| |
Suggested Study Question Parameters
Answers to the numbered study questions throughout the Study
Guide depend on "reading between the lines," or making
inferences. Because answers require interpretation, they should be
discussed; in fact, the study questions may be the basis of class
discussion. Teachers should consider--
 | assigning the study questions book by book |
| requiring written answers to the questions before in-class discussion,
perhaps asking students to work in pairs or groups to divide up the
questions for Book 1, Book 2, etc., but to agree on one answer to selected
questions |
| OR having groups of students post agreed-upon answers to selected
questions at a discussion forum |
| counting answers to the study questions, whether written by
individuals or groups, as quizzes (so there would be 5 quizzes for the
novel, since it contains 5 "books") |
The point of the suggestions above is to provide some intervention between
students who are reading mostly for the story and getting the facts straight and
the requirement to read the novel as a literary work, considering motives of the
characters and the writer, looking for motifs or ideas, seeing beneath the
surface. The point of writing and discussing the study questions, then, is
to deepen students' perspectives, enabling them to write better research reports
and essays about the novel after considerable thinking and interpretation.
Suggested Research Assignment Parameters
Most of the research topics at this website could elicit brief, factual reports of no
more than 2-3 typed, double-spaced pages (or 4-5 screens on a web page).
Students and faculty may wish to consider several of the issues below before
finalizing an answer to the research question the student selects.
(Research questions throughout the Study Guide are
lettered, unlike the numbered study questions for which students can make
answers from the novel alone.)
Format
| research paper or report |
| web page |
| brochure or poster with explanation |
| Relevant illustrations could be used in any format. |
Length
| 2-3 pages for a report (4-5 screens) |
| longer for a research project |
Documentation and Presentation
| Follow your instructor's directions for crediting sources. Common practice
is to use the guidelines of the Modern Language Association (MLA), the
American Psychological Association (APA), or other style manual for citing
sources by name during one's paper and listing full citations at the end of
one's paper. |
| Guidelines are usually included in such manuals for a cover page, a
"Works Cited" page, and others. |
| An "abstract" or "executive summary" may be a good
idea for getting students ready for a class discussion that may touch on
information they have turned up. |
Collaboration or Not?
| Whether or not to collaborate on an assigned topic may depend more on
finding the right partner and on deciding the right division of labor than
on the instructor's permission. Students should make sure they
understand whether their instructors allow them to work in teams or if they
must work solo. |
Samples
| This
essay, posted with permission of the student writer, uses background
information about the society of the time to illuminate her reading of A
Raisin in the Sun. |
| An essay on the U.S. entry into WWI is also a sample of researched
writing worth discussing. |
|
Copyright
and Permission:
This web on Ernest Hemingway's early novel was begun under a small grant from the
VCCS, which holds copyright. © 2001 by the