1.
·
Daisy
·
Nick
·
Gatsby
·
Tom
2. Vocabulary:
1. Perfunctory: Done routinely and with
little interest or care.
2. Philistine: A person who is smugly indifferent
or antagonistic to art and culture.
3. Precocious: Displaying or characterized
by unusually early development or maturity, especially in intelligence.
4. Propriety: Conformity to prevailing
customs and values.
5. Quid
pro quo: Something given in return for something else or
accepted as part of an exchange.
6. Quintessential:
Being the
best or most typical example of its kind.
7. Red
herring: Something that draws attention away from the matter
at hand.
8. Revel: To take great pleasure or
delight in something.
9. Rhetoric: Language that is intended
to persuade.
10. Scintillating: Lively and exceptionally
intelligent; animated and brilliant.
4. Magnum Opus:
& Huzzah! Research is fun! In April you will begin writing a ten page research
paper on any topic related to American history and/or literature of the 17th through
19th centuries The
thesis of your paper must assert a point that you will labor to prove in your
essay by your own clever reasoning and brilliance, and by referring to the
knowledge and wisdom of authors of books, articles, and websites.
& The
final paper will be due on May 15, 2008.
& Your
first task, of course, is to choose a topic and carve out a thesis about which
you will research, argue, and write. The
topic, thesis, and a page of explanation will be due on April 1.
Research
Paper Assignment
1. The Assignment: Your
magnum opus will be an essay of 10-12 pages (size 10 or 12 font,
double-spaced). You will be writing an
argument to prove a thesis that asserts a point about your subject.
In
the text of the paper, you will refer to information that comes from at least six
outside sources. At least two of
these sources must be books; the others may be articles from on-line
databases, articles from college or government sponsored
websites, interviews with experts, documentaries, lectures—if you have other
kinds of sources, see me to have them approved.
You
may quote from your sources, but no more than 200 words of your paper may be
quoted. The rest of the paper will be in
your own words, paraphrasing, summarizing, and explaining the information you
find in your research.
You
will make an outline of at least five main categories with three levels of
detail. Your outline will be done in
correct, traditional outline form.
You
will be taking notes on 3x5 or 4x6 index cards, following my very specific
format—at least 30 note-cards in a box with dividers.
Your
works cited page will comprise at least six sources, listed alphabetically by
the first word, following correct MLA format. Your paper will be generously peppered with parenthetical
citations (MLA style) to indicate the source of your information. You should expect to see an average of one citation per paragraph—an average of three
paragraphs per page (do your math here—that makes about 30 parenthetical
citations in a typical paper).
2. The Calendar
April 8 Outline Due 15
points
April 15 List of Potential
Sources Due 20
points
April 22 30 Note-cards Due 30
points
April 29 Rough Draft Due 35
points
May 15 Final Paper Due (No
late papers will be accepted!) 100
points
__________
200
points
3. The Grade:
The
entire project will be worth a total of 200 points—100 of these points will
accrue as you complete the sections of the assignment; 100 points will result
from the completed paper. Your paper
will be graded on correctness of grammar, punctuation, and spelling;
correctness of MLA works cited and parenthetical notes; structure of paragraphs
(topic sentences and supporting information); intelligence of thesis; depth of
research; uniqueness of argument; maturity of vocabulary and sentence
construction.
No paper written in a hurry at the last minute is likely
to earn an A: I am looking for significance and interest. Surprise and intrigue your reader, my
dears—you may also surprise yourself!