Edgar Allan Poe is Dead!
Edgar Allan Poe led a life of struggle and pain. Many suggest that the Poe drew from his life’s heartaches in
creating his works of fiction. So before we start reading his writing, you will research his life. For this
assignment, you will be researching Poe’s life and death. You will produce a two-part obituary. The first section
will simply be a well-researched summary of Poe’s life. The second section will look at the various theories of
Poe’s death and argue for the one you find most convincing based on your research.
We will have three days to research in class. The rest will be on your own.
The obituary must open with:
 An argumentation for the cause of death you believe most likely
o Acknowledgement two other possible causes of death
o Refutation of the two other possible causes of death
The obituary must continue with:
 At least 15 facts about his life, including:
o Information on Poe’s personal life, spanning from birth to death
o Information on Poe’s professional experiences
o Information on Poe’s literary achievements
o An informational span from birth to death.
The obituary must be formatted properly:
 MLA formatting (information is on the wikipage)
o 3 to 5 sources (not including the text, but the text may be an additional source)
o In-text citations
o Summary, Partial and Direct Quotations
o Works cited page
Deliverables (the things you must turn in):
 Upload your paper to www.turnitin.com (information is on the wikipage)
 Staple your annotation papers to this assignment paper and turn it as evidence of your note taking
You will be graded according to the rubric on the reverse side of this paper:
Overall Score Average (1-4)
______ x 10 = _____ / 40
Quality of Reading Notes
_____ / 10
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Total
_____ /50
Name: __________________________________________________________
Due date: _________________