Biography Project Research

The goal is get started on researching topics related to the biography you are reading.  Don't worry about what the research will be used for.*  Follow your interests.  Find some sources.  Save the source information so you can easily go back later.

1. Identify topics for research, using the handout

2. Set up a place to save and organize all your bookmarks.  This could be a folder with Safari or Firefox Bookmarks.  Or you may choose to set up an account on Delicious or Diigo.

3. Start identifying sites that are potential resources.  Don't just rely on Google.   See the Biography section of  Wirthportal (also on the right sidebar link of this site) and check out Marvel, Internet Public Library, Google Search tools such as "Advanced Search" and Time Defined Searchs, Google News, and Google Blogs.

4. Save your sites you find within your bookmarks folder (or on Delicious or Diigo).

*Some of your research may be later incorporated into a review of your biography. Some of your research may help you write genre pieces and may become part of your presentation. Even if your research is not directly used, it may help you have a better understanding of your biography and -- importantly -- you will get credit for each source you include as part of your bibliography.

Hamlet Project

The steps of the project include:
1. Choose a partner.
2. Choose a theme.
3. Collect 5 quotes on your theme & save them to a word document.
4. Write a statement that explains and interprets each quote.  (The statement should explain in a general sense what the quote might add to our understanding of the theme; it should not be specific to the play and its characters).
5. Choose an image to go with each quote & statement.
6. Put quotes, statements, and images together in the form of a slideshow, prezi, poster, or other.
7. Present to the class.

The full text of Hamlet is here.  You can locate quotes with your theme by using the "Command F."

The rubric for the project is here.

"There is the story of the woman who read Hamlet for the first time and said, 

'I don’t see why people admire that play so. It is nothing but a bunch of quotations 

strung together.'”             –Issac Asimov, Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare