A large portion of your grade this semester will come from a final research project.
• Research Paper—Author’s Style. Choose an author we have studied this semester and write a five to
seven page research paper discussing this author’s style. Look at three to five primary sources (these can
include some of the literature we covered in class, though you should also address some of the author’s
other contributions as well) and use three to five secondary sources (be sure they are reputable, which
means no Wikipedia or SparkNotes) as support.
I would like the paper to be written over Kate Chopin, the famous feminist American writer. You have written
a few papers for me in the past and wrote over Kate Chopin once before. This paper is a little different
though.
Finally, as you have probably noticed, I have repeatedly stated above that I am looking for further study in
this project. If your project involves literary interpretation (all projects aside from the creative writing option),
you are expected to look further into the author and/or movement and address works that we did not cover
this semester. I do not simply want a regurgitation of what we studied together in class nor am I looking for
regurgitation of the critics you’ve read. I am expecting several works beyond what we touched upon in class
or, if you are looking at a time period, several authors we did not study and your opinion of these works
expressed through reasoned argument.
Grading Terms. Your final project for this class is worth 300 points. Regardless of the type of project you
choose to do, you will be graded on the following terms:
• Literary Analysis and Author Contribution. At least fifty percent of your project should relate to an analysis
of the literature, regardless of whether or not you choose to write about an author. The purpose of this class
is to learn to read, relate to, and understand literature, so, in turn, you can interpret the literature intelligently
and relate your findings to others. Equally important is understanding how the authors of the time period
contributed overall to the development of American literature.

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