McAuliffe ~ AP Literature & Composition Research

Assignment.  Find a topic that derives from something we have studied this year. Choose a major work or an author we have read, a novelist, playwright, or short story writer.  Or choose a poem or poet we have studied.  Consider literary theories, such as New Criticism, Reader Response, or any that have derived from Deconstruction Criticism. The topic should be suitable for a 5-7 page research paper using a minimum of three legitimate outside sources.  Your paper must follow MLA guidelines for manuscript format and citation conventions.

Getting Started.  Begin with a topic that interests you. Then follow a “true inquiry” process: ask a difficult question, offer a hunch or hypothesis, test it and ask, What else do I need to find out? Then visit a school-sponsored site (e.g. Bloom or Gale Group) or begin with a book or article.  The topic may be one that you have already thought about  (female characters in Hamlet), or it may be a question you have not yet considered ( How did a particular closed form – e.g. villanelle – develop over time?)

Read pages 2179-2184 in your textbook.  This will give you an overview of what this kind of paper entails.  It also addresses important issues like internet reliability and plagiarism.

Review the hand out, “Sample Research Topics.”  This will give you some idea of suitable topics for this assignment.  It may also stimulate ideas of your own.  Whatever topic you choose must be related directly to this course; it should not derive from a class you took previously (e.g., A.P. Language, 11 H, or 10H).

Work will be submitted through Turnitin.com. Some will be done in school, though you will have to do much of the drafting on your own time.  Steps along the way will be graded. These grades* will count for Quarter 4. 

Suggested Information Resources: 

• Bloom's Literature Resource Center (located under the VRC's Literature & Language)
• WMHS Library eBook Collection (if you need a copy of a work you have read)
• WMHS Destiny Library Catalog for print copies of a work you have read

Schedule.

Wed. May 13          Topic due*

Fri. May 22             Tentative thesis statement* and Preliminary Works Cited due*

Tues. May 26          Rough draft peer review*

Mon. June 1            Paper due

Sussin/Jourdain~ APES Pesticide Periodical

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a pesticide as “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest.”

A pesticide may be a chemical substance or biological agent (such as a virus or bacteria) used against pests including insects, plant pathogens, weeds, mollusks, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes, and microbes.  These organisms may compete with humans for food, invade lawns and gardens, destroy wood in houses, spread disease, or just be a general nuisance in our everyday lives.  Pesticides are usually, but not always, poisonous to humans.

There are 5 major types of pesticides you will encounter: insecticides (insect killers), herbidicides (weed killers), fungicides (fungus killers), nematocides (roundworm killers), and rodenticides (rat and mouse killers).  Be aware that although the 5 are listed here, there are many others (e.g. algicides, miticides).

Your school librarian, Mrs. Hatcher, recommends the following information resources that will be helpful.

Library Databases (VRC):

• Health Reference Center: Contains full-text nursing and allied health journal articles, and reliable health information. Search in multiple languages by subject, keyword or by specific publication title.
• eLibrary Science: Science content, tools, video, links to manipulative, interactive activities, science news, famous scientists, science history, clickable periodic table, hundreds of educator-approved websites.
• Science Online: A comprehensive overview of all sciences includes biology, chemistry, computer, earth, environmental, forensic, and marine sciences, mathematics, physics, space, astronomy, weather and climate. Timelines, videos, animations, diagrams, experiments, essays, definitions, biographies, conversion calculators, scientific dictionary, and links content to state and national standards including Common Core.

Search Engines:  

• Google Scholar: "provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research." (Google Scholar)

Print Collection: 

• eBook and print resources available by searching the WMHS library catalog in Destiny

Examples to search: Pesticides, herbicides, etc.

Indigenous Tribes of Latin America~Muller

Group Project: Qt. 3   Due Date: April 17

Indigenous Tribes of Latin America



Kaqchikel girls

Rubric: Working in pairs for 4 days in the library.

Create a Power Point in Spanish: Include the following topics per slide:

1. Language
2. Cultural Information/Way of Life
3. History
4. Where are they located?
5. List of 6 indigenous words and their meanings.
6. Population (are they still in existence).

Images: include images of village life, daily chores, map of the country they resided in).

Country: Tribes (Click on a tribe's link to get started)

• Panama: Guaymi
• Guatemala: Kaqchikel
• Paraguay: Guarani
• Colombia: Achagua
• Mexico: Amuzgo
• Honduras: Garifuna
• Puerto Rico: Taino
• Venezuela: Akawaio

Additional Information Resources you can consult:

VRC databases: Click on this link to open it up.  Use the username & password provided by your librarian, Mrs. Hatcher

• CulturGrams World Edition (located under History/Geography section)
• World Atlas- World Geography & Culture (located under History/Geography section)
• Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia  (located under Encyclopedia section)

Pro/Con Research Resources

Writing a evidence based research paper?  

