English I
The Odyssey Research Project
Process, Artifact, and Presentation
All freshmen are required to complete a research project; yours will focus on The Odyssey. Using the
text, library resources, and the internet, your goal is to research some aspect of ancient Greek
culture and produce written products and one artifact that represent your research. You will
present this research to the class in a five minute presentation.
WRITTEN PRODUCTS:
 Compiled notes
o You must access at least two books and at least three websites or database articles.
In total you must access and cite five separate sources.
o These notes will be on index cards or handwritten sheets; NO copy and pasting from
websites
 Website evaluation checklists
 Complete outline for research paper
 Informative essay
ARTIFACT:
A successfully constructed artifact MUST be…
 Believable and as accurate as possible (so, a spear would not be the size of a toothpick)
 Constructed on your own from ordinary materials
 Large enough for the class to see
 Sturdy enough not to fall apart in transport
PRESENTATION:
A successful presentation MUST…
 Be three to five minutes in length
 Provide the major points of your research in an organized way
 Display your artifact for the class
 Involve the presenter making eye contact with the audience and speaking audibly and clearly
 Be accompanied by a poster or brief PowerPoint presentation that presents your research
visually
Your topic will come from a list that I have generated of many aspects of ancient Greek culture
spanning the years 1600-500 BCE. Different scholars refer to the “eras” within this time span in
different ways and interpretations of when one era ends and another begins vary widely. You may
see the following terms in your research: Bronze Age, Dark Ages, Mycenaean Age, Archaic Age, and
Classical Age. It is essential that you identify which era your data comes from, especially if you note
changes in your topic over time.
OTHER ISSUES COVERED IN THIS UNIT:
 Plagiarism and proper documentation of sources
 Website integrity
 Paraphrasing vs. direct quotation: which one works best?
English I
List of possible areas of interest (you may choose to narrow your focus)
Clothing/jewelry
Food and dining
 Agriculture
 Wine making
 Olives!
Occupations
Family and home life
Customs and values
 Xenia
 Gift giving
 Fame
Sports and hunting
Art and artists
 Pottery
 Sculpture
 Weaving
Geography of Greece
 Regions
 Odysseus’s journey
 Changes over time
Government and the law
Class structure
 Royalty
 Peasants
 Nobles
 slaves
War and military
 A specific war (Troy)
 Weaponry and armor
 Military service
 Greek war heroes
Architecture
 Country vs. city
 Palaces
 A specific structure
Travel and sailing
 Ships
 Travel by animal
The gods/mythology
 Olympians
 Titans
 Medicines
 A specific god or group of deities
 A monster
Education
Greek philosophers
 Aristotle
 Plato
 Socrates
English I
A brief list of possible artifact ideas (and the book in which they first appear)
Odysseus’s Greek sailing ship
Athena’s spear, helmet, and shield (1)
Hermes’s wand and sandals (5)
The olive tree that Odysseus sleeps under on Phaeacia (5)
A scaled model of Odysseus’s raft (5)
The lotus flower (9)
A scaled model of Polyphemus’s cave (9)
The charm Hermes gives to Odysseus to make him immune to Circe’s drugs (10)
The burial barrow for Elpenor (12)
A model of the Sirens’ island (12)
Odysseus’s bow and arrows (21)
The great rooted bed (23)
Odysseus’s bow (23)
Odysseus as he appears at home (23)
I, _____________________________________________________, parent/guardian of ____________________________________________,
understand and acknowledge the assignment contained in these papers. I have read over the due dates and
the schedule of events and understand that my student does not have time to turn in late assignments with
this research project.
________________________________________________________ Student Name
________________________________________________________ Parent Signature
________________________________________________________ Parent Phone Number
________________________________________________________Parent Email Address
English I
The Process for Writing a Research Paper: THE CHECKLIST
1. Brainstorm a few topics or areas of interest. Choose one or two.
2. Create a list of questions for each topic that your research will attempt to answer; fifteen is a good start.
These questions should cover the topic broadly and thoroughly. If you have a hard time coming up with at
least ten questions, your topic is probably too narrow or not worthy of an entire research project. Hit up
Wikipedia to satisfy your curiosity, then choose another topic.
Final Topic Choices Due: April 1 or 2, 2015
3. Begin your research. Use books (those paper things that live on shelves in the library), library databases,
and the internet. Photocopy pages from books if applicable (an entry in an encyclopedia, for example), and
print articles from databases and websites. Make sure you also copy the copyright page for bibliographic
information—especially if you do not check out the books from the library.
Note: if at this point you cannot find answers to many of your questions, you may need to choose another topic.
4. For websites: complete an internet evaluation checklist.
5. Begin taking notes. There are a few ways to do this:
Notecards. You will probably need at least twenty
Use one notecard per note (piece of information).
A note can be a direct quote, a statistic (or set of statistics), or a paraphrase.
Each notecard should have the article source citation.



Sheets of paper. Use one sheet per source
Write the title and author of the source at the top of the paper.
Take notes in bullets; you will need quotes, statistics, and paraphrased information
Indicate which questions your notes answer—you may color code or use another system or coding or
organization



6. Organize your notes by topic.
What are the big ideas about your topic? What needs to be included in a research paper (which you will
NOT actually write)? Each of these topics will represent a “paragraph”
Notes & Website Evaluation Sheets Due: April 16 or 17, 2015.




7. Compose an outline. This must include:
Broad thesis-like statement in the introduction
Topic sentences for each paragraph
Notes in bullets/sentences for each paragraph
Quotes & statistics with proper citations
8. Compose rough draft.
9. Compose final draft.
10. Presentations in the last few weeks of school.