The research project I am going to have my kidlets do in the upcoming weeks.

English 3 G****
The Great Gatsby Fall 2006
Research Project

Description of project:

The purpose of this webquest is for you to find enough information about the 1920’s to understand what daily life was like for people then. You need to explore this looking at vastly different socioeconomic standards. Once you understand what daily life was like, then you need to figure out what was the American Dream at this point in history? What did people long for? Once you have this basic cultural understanding you will be able to better understand what Fitzgerald is trying to do in his novel. You need to be able to fully explain how the lives of the characters in the novel were both typical and atypical.

Roles that will be filled by group members:

Everyone in the group will have a different focus of research. The five roles to be divided up are: travel, politics, fashion, employment, and entertainment (if a group has six people the additional topic will be communication). Each person is responsible for his or her own area of research. In addition to doing research each person has a specific role within the group. One person needs to be responsible for putting together the physical report that will be turned in. One person needs to compile the bibliography. One person needs to determine the order of the oral presentation and understand how much time each person can actually fill. One person needs to be responsible for finding specific and detailed passages in the book that either align or argue with what is found in the research. One person will be the wrangler: by wrangler I mean there will be one person who is responsible for ensuring that all tasks are done in a timely fashion, that people have a specific schedule (how do you know if you will have enough time to finish the written report if you don’t have a schedule?), and if anyone needs more help it is the responsibility of the wrangler to assist as necessary.

Notes on research:

For the research I want people to start with and rely most heavily on the Library of Congress. If you do decide to start using Google, please make sure you can answer all of the questions on primary sources. Good URLs to start with include:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
http://thomas.loc.gov/

Final report will have two sections: written and oral.

The written report will include ½ – a full page of writing from each member of the group explaining what they found in their research and how it contributed to their overall understanding of the 1920’s. Each group will also need to compile an annotated bibliography with a minimum of ten sources per person (50 per group). In addition there needs to be a short written estimate of how much time each speaker will be presenting for. All written reports must be typed in Times New Roman 12 pt font with 1” margins, double spaced, with no italics or bold unless dictated by MLA standards.

For the oral report each member of the group must speak. Each group has between 15 and 20 minutes to present their information. The focus of this presentation should be on what life was like in the 1920’s, what the American Dream looked like in the 1920’s, and there needs to be specific and detailed reference to how the book matches up with your research. There must be a visual element of some sort to go along with the oral report. This could be bringing in physical artifacts to go along with your topic. This could be wearing appropriate costumes. This could be a powerpoint and/or a podcast. This could be a poster (warning: if you choose to do a poster it needs to demonstrate substantial thought and work).

Additional notes:

We will be spending two lab days on the research. There will also be about 15 minutes of additional class time the Monday before we start presenting. We will be presenting November 7-9. The order of presentations will be determined randomly by me on Monday November 6th. It is not smart to procrastinate on putting this project together as it is huge. Every group should put together a schedule and have goal deadlines. That way you will know whether or not you are going to be able to present when the time comes.

Points:

The written report will be worth 75 points.
The oral report will be worth 75 points.
There will be another additional 50 points that will be determined based on the quality and content of your research topic within the written report and oral report as well as, how well you fulfilled your role within the group.