Twentieth Century Author Research and PowerPoint Presentation
175 points
Sources: You must have at least FOUR sources. They may be print or internet sources. When you are
selecting internet sources, you must evaluate the source to see if it is reliable. For each internet source,
you will fill out a Website Evaluation Form (See attached sheet. Make copies as necessary.) When you
print out or make copies of your source material, make sure the publication information is somewhere on
your copies. You will need this information when you make up your Works Cited list.
Information: You will need to give information about your author’s biography and major literary works.
You will also need to explain why your writer is important. What is your author’s writing style? What are
your writer’s major themes or topics? Try to find out if he/she influenced other writers. Who? How? Was
your author influenced by other writers? Who? How? How did your author respond to what was going on
in the world? Did your author have other work besides writing? Try to find information that you find
interesting to share with your classmates. Also use at least five correctly cited images to illustrate your
slide show.
Presentation: You will give a PowerPoint presentation with a MINIMUM of ten slides. Your first slide
will be your title slide. Your last slide will be your source slide. You and your partner must share the
presentation of material equally.
List of Sources: You MUST have a source slide. You must tell where you got your information, or you
are committing plagiarism. Title your source slide Works Cited. List your sources alphabetically. Use the
following formats (including the hanging indent):
General Book Format
List the author or editor, last name first. List the title of the book, italicized. List the volume
number if applicable. List the city of publication. If it is not a well-known city, also list the state.
List the publisher and the year of publication. If you only used part of a book, also list the pages
used.
Jones, Nancy. John Steinbeck: a Life. New York: Knopf, 2007. Print.
Smith, Nancy. Twentieth Century Authors. Vol. 6. New York: Random House,
1998. 345-50. Print.
General Website Format
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version Number (if given). Name of
Institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher; put n.p. if no publisher is
listed), date of resource creation (if available; put n.d. if no date is given). Medium of publication
(Web). Date of access.
Steinbeck: An American Author. Center for American Literature Studies, 2003. Web. 6 March
2009.
Works of Ernest Hemingway. University of Michigan, n.d. Web. 5 February 2010.
Image Citation Format
To cite your images, create a textbox under the picture. If you are using an image of a painting or
photograph where the artist is known, provide the artist or photographer’s name, the name of the
work of art in italics, the year of creation, and the museum and city where the work is housed.
Follow this information with the name of the website in italics, the medium of publication, and
the date of access.
Example:
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado,
Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006.
If you are using a stock photograph from an online source, you will probably not know the creator
or name of the image. List the title of the website in italics followed by the medium of publication
and the date of access.
Example:
iStockphoto. Web. 10 November 2009.
Rubric for Presentation Grade:
80 points – slide show
 Each slide show will be judged on information provided and format. Each slide should
have approximately four bulleted pieces of brief information (You should have at least
four bullets but no more than six per slide).
 Your bullets should be key words and phrases, NOT complete sentences.
 Use the 4x4 rule: use four bullets per slide with approximately four words per bullet. (If
a title is longer than four words, for example, give the whole title. I will allow you to do a
slide of famous quotations by your author if you wish. This should be the only slide with
complete sentences after the bullets.)
 You must have a source slide to receive a grade for the presentation.
50 points – oral presentation
 You must use note cards to present. DO NOT stare at the screen constantly.
 Each person will be judged separately on his/her part of the presentation.
 You must show knowledge of your topic without reading word for word from note cards.
 Your presentation MUST be paraphrased – put in your own words. Reading the
sources’ wording aloud word for word is just as much plagiarism as using their
words in writing without quotation marks and proper citation.
 You should discuss and expand on the information presented on the slide.
 You must be able to answer questions (both from your classmates and from me).
20 points – creativity/organization of presentation
 Each slide show must contain at least five properly cited graphics pertaining to the topic.
 The font must be readable. Use good contrast between lettering and background.
 Arrangement of slides must be logical and orderly.
25 points – completed evaluation forms
 You must complete an evaluation form for each website you cite.
 You will turn in these forms when you present.
Choose one of the following 20th century writers for your presentation. You must work with an author on this list.
Authors with asterisks will be assigned first.
*Langston Hughes
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Sylvia Plath
*Ernest Hemingway
Maya Angelou
Richard Wright
*William Faulkner
Ralph Ellison
Katherine Anne Porter
*Flannery O’Connor
Amy Tan
Richard Wright
*Robert Frost
Maxine Hong Kingston
Sherman Alexi
*John Steinbeck
N. Scott Momaday
Alice Walker
Eudora Welty
Kurt Vonnegut
Tim O’Brien
Presentation Evaluation Form – Author Research Project – 175 points
Presenter____________________________________________________
Point total____________________
Slide show
 Eight informational slides (20 pts.)
 Four bullets per slide (15 pts.)
 Information on slides brief (15 pts.)
 Slides have been proofread (10 pts.)
 Title slide (5 pts.)
 Source slide format correct (15 pts.)
Notes:
Points possible: 80
yes_____
yes_____
yes_____
yes_____
yes_____
yes_____
no_____
no_____
no_____
no_____
no_____
no_____(No source slide = a zero)
Points earned_______
Oral Presentation
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Partners share presentation
Reads from note cards, not screen (5 pts.)
Shows knowledge of topic (10 pts.)
Uses paraphrasing (10 pts.)
Elaborates on PowerPoint outline (10 pts.)
Answers questions from audience (10 pts.)
Makes eye contact, stands up straight,
no gum, no fidgeting, etc. (5 pts.)
yes_____
good_____
good_____
good_____
good_____
good_____
good_____
no_____
adequate_____
adequate_____
adequate_____
adequate_____
adequate_____
adequate_____
needs improvement_____
needs improvement_____
needs improvement_____
needs improvement_____
needs improvement_____
needs improvement_____
Notes:
Points possible: 50
Points earned________
Creativity/Organization
 Contains five cited graphics (5 pts.)
 Uses clear font/good contrast (5 pts.)
 Shows logical organization (5 pts.)
 Shows effort and attention to detail
(5 pts.)
Notes:
yes_____
no_____
yes_____
no_____
good_____ adequate_____ needs improvement_____
good_____ adequate_____ needs improvement_____
Points possible: 20
Points earned________
Website Evaluation
 Forms filled out and turned in for each website yes_____
Points possible: 25
Points earned________
no_____