Honors English II Research Project
All Honors English II students are required to complete a research project. Your assignment for this class is to create a Diary Project using the following guidelines.
Diary Project Overview: As we study world literature, it is important to understand different cultures and generations. You will create a historical diary project that entails researching the decade assigned to you, reading non-fiction research, understanding the historical context of your assigned decade, and researching authors, inventions and world events. This project will help you gain a deeper understanding of world cultures and history.
Instructions: You will be assigned a particular decade that you must research. Pretend that you are living in that particular decade and create a personal diary containing eight different diary entries using the requirements listed below.
1. Choose a popular writer from that time and research that person’s books, plays or poems. Select a popular one from the decade. What is the title of the book, play or poem? What was the publication date (do the best you can with this one)? What did the critics of the time say about the work? Copy in your diary a quotable phrase or sentence from the piece. What did you discover about this author as you conducted your research? Why was the author popular? What general themes did the author address? What was the public’s reaction to the author during your assigned timeframe?
2. You have seen, heard about or even used an invention that emerged during your decade. What is it? Who invented it? What are its purposes? What did people think about it at the time? Is it still used today? If so, has it been altered or changed at all? Why were the changes necessary?
3. A member of your family is involved in the clothing or shoe business. What are the latest styles of your decade? Which do you prefer? Why? How widespread is the style? Where did it originate? Who are your favorite designers?
4. You meet a charismatic leader of a foreign country who is popular around the world. Who was it? What did you think about this person? What is he or she doing that makes this person well-known?
Choose four of the following options for the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th entries in your diary and write five to eight