Authors in Comparison
Research Paper
Your job: Select two American authors* who lived and wrote during Modernism and Post-Modernism. You
must research their lives and read some of their work. The ultimate goal is for you to understand how authors
are impacted by their life/society, and how the writing that grows from their experiences will impact society in
turn. Preliminary papers will use biography and one work by the author to explain major elements in
their work and argue for their legacies.
Preliminary Papers
(due in the third marking period)
Each of these Preliminary Papers must meet the following requirements:
 be 3-4 pages in length, not counting Works Cited pages.
 have proper MLA formatting, from first heading to in-text citation to works cited, and everything in
between.
 begin with a statement about the writing of your chosen author, and use evidence from his or her
life, writing, and outside sources to prove this thesis. Underline your thesis.
 organize the paper in a logical sequence of argument and supporting evidence.
 use proper formal writing style (no you, no contractions, no I).
 use a minimum of one specific text by your chosen author as evidence.
 use a minimum of two outside, scholarly sources on each author’s life and work to support your
argument.
Final Paper
(due in the fourth marking period)
This major test grade should do the following:
 trace the history/major events that impacted each author (this is not a biography—you must note major
events that impacted these people and their writing).
 conjecture on the impact of these experiences. How did they shape the writers? Use specific events
and examples from their writing to make connections.
 explain major ideas, themes, symbols, or characters present in their writing.
 compare and contrast how the authors are similar and different. Did they have similar events and
influences in their lives? What were the major traits of their writing? Did one writer impact the other?
 use evidence from their work (in the form of main characters, themes, etc.) to support your
comparisons.
 identify the impact and legacy of these two writers on contemporary writing. For what will they be
remembered best?
All Final Papers, regardless of thesis, must meet the following basic requirements:
 be 8-10 pages in length, not counting the Works Cited page.
 have proper MLA formatting, from first heading to in-text citation to works cited, and everything in
between.
 focus on the traits of your chosen authors, and present evidence to support your thesis.
 organize the paper in a logical sequence of argument and supporting evidence.
 use proper formal writing style (no you, no contractions, no I).
 use a minimum of two sources from text by these authors (1 or 2 per author).
 use a minimum of four outside, scholarly sources on the authors’ lives and work.
A brief note about sources:
 For a novelist, one source would be one novel. For a short story writer, one source would be one
collection of their stories. For a poet, one source would be one collection of their poetry. Individual
stories and poems are an incomplete portrait of an author, as one chapter of a novel would be
incomplete.
 Sources about your authors and their work should be written by authors whose scholarship you can
determine (they have a scholarly reputation in their field and have done work to back up their, and
therefore your, claims), not blogs, wikis, SparkNotes-type pages, or anonymous sources.
The due dates: Work to be completed and handed in to me follows:
 Paper One--first author (3rd MP quiz, 100 pt.)
February 19/20
 Paper Two--second author (3rd MP test, 100 pt.)
March 23/24
 W/C page and T-P Thesis (4th MP quiz, 40 pt.)
April 16/17
 Rough Draft (optional)
May 4/5
 Final Draft (4th MP test, 150 pt.)
May 14/15
IMPORTANT!
Papers will be due in hard copy and through Google Classroom.
You must do both to receive credit.
Late papers will lose ten points per day, regardless of block schedule.
Absolutely no papers will be accepted after May 29th.
*With the exception of the suggestions below, all first paper authors must be from the Modern period
(1914-1946), and all second paper authors must be from the Post-Modern period (1946-present), and all
author choices must be approved by me. There will be no changes allowed after April 16/17.
Some suggestions for comparison:
Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks
E. E. Cummings and Robert Frost
T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound
John Steinbeck and Sherwood Anderson
Grace Paley and Tennessee Williams
Katherine Anne Porter and Zora Neale Hurston
Countee Cullen and Carson McCullers
Flannery O’Connor and Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald
Theodore Roethke and Kurt Vonnegut
Alice Walker and Toni Morrison
Sandra Cisneros and Robert Frost
Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich
E. L. Doctorow and J. D. Salinger
Arthur Miller and J. D. Salinger
Truman Capote and Joyce Carol Oates