Advanced Placement Research Paper Project
(In Three Parts)
The adventure begins! Your challenge is to write a paper that demonstrates that you have reflected and savored the writing experience. Your comparison can encompass dominant literary aspects such as style, theme, plot development, imagery, tone, or humor of two works. Additionally, you will understand the importance of revision and conversion of a formal essay into a documented research paper.
Part I The Rough Draft 24 November 2009
1. Select your poet. Read and interpret a variety of poems keeping the list of prompts in mind as you search for the wisest decisions that best befits your selections.
2. You will be constructing a comparison/contrast essay from your selections. This will serve as your rough draft and your first reach into the free-response poetry analysis question of the AP Exam.
3. Bring your poems and your TYPED prompt to class for the timed writing rough draft. After the 40-minute timed essay has concluded, I will quickly check your quantity, as you will be taking this essay home for serious revision. All to be turned in with the Formal Essay.
Part II The Formal Essay 30 November 2009
1. You may use what you have composed in class as a starting point or completely refresh your approach if you feel you can do a better job with a different thesis or possibly a different work. You may only change one of the poems, however. (same poet of course)
2. When you turn in your masterpiece, you must include copies of the primary sources (placed behind your essay). You must also include textual evidence and textual references throughout your work.
3. Your paper must be typewritten 12 pt. Times New Roman double-spaced throughout.
4. There is a five hundred word minimum requirement on length.
Part III The Research Paper 11-14 December 2009
Cover Page:
Name
Date
Hour
Title
Thesis
Topic Outline
Body 3-5 pages
Works Cited: two secondary sources per poem as a minimum.
Secondary Source considerations include biographical, historical, social, and philosophical influence. An example is “The Decaying South in William Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’ and ‘The Bear’” which might prove a statement the author was making regarding a personal or sociological conflict. Although this example comes from short stories, it gives you an idea of how your comparison might be developed.
1. Documentation will follow the MLA Style Sheet guidelines. Be aware that the style sheet has changed.
2. Grading will be based on quality of content as well as presentation. “Greater Expectations” will apply. Remember that you lose a letter-grade for faulty sentences (fragments, run-ons, and comma splices), use of 2nd person, contractions, needless parenthetical expressions (I think, I feel, I believe, It seems to me, etc.).
3. Research papers will be returned second semester.
The formal essay and the research paper must be submitted to turnitin.com. You will gather all steps to this process—poems, prompt, timed writing rough draft, Formal Essay, and Final Research Paper along with all highlighted secondary sources and online verification—in pocketed folder on your final due date.
