The requirements for the essay are as follows:

·  Must be 1) AT LEAST THREE FULL, typed pages, 12-point font (TNR) or less, double spaced, one inch margins, with 2) a header in the upper right hand corner of each page, 3) numbered pages, with 4) a title page, 5) Works Cited page and Formal Outline, with all 7) accompanying notes/rough draft work. You must also share or send teacher a copy.

·  Must be free from spelling, grammatical and structural errors. Be sure to proofread before you submit the final copy. Each error is worth one point, including using the word “you”.

·  The essay should focus on the particular aspects of your topic’s life and/or accomplishments that have made him/her noteworthy—not a birth to death biography—and include a well defined thesis to “prove” and focus of your paper and research. You will need at least four (4) different sources—at least one hard copy—Wikis do not count toward that requirement. More than one resource texts or online services do not count toward the total. You must also cite sources in the essay, using MLA Documentation format.

·  The accompanying presentation has a separate rubric and expectations which will be another discussion, but must include a recorded visual/audio presentation of the person and for what he/she is known—the art, architecture, writings, lifestyle, inventions, achievements, etc. A stylistic hint: Do not begin your presentation or paper with “My topic is…” or “I did/had ‘somebody..’” There will be no personal (live—in class) presentations—everything must be recorded. *Hint: If you have an artist, you must include artwork; a musician or composer, include the music; authors, include examples of his/her writing!

·  The aspects of the essay and presentation are due on Tuesday, March 10, no matter whatever schedules or interruptions occur.

Due Dates are as follows:

Thursday, February 19 Topic Assigned

Tuesday, February 24 Thesis, Working Outline

Friday, February 27 Source list (typed), Note Cards (at least 5 per source) due

Tuesday, March 3 Rough Draft due, Peer Edit

Tues-Fri. Mar. 3-6 Recording time given during class.

Friday, March 6 Final Formal Outline, Works Cited Page, Cover page Due (checked, all typed-end of class)

Tuesday, March 10 Final Draft Due (Outline, Rough Draft, Peer Edit, Work Cited Due)

*Final Draft/Works Cited page must be shared or sent via email. Presentations Begin