Working+Assignment

(Tom Romano, //Writing with Passion//)
 * The Assignment: The Multigenre Research Paper ** // Melding Fact, Interpretation, and Imaginatio // n

The stage is set by Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” You will read the poem and connect to it by identifying your own roads-your own passions. You will describe topics, trends, ideas, pursuits about which you are passionate. Topics can range from skateboarding to climate change. Use this project as a chance develop and answer a question involving a topic of consuming interest and to communicate learning through a variety of writing genres, containing the factual, the emotional, and the imaginative. (E. Green, Grade 8, WMS)

You will choose a topic and research it just as you would for a traditional research paper: collecting information and recording it, synthesizing the information, then presenting it through writing. Instead of the single, extended expository piece of a traditional research paper, though, this project will consist of a number of creative pieces in various genres—poetry, advice columns, diary entries, news articles, lists, art or graphics, and alternate styles of writing—imaginative writing based on fact. You’ll organize all that writing and put it in a wiki.

You will have flexibility in choosing the point of view you use in each piece of writing. A particular genre, for instance, might portray events through the eyes of the subject, others who were present, or even from the viewpoint of an inanimate object.

As you research your topic of interest, you should try to **discover a theme or a thesis**. If you were researching Elvis Presley, for instance, you might discover that many of his actions and problems in his life were related to his need for love and acceptance. This emergent theme might suggest a thread with which you may create cohesion among your separate pieces of writing. We’ll talk about ways to do this later. For now, just realize that in this project, instead of starting with a thesis, you’re going to look for one.

This project will reflect not only what you have learned about your topic, but also the spirit of it and how you have come to feel about it. Lighthearted? Spirited? Dismal? Violent? Nostalgic? The mood will surely come through. The purpose of this final, culminating writing project is to showcase all that you have learned as a writer in the middle school. Take this opportunity to show us your very best!

// Requirements //

***Note that information about your subject should not be repeated in more than one piece. For instance, do not write an encyclopedia type entry with all the major facts about your subject and then present the same information in other genres. We should learn new things about your topic with each piece of writing.***  8. You will need to document your sources, including page numbers for any direct quotations. A bibliography must be included in your wiki.  9. The pieces you create should be arranged in some logical order.  10. You must find some way to create flow/cohesion in your project. This is called the **repetend** (a repeated image, phrase, key word, or logo). 11. While you work, you will keep a process journal. Every other day you will report on what you have accomplished and your reflections about your work. This learning log will be checked and scored at least three times over the course of the unit.
 * 1) You should choose a color/font theme for your writing project that reflects the nature and spirit of your subject.
 * 2) Begin with a title that is original. Capture your reader's interest-be imaginative. Launch your project with your voice and vision.
 * 3) Include a Table of Contents.
 * 4) We are asking you to write an introduction to your work. This should be a "Dear Reader" type of writing. It should explain why you chose your topic and/or what inspired you. This piece of writing should include your thesis/theme statement. You should also discuss how the project confirmed, elaborated upon, or changed your thinking.
 * 5) You will need to use at least five different sources. There needs to be at least **three different types** of sources within these five.
 * 6) One piece of your collection will be a story that reveals something about your topic. This will have a prompt and rubric that is revealed on May 21; it will be due on May 25th. This will be a process writing common assessment.
 * 7) You may choose any number of additional genres (//but you must have **at least four**)// to tell the story of your subject. Some of these genres you have studied before— this year or in previous years. You have, for instance, learned the proper form for a business letter; some of you have learned news style on the newspaper staff; many of you have written haiku poems or sonnets; and all of you have listened to radio broadcasts and seen play scripts. You will have time to work on these in class. You may also want to work on them at home. Your entire project will be due on **June 8 .**

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: justify;">You should understand that we don’t have a certain preconceived idea of what your project will be. In fact, we don’t know what it will look like, how long it will be, or what forms it will take. We hope that your project won’t look like any of those you will view as examples in class. We expect that your individuality will cause you to choose a new topic, to research it in new ways, and to create a final product that reflects the uniqueness of your personality.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: justify;">We know this much: We want your project to be thorough; We want to //know// your subject when we're through reading. We want your paper to be creative; we want to see imaginative—maybe even shocking—uses of words, unique types of writing, graphics, or artwork to convey the information, and fascinating arrangement of the pieces of writing both on individual pages and within the project as a whole. We want your project to convey that you were completely involved with your subject, that you were willing to take risks, **that because you care, you gave your very best effort.** We want to be able to turn to whomever is around when we're reading your paper and say, “Wow! Listen to this!”

Adapted from ©2006 by Melinda Putz from //A Teacher’s Guide to the Multigenre Research Project.// Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.