Transactional Palaver

Author Study September 23, 2008

This year-long project requires you to research and write an in-depth analysis of an American author of your choice. The list of possible writers is attached to this handout. Included in your study will be analyses of major themes and historical context, biographical information, study guides, photographs, and at least two critical analyses based on the student’s interest in the author’s work, one of which must be a study in the author’s style. I am pursuing a grant that will allow you to publish your work as a bound book at the end of the year through www.lulu.com, a self-publishing site that enables you to control the design and publication of your work.

This project is designed to be interdisciplinary in nature, so you may well be tapping your U.S. History II teachers for information and help. You will make decisions about relevant and irrelevant content, which texts to include in the study, influences (both historical and future) upon the author’s development as well as the influences your chosen author has had on subsequent writers/culture. Additionally, you will organize research and writing, balancing original writing with researched works, and will make decisions about the most effective presentation of information for the reader. You will gain valuable media experience through web-based publishing and design, as well.

Project Goal: Students will write, edit, design, and publish an in-depth study of a seminal American author through individually driven year-long inquiry.

Objective 1: Students will produce and adhere to an organized timeline for complete of their projects.

Objective 2: Students will produce an organized written portfolio of original writing that includes both research and critical analyses.

Objective 3: Students will generate a published work reflecting an entire year’s worth of student inquiry.

Objective 4: Student will demonstrate mastery and authority in the following areas in a class presentation of their work:

· Author’s works and biography

· Influences upon author

· Author’s influences on subsequent writers

· Historical and social context for author’s work

You should choose your writer now because you have a great deal of writing and research to do over the course of the year. You will have progress reports to complete on your project throughout the year so that we can ensure that you stay on schedule.