Name:
Proposal – worth 50 points
(The proposal is to be handed in by Sunday February 10th to turnitin.com and to be brought to Mr.
Mounkhall’s office as part of a conversation sometime between February 6th and February 14th.)
1. What category will your research paper fall into? (circle one from the following
list, or create a blend)
An author study – you will choose a poet, choose several poems by that poet, analyze those poems,
read secondary source essays about that poet and write a 10-15 page essay that persuades the reader of
some important recurring theme that cuts through the poems you have chosen.
b) A long poem study – you will chose a long poem (such as Goblin Market length), analyze that poem,
read secondary source essays about that poem and write a 10-15 page essay that persuades the reader
of an important theme in that poem.
c) School/technique/form study – you will choose a school (such as Romantics or Beats or Slam) or a
technique (such as anaphora or allusion) or a form (such as villanelle), choose several poems that
provide insight into that school, technique or form, analyze those poems in terms of that school,
technique or form, read secondary sources about those poems and write a 10-15 page essay that
persuades the reader of some important theme that cuts through the poems you have chosen.
d) Interdisciplinary Study – you will chose poems and another discipline (art, music, etc) that have
important relationships. You will analyze these poems and related examples from the other discipline
and read secondary source essays on both the poems and the other works of art. You will write a 1015 page essay that has at least 60% poetry analysis and that persuades the reader of an important theme
that cuts through the poems and the other works of art.
a)
2. List of poems (and, possibly, other artwork) to study. Please attach copies of
the actual work or links where I can see the actual poems unless you have
checked with me and found out that I already have a copy.
3. List of secondary sources that seem applicable. Be specific. List actual articles
that we can look up together when you come visit.
4. General topic: (defined as best as you can for now) – In other words, get as
close as you can to describing what the ideas could be. This section of the
proposal should be about a page long.
Gathering Steps for steps 1-4
Tu February 25th – (step#1 Due) – your choice a-e
Th February 27th – (step#2 Due) – your choice a-e
Tu March 4th – (step#3 Due) – your choice a-e
Th March 6th – (step#4 Due) – your choice a-e
a)annotate the form, figures, content and big ideas of your range of poems (or one of your
poems) – could be multiple steps.
b) notate the form, figures, content and big ideas of your other artwork (or one piece of
your artwork) – could be multiple steps – may also need new, developed notation...if you
are analyzing dance or paintings or songs etc..
c) choose some important and relevant secondary sources about the poems or the poets or
the schools or the other disciplines being studied. Read these sources and annotate them
in such a way that Mr. Mounkhall can get a sense of what parts you believe are helpful
and why.
d) collect usable quotes from relevant secondary sources - retype them into a file annotate them, so Mr. Mounkhall can see how you intend to use them - in reference to
what poem, for example.
e) collect usable quotes from poems - retype them into a file - annotate them, so Mr.
Mounkhall can see how you intend to use them - in reference to what secondary source,
for example.
Organizing Steps 5-7
Tu March 11th – (step#5 Due) – Thesis Outline due – must be approved in person.
Th March 13th - (step#6 Due) – your choice f-g
Tu March 18th – (step #7 Due) – your choice f-g
f) Developed Outline. Develop the thesis outline down further into the details, placing
quotes where you expect they will be used.
g) Create a developed graphic organizer that visually represents the structure of your
paper. Great freedom exists here for what this organizer might look like, but a written
explanation of the premises is necessary.
Writing Steps 8-10
Th March 20th – (step #8 Due) – your choice h-k
Tu March 25th – 10pm – last day for steps to be handed in online – (step#9). - your
choice h-k
We March 26th-Tuesday April 8th – all students need to visit Mr. Mounkhall for a
discussion of part of the essay. (step #10) - your choice h-k
h) Freewrite on the topic (no more than 2-3 pages double-spaced) - for those students
who find that they need to spill out their ideas on to the page before organizing them into
more manageable sections.
i) Write the introduction or conclusion (approximately 1-1.5 pages long)
j) Write one of the sections of the essay (cannot be more than 1/3 of the essay and cannot
be done as more than one step, as Mr. Mounkhall does not want to read the essay before
he reads the essay).
k) Create the Works Cited Page.
We April 9th – 10pm – research paper and self-evaluation (see below) are due.
Th April 10th-Sunday May 4th – late essays accepted (minus three points a school
day, ten possible school days, could lose as many as 30 points).
