POSSIBLE TOPICS
ASSESSMENT
This will count as several
Minor Assessments and one
Major Assessment. Each
step in the research process
will be a minor assessment
and the 4-6 page typed
research paper written in
MLA format will count as a
major assessment.
You are required to adhere to
the Modern Language
Association (MLA) style
with proper citations and a
Works Cited page.
You should use a minimum
of three secondary sources.
This assignment must be
typed.
Any type of plagiarism of
any kind will result in a
failing grade for the project
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, John
Steinbeck,
Ray
Bradbury,
Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Edgar Alan Poe, Ernest
Hemingway, Truman Capote, Louisa May
Alcott, Robert Frost, Herman Melville, Arthur
Miller, Tennessee Williams, Kurt Vonnegut,
Alice Walker, Emily Dickinson, Walt
Whitman, Stephen King, Edith Wharton,
Maya Angelou, Willa Cather, Washington
Irving, Jack London, Toni Morrison, Sylvia
Plath, Tim O’Brien, Ken Kesey, Carl
Sandburg, Zora Neale Hurston, J.D Salinger,
T.S. Eliot, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright,
Langston Hughes, Henry David Thoreau,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philip Roth, Eugene
O’Neil…
WHS Media Center Resources/Databases
(see school website)
Woodbridge Public Library Databases
(you may need your library card code)
Additional Resources
Alphabetical lists of American authors:
http://archive.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/alpha
.HTML
Biographies Online:
http://www.biographyonline.net/writers.html
MLA Works Cited Basics:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05
Please note: You may only choose
American authors that are approved by me.
AN AMERICAN
AUTHOR
RESEARCH PAPER
WRITE
TASK
RESEARCH AND READ
You will research



TOPIC
AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
You are to read

Over the next few weeks, we will be
researching an American author for the
purpose of having a deeper
understanding and appreciation of that
person’s life, works, and contributions
to the landscape of great literature.
the major works the author wrote,
important life events,
and the historical and cultural context
of the time period.

a major work by the author or a
collection of shorter works (three
short stories or eight poems); and
at least three articles by critics and
other authors.
In your paper you will

Describe the important life
events, and the historical and
cultural context of the time
period,

discuss the impact the
author’s works had on
American Literature,

discuss how his/her writing
(major work or collection of
shorter works) is still relevant
today,

describe how the author’s
writing is reflected in society.
You will present your findings in a
formal paper:


“The secret of getting ahead,
4-6 pages in length using MLA
format citations
Double spaced, size 12, Times
New Roman
is getting started.”
Mark Twain