 

Visit the Pro/Con section our our Virtual Reference Collection (VRC) for access to authoritative and credible information.   You will find a wealth of articles from journals, magazines and newspapers.  

 

Pro/Con

Contains full-text articles and images from thousands of domestic and international publications, maps, current events, biographies, special in-depth features [Election, Science Fair Explorer, Skills Discoverer, Activities, Biographies, Fiction, Country Facts, Pictures, Maps of the World, Educator Resources, Dictionary / Thesaurus.] Current Events topics are updated every 15 minutes [and then archived] from the wire services.

SIRS Knowledge Source (SKS) provides a portalto relevant, credible information carefullyhand-selected by our SIRS editorial staff. Whenstudents use SIRS SKS, they receive best-ofcontent designed to support student research,study, & homework in key curricula subjects. 

Opposing Viewpoints in Context

 Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze, and organize a broad variety of data, complete writing assignments, prepare for debates, and create presentations. Included are pro/con viewpoint essays, topic overviews, primary sources, biographies, court cases, full text magazine articles, statistical tables, charts, graphs, podcasts, including weekly presidential addresses and premier NPR programs, and national and state curriculum standards, correlated to the content. Educators may search and identify material by grade and discipline.

Muller~Español AP Lengua y Cultura~Los Dictatores de Latina America

Proyecto # 3: entregado el 13 de Enero

(Escrito totalmente en Español)

Rubrica:

1. Cada estudiante tendra su propio dictator.

2.  Harán una búsqueda sobre uno de los dictatores de  

     la lista y escriba una breve biografía.

3. Explica qué es una dictadura?

4. Necesitan presentar su proyecto por medio de

   “punto de acción”(powerpoint)

5. Necesitan 5 a 6 referencias y del grupo de Destiny

6. Contesten las siguentes preguntas:

a) Por qué  pudo subrir al poder y como logro    

                   el poder?

                   b)  Cuál era el clima político y económico?

          c)  Quiénes eran sus victimas y como las eliminó?

          d) Cuáles países lo apoyaron y por qué?

e) Qué cambios hizo en el país y por qué lo siguia

    la gente ?

          f) Cómo perdió su poder y quién lo derrota?

          g) Qué elemento de su caracter lo hizo un

                   dictator?

                   h) Qué opinas de tu dictator?

Recursos: Data de Basos~VRC

• Biography Reference Bank
• Biography Reference Center
• SIRS Discoverer

Muller~ Spanish Countries Brochure

 

Due Date:
Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Objectives: To develop a knowledge and understanding about Latin American geography through the research and presentation of each, individual country.
Procedure: Create a brochure as specified below.
Requirements:
Front Cover must be colorful and represent the country in one way or another.
Information must be written in Spanish.
Information must be cited.
Content:
Where is the country located? What is the capital?
At least 7 statistics or “Fun Facts”
A moment/day of importance in their history.
One or two important figures (people).

Information Resources @ Destiny Library Services

Virtual Reference Collection

• Culturegrams (World Edition)

• World Atlas & Culture Online

• World Book Online> Student Version

Citation Resources

Noodletools Citation System

Riggo~Important Themes of the 19th Century

  The Assignment:
 

Background Information:  The umbrella of the 19^th Century covers the time period of 1750 to 1914.  Historians refer to this period as The Long 19^th Century and it is characterized by several themes which have shaped the world we live in today.  These themes are Industrialization, Revolution and Independence Movements, Nationalism, Reform Movements, Imperialism and Emancipation.  These themes illustrate the changes that helped set in motion the increase in the power of the West in the world at large.

Task:  You are to choose one of the aforementioned themes of the 19^th Century and discuss TWO events or inventions that exemplify that theme.  You are to discuss TWO different events or inventions.  They must be related to the same theme and have had similar goals, but they do NOT have to be from the same area!  You should try to avoid events from the United States, but you may use ONE event from the U.S..  Papers should discuss the background information of each event, the course or activities of each event and its impact on World History.  Your introduction should include a thesis and examine the theme.  Your conclusion should establish a connection between the two by comparing and contrasting their achievements.

Available Resources: 

Destiny Library Services> Search Catalog for books on your topic
(e.g. Keywords: Imperialism, Industrialization)

VRC Databases> ABC-CLIO World History: the Modern Era, History Study Center