Su May 4th – 10pm – last possible time to hand in the research paper.
Mo April 5th Senior Options starts.
Self Evaluation: (essays will not be accepted without comprehensive answers to the following questions)
- What did you learn about writing during this research paper process? Explain.
- What did you learn about your research topic during this process? Explain.
- What do you now know about poetry that you did not know at the start of the year? Explain.
- What did you learn about the kind of research paper process that is best for you? Explain. How closely
did you follow the process you developed the first week? Explain.
- What would you do differently next time you had a research paper? Explain.
- What was the hardest part of this process? Why? How did you overcome these challenges? Explain.
- What grade would you give the essay? Why? Be specific
Important Dates
We January 29th – Library visit #1
Fr January 31st – Library visit #2
We February 5 – Library visit #3
Fr February 7th – Library visit #4
The Research Paper proposal is to be handed in by Sunday February 10th to turnitin.com and brought to
Mr. Mounkhall’s office as part of a conversation sometime between February 6th and February 14th.
Gathering Steps for steps 1-4
Tu February 25th – (step#1 Due) – your choice a-e
Th February 27th – (step#2 Due) – your choice a-e
Tu March 4th – (step#3 Due) – your choice a-e
Th March 6th – (step#4 Due) – your choice a-e
Fr March 7th – senior options independent proposals due.
Organizing Steps 5-7
Tu March 11th – (step#5 Due) – Thesis Outline due – must be approved in person.
Th March 13th - (step#6 Due) – your choice f-g
Fr March 14th – senior second quarter over for English students – graded on proposal through step
6 progress.
Tu March 18th – (step #7 Due) – your choice f-g
We March 19th – senior options internship proposals due.
Writing Steps 8-10
Th March 20th – (step #8 Due) – your choice h-k; first day of spring.
Tu March 25th – 10pm – last day for steps to be handed in online – (step#9). - your choice h-k
We March 26th-Tuesday April 8th – all students need to visit Mr. Mounkhall for a discussion of part of the
essay. (step #10) - your choice h-k
We April 9th – 10pm – research paper and self-evaluation (see below) are due.
Th April 10th-Sunday May 4th – late essays accepted (minus three points a school day, ten possible school
days, could lose as many as 30 points).
Su May 4th – 10pm – last possible time to hand in the research paper.
Mo April 5th Senior Options starts.
Research Paper Parameters – 2014 AT English
Everyone will write a research paper based on the following premises:
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The essay you write should be, ideally, an outgrowth of all the work we have done this year.
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The poems you write about will be challenging and will have literary merit.
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Make the choice of poems a reasonable amount of reading.
Choose poems that you will enjoy re-reading.
Most of each essay will discuss specific poems.
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Avoid children’s poems, such as works by Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein.
Avoid forms that are extremely short, such as limericks or haiku.
You will write about several poems or one longer poem.
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Consider the wide range of poems presented to you over the last few weeks.
You will need to use Suppose You Were Asked to Analyze…
Even if you discuss other art forms, this essay needs to be mostly based on poetry analysis.
Even if you become interested in author biography or school context or form history, the
majority of this essay needs to be based on poetry analysis.
Two main modes for the discussion of these poems will exist:
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Primary analysis: your ideas about form / figures / content / big idea analysis.
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Secondary analysis: other people’s observations about form / figures / content / big idea
analysis.
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3rd and 4th quarter for seniors will be split equally.
To pass this year, you will need to pass this project.
The essay will be at least 10 and no more than 15 pages in length.
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You will have some control, at the outset, about the order of the steps.
The steps will be handed in on time, so feedback can be provided, or the essay will not
count.
Each step, after the proposal, will be worth 25 points.
The research paper and the multi-step process is a graduation requirement.
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You will need to make an argument in your thesis.
The argument will need to be provable with evidence from your poems.
The research paper will be the outgrowth of a multi-step process.
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You will find these observations in JSTOR or Gale databases or in books.
Be sure to keep careful track of all citations.
The structure of the essay will be comparative.
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You will make these observations using Suppose you were asked to analyze…
The greater challenge for this assignment will be to keep observations about several poems
in your mind at once.
Introduction of approximately 1 page.
3 body sections about the poems of approximately 3-4 pages each.
Conclusion of approximately 1 page.
You will present one of your poems to the class.
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Depending on when you present, you may be still learning about the poems or be an expert.
These presentations must be no longer than 15 minutes in